Happy 24th Birthday, Arthur Eperon and Agatha Christie

How time flies. I’ve nearly missed TiKiT’s 24th birthday next Saturday on the 16th due to unforeseen circumstances which have resulted in me typing this from my hospital bed. On the 1st I got blue lighted to A&E with a heart attack. Now awaiting a triple stent procedure today and then, fingers crossed, as back to normal as can be expected. NB: Not had time to update the next post but the Eperon titles will be added ASAP.

For those thinking about planning their holidays they could always use Eperon’s French Regional Guides of which PAN published nine that I have found. They all feature cover artwork by Claire Davies but on trying to track her down there are too many artist with that name. I’ve also included several other titles of his on the page such as those from the ‘Travellers’ series. Arthur Eperon was born in 1919 and died in 2000. He began his career in the regional press joining the Steatham News as a trainee but his career was interrupted by the war, when he served in the RAF before being taken prisoner, He was one of the prisoners in Stalag Luft 3 who fooled the German guards in one of the great escapes by jumping over the famous wooden horse. He was able to join the Daily Herald when he came back from the war, because of his NUJ card, working alongside Michael Foot and John Betjeman. He became travel editor and left for The Sun in 1969, using his well-honed expertise to create a direct, journalistic approach to the travel column. After leaving newspapers he became a consultant to ITV’s ‘Wish You Were Here’, then published the bestseller Traveller’s France and a host of follow-ups, as well as contributing columns to magazines and newspapers.

In an email from the Agatha Christie Collectors Group they were suggesting suitable presents for Christie fans. One leapt out at me and made me wonder if the cards were from Duns Tew Publishing but on looking at the list these titles don’t appear. It was on Etsy but I don’t think I’ll go for it this season as I don’t know any Christie fans who might like the pack (which would probably have had the cards surreptitiously removed!)