Martin Calder was born in the small market town of Ormskirk on the south Lancashire plain, growing up nearby in a landscape of big skies and rich black soil. He thinks of his career as being in a perpetual renaissance, having once been a civil engineer, then becoming Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Bristol. One constant is a love of France. As the saying goes: 'Every man has two countries: his own, and France.' Martin has lived and worked in Paris and other parts of France. He once picked the grapes for the renowned Blanquette de Limoux. Gascony, in the far southwest corner, appeals to his enjoyment of the simple pleasures of life on the land, the sights and smells of the country, good food and wine and healthy outdoor work. Writing, for Martin, is about being honest, showing things as they really are and - hopefully - giving people something to enjoy and remember. His last book in the academic world was a volume on French landscape gardens: Experiencing the Garden in the Eighteenth Century.