Author of SEXTANT: A VOYAGE GUIDED BY THE STARS AND THE MEN WHO MAPPED THE WORLD’S OCEANS (2014); published in UK by Wm Collins and in US by Wm Morrow.  Shortlisted for Mountbatten Literary Prize.  

Also INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS: EXPLORING THE SCIENCE OF ANIMAL NAVIGATION (2019); published in UK by Hodder and Stoughton and in US by The Experiment (under title of SUPERNAVIGATORS).  Sunday Times Nature Book of the Year; Winner of Gold and Silver Nautilus Awards.

An illustrated version of SUPERNAVIGATORS for younger readers was published in the US by Tra Publishing in 2025.

Fellow of Royal Institute of Navigation and Linnean Society of London.  CBE 2010.

Former diplomat and arts administrator.