The travel writer's writer: 'The Tartan Turban' named as one of the books of the year 2017
Tim Hannigan, Cornish travel and history writer specialising in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, has listed his must-reads of 2017.
This includes John Keay's exhilarating biography-cum-real life adventure story about the life and times of 'the most gloriously bizarre figure' of Alexander Gardner, The Tartan Turban.
The article appeared in Newsline, Pakistan's premier monthly news magazine where Tim describes John as making 'a brilliant job of handling the notoriously unreliable Colonel...with a healthy balance of sympathy and scepticism'.
Previously (in June 2017) Tim had explained to Newsline that his own wanderlust was down to reading 'John Keay’s brilliant histories of exploration and the Great Game, When Men and Mountains Meet and The Gilgit Game. That was the spark that really set me off'. It was in When Men and Mountains Meet that John first touched upon the eccentric character of Alexander Gardner. A full 40 years later he published the definitive, and riveting The Tartan Turban: In search of Alexander Gardner - one of the books of 2017 - and coming soon in paperback edition for 2018!
Image credit: Newsline