Dick Allan is a qualified doctor and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. After a long career in research for the Services he retired from his final post as Director of the Army Personnel Research Establishment at Farnborough. A lifelong sailor, he retired in 1995 and set off on a 28,000 mile voyage round the world aboard his yacht ‘Greylag’. After his round the world adventure, Dick wrote an account of the journey in his first book ‘Sailing My Dream’. In later years, Dick bought a narrowboat to explore the inland waterways of England and France. This led to his second book, The Cry of the Heron, a historical novel set around the building of the Basingstoke Canal. Dick has two grown-up children and lives with his wife, Janet, in Farnham, Surrey.