John Downes was born in Plymouth in 1925. He married Mary in 1947, and in 1953 they moved to Northern Nigeria where he worked in a post designed to bring modern agricultural techniques to the region's farmers, before being transferred to an administrative position and posted to Hong Kong where he rose to a senior rank in HM Overseas Civil Service.
He discovered that he had been following - almost literally - in the footsteps of Lord Frederick Lugard, a soldier and Colonial Service officer who had been pivotal to the history of the region half a century before.
He retired in 1971, and moved to Woolsery, a small village in North Devon. Hewrote a number of books, was widowed in 2002 and died in 2006, leaving two sons - Jonathan (born 1959) the director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, and Richard , (born 1963) a senior Army chaplain.
Granfer's Bible Stories
Fragrant Harbours - Distant Rivers
