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I was born to be three things - a writer, a traveller and a mother, not necessarily in that order.

I have travelled all over the world, 80 countries by my last count, and I have written about almost every country I have visited.

My heroine growing up was the adventurer, writer, diplomat and Arabist, Gertrude Bell. I wanted to be her - or an incarnation of her. My preference of S.E.Asia over Arabia made my wish not so easily fulfilled. But, like her, I have been as "comfortable sitting in a Palace with kings as I have been squatting with nomads in a tent in the desert." Or, in my case, squatting with indigenous tribes from as far afield as the mountain ranges of S.E. Asia to those of the Costa Rican reservations.

From 1992-1995 I worked in Bosnia and Croatia during the war. My mother was from Dubrovnik and, when I saw bombs being dropped on that beautiful city, I decided I must do something to help. With a couple of friends we started a small charity bringing medical and surgical supplies to hospitals, refugee camps and orphanages along the Dalmatian coast. We set up a "Children's Village" for families from all sides of the conflict to live together in peace at Makarska, between Rijeka and Split.

After the Balkan War was over I worked for the Leonard Cheshire Foundation and the Leonard Cheshire Chair for Conflict Recovery helping set up medical and surgical programmes for refugees and IDPs in the refugee camps of southern Azerbaijan.

Some of my stories about this work can be found on my blogsite: http://www.anywhereiwander.wordpress.com

My three children, Elisar, Mayumi and Jasmine are my greatest achievements in my life. They have put up with my single motherhood, my research and writing schedules and my itinerant life. They have joined me in many of my travels and it has been wonderful to see the world through their young eyes.

Now I have two grandchildren who are the most precious little things and my life, family-wise, is complete.

Description

This books provides information and strategies for those who are seeking to discover more about their purpose and destiny in life. Each chapter includes practical and inspirational ideas that are designed to help its readers to to identify and effectively engage in purposeful living.

Story Behind The Book

It was in the attic of an old English farmhouse, on a lovely autumn evening in September 1984, that this book had its beginnings. Two years earlier I had been doing some research for a television film about the "Profumo Affair", had arrived at this same house to interview the owner. As we talked I found out he was an old friend of my late brother-in-law, Dominick Elwes. Later in the day the discussion turned to Elwes's friendship with Dr. Stephen Ward, the society osteopath, who was a central figure in the 1963 scandal. Elwes, my host told me, had stood bail for Stephen Ward, had worked with him on a proposed television film about his life and had produced a film entitled, "The Christine Keeler Story." In a trunk in his attic, he explained, he had tape recordings and scripts which Elwes had given him years ago. Would I be interested in taking a look? So, on my return visit, that autumn evening, after riffling through the contents of the trunk, I returned home with a box full of old letters, voluminous pages of handwritten and typed filmscript and reels of tape. I immediately transferred the tapes on to cassettes and, through the scratchy quality of the 1960s recordings, emerged Ward's compelling voice. I listened to Ward with absolute fascination. Only a week earlier I had heard Lord Denning on TV describe Ward as, "the most evil man he had ever met." Ward hardly sounded evil to me. He was rational, intelligent, persuasive. I began to wonder. Had we got him wrong? I decided to try to find out all I could. In all I have spent 5 years of my life gathering the evidence to prove Stephen Ward was framed by the government, the police force, MI5 and the judiciary. I spoke to many people who had not spoken to anyone before about the Profumo Affair and the role of Stephen Ward. I am very grateful to them for trusting me and opening up to me. The story that has emerged is a very different story from the accepted version of the day.

Reviews

Another five-star review! You couldn't make it up! By Mary Langford 2013 Format: Amazon Verified Purchase I bought this book because I have heard that Andrew Lloyd Webber's next musical project is about Stephen Ward who is the central figure of this book. This is a case of 'you couldn't make it up'. Thoroughly researched by Kennedy and Knightley who tracked down many of the protagonists who gave them new insights into the events that took place half a century earlier, this is like going back in time to another era. I can see that Lloyd Webber could do a lot with this story with a mix of espionage, high society and the great and the good, celebrities of the day and the Establishment, captivating young working-class women with ambitious aspirations, international politics, corruption all set in London during the height of Cold War and the first days of the Swinging Sixties, the has all the makings of a West End hit. But this book tells the full story that no stage musical can fully capture. 5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling and horrifying read, 18 Nov 2013 By Alexandra - See all my reviews This review is from: How The English Establishment Framed STEPHEN WARD (Paperback) This is an updated and expanded version of an earlier book published in the 1980s, by Phillip Knightley and Caroline Kennedy. For the new publication, Kennedy has uncovered previously unseen and overlooked material, including Stephen Ward's unpublished memoirs, while also talking to many more witnesses who, until now, were reticent or negligent about talking openly of their own memories or involvement in the case. What emerges in this compelling and horrifying story, is how the authorities succeeded in mounting an outrageous campaign of smears and lies against society osteopath Stephen Ward, whose hounding resulted in a massive travesty and miscarriage of justice. The publication of this new book could not be more timely, with the recent 50th anniversary of Ward's trial and death and the West End opening in December of the musical Stephen Ward by Andrew Lloyd-Webber. Kennedy creates a vivid picture of the whole wretched early 1960s climate of social hypocrisy, and especially the malice and corruption among police, politicians and the judiciary which led to the cold-blooded framing of an innocent man. "A Typically British Scandal--politics, sex, vice, espionage, and hypocrisy" (p. 188) By F. S. L'hoir VINE VOICE on Nov 2013 Format: Paperback I made the mistake of beginning this book after 9:00 P.M. I was still reading tenaciously when dawn broke, and I reluctantly had to put it down from sheer exhaustion. Faster paced than any novel, this gripping story, ripped from the headlines of the 1960s, tells how an affable, gregarious, handsome, and unconventional man, who was both a gifted osteopath and a talented artist, and who had many friends in London society (and one in the Soviet Embassy), became swept up in the tumultuous events of history only to be sucked down into the vortiginous sinkhole of politics. Kennedy and Knightley not only narrate the tragic life and death of Stephen Ward, but they also relate the history of the rise of tabloid journalism, which--with tales of women wielding whips, naked masked men waiting tables, orgies in Stately Homes and other titillating tidbits of gossip--is ever ready to sustain the public's prurient and seemingly insatiable appetites for such trash. (The combination of sex and politics in this book makes one wonder whether that marvelously wicked British DVD "House of Cards" might not be a forerunner to reality TV!) "How the English Establishment" is also the heartbreaking story of a rather naive man who put his faith in his friends, in his country, and in the British system of jurisprudence. In the end, he was abandoned by all but a few of his friends and betrayed by both country and British justice. In other words, he was made a scapegoat, according to Kennedy and Knightley, to the interests of the Conservative party and the hypocrisy of the establishment after the resignation in disgrace of John Profumo, Britain's dapper and dandy Minister of War. As one who read those headines and stories avidly in 1963, and could not wait for the next sensational revelation of Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies, I am sufficiently chastened to discover that Stephen Ward's conviction was based upon what proved to be perjured evidence and an outrageous frameup that led to his suicide. Perhaps, at the time, as far as the public was concerned, the scandal represented an antidote to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 (one of the most frightening times through which I have ever lived, wondering whether there would be a tomorrow), but while the attention of the world was being diverted by the sexual antics of the rich and powerful (the salacious details of which were meticulously reported in a U.K. government report), other more sinister events were unfolding, which came to their climax on November 22, 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated. One might draw a parallel with a similar obsession with sex and politics, fueled by the media, that not only produced another lengthy official x-rated report but also occupied the public and diverted the attention of Congress in the months preceding 9/11. Is there, perhaps, a lesson to be learned here?

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