Bio

• Born 10th May 1949 in Tunbridge Wells and grew up in Kent
• 1968 nine months working and travelling in Southern Africa
• University College, Oxford 1968-1971 securing one of the best Third Class (Honours) degrees in Geography the university had ever seen
• Undergraduate thesis was on smuggling but for the Examiners this was entitled Socio-Geographical Aspects of Illicit Trading in Kent in the 18th Century
• Spent 1975-85 living and working in Japan as Lecturer and then Associate Professor in British-American and European Studies at Nagoya University of Commerce
• Travelled extensively in the Far East, Pacific and all over Japan during these ten years abroad and wrote freelance features for the Japan Times and inflight magazines and other journals like the Far Eastern Economic Review
• Represented Aichi Prefecture at rugby
• 1985-86 University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
• Returned to England in 1986 with Japanese wife, Kumiko, and two children - Matthew, now an actor, and Emi, a solicitor. 
• Lives in 16th century cottage in Kent and has been a full time freelance writer since 1986
• Regular contributor to the weekend sections of The Times (37 articles to date) and Financial Times (139 articles) and other national papers and magazines on food, travel, house and homes, gardening and country matters
• Writes and publishes under his in-print JAK Books
• Books include Kent Women, Sussex Women, Kent Heroes, Sussex Heroes, Kent Characters and Sussex Characters
• More recent books include Kent and Sussex Scandals - Salacious, Sensational and Sad; Kent and Sussex Rogues, Rascals and Rebels and Birds, Beasts and Bacchanalia of Kent and Sussex
• Gives talks to various groups like Probus, Rotary, WI, civic and historical societies on the same subjects as the books averaging two or three a week
• Life time ambition: to get the highest score in cribbage (three fives in the hand with the Jack of the other five that turns up so that the score is 28 plus 1 for his nob)