Daniel Defoe is known to us as the author of Robinson Crusoe, but he was more than that...by a long way! Journalist, cloth merchant, tile maker, bankrupt...and a government spy! He was also a great travel writer and we accompany him on his tour through Southeast England in 1724.

An Associate Tutor with the Geography team at the University of Sussex from where I thought I had retired...10 years ago! I specialise in the landscapes of SE England, in both urban and rural areas and I did my doctorate in the suburban growth of the interwar period. I taught adult education for nearly 30 years at Sussex where I worked in the Landscape Studies degree team and was Convenor for Local History. I give talks across SE England to a wide range of groups, from universities to local history societies, WI groups , U3A, Probus and Round Tables. I teach also for the Workers Educational Association and run weekly classes at local community centres. The most requested from my range of talks are those that combine social history, geography, geology and a 'sense of place'.