A world of discovery

FOR many people, school memories fade gently into the background of life. But for former Ripon Grammar School pupil Adrian Little, the lessons learned in Ripon became the starting point for a remarkable international journey spanning continents, cultures and decades.

Now, more than 60 years after leaving the school in 1964, Adrian has published a new book chronicling a lifetime of work, adventure and discovery.The Memoirs of a Wayward Traveller follows the experiences of 'Ben', a British expatriate whose travels take him from post-war Europe to the Middle East, Africa, Asia and beyond.

Published by Pegasus Publishers, the book captures the spirit of an era when international travel was becoming increasingly accessible and the wider world beckoned adventurous young Britons eager to explore life beyond their hometowns.

Adrian attended Ripon Grammar School from 1958 until 1964, achieving nine O-levels before completing A-levels in history, English literature and Latin. He remembers the period fondly, as the formative years before an extraordinary career that would eventually see him work on major construction, oil, gas and infrastructure projects around the globe.

“The book is a factual account of my life, career and travels since leaving Ripon Grammar School in the summer of 1964,” Adrian explains. “I have tried to capture the atmosphere of past decades and existing cultures through descriptive narrative in an attempt to impart geographical and historical knowledge to the reader.”

The memoir traces an astonishing itinerary through Holland, Denmark, Sweden, West Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Spain, the United States, Australia, the Philippines, Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Dubai, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, China, Argentina, Brazil, Oman, Bahrain and many other destinations.

Readers are taken from the historic streets of Rome and Athens to the bustling modernity of Sydney and Johannesburg, while Adrian also reflects on living and working in politically volatile regions including Tehran during the overthrow of the Shah and Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war.

“It all seems like a lifetime ago but also feels like yesterday when the urge to travel and discover became predominant in the mind of the Wayward Traveller,” the book begins.

At the heart of the memoir is not simply travel, but curiosity - a desire to understand different cultures, histories and people. Adrian says he was inspired to write the book primarily for future generations of his family.

“I wanted to leave something tangible for my children and grandchildren and also spread the little bit of knowledge I have gained through travelling and associating with history and cultural differences,” he says.

After leaving Ripon Grammar School, Adrian pursued a career in quantity surveying, gaining a BSc in quantity surveying from Trent Polytechnic in 1972 — one of the earliest degree courses of its kind in Britain. He later became both an associate and eventually a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

His professional career developed from architectural and civil engineering projects into major international oil, gas and petrochemical developments. Among his achievements was compiling the commercial documentation for British Gas’s Morecambe Bay stage 2 gas platforms, along with significant petrochemical and refinery projects in Ireland, Greece, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

His expertise also took him to Johannesburg for the construction of a hypermarket, Baghdad for a major motorway project, and numerous large-scale developments across the Middle East and Europe.

Yet despite the scale of his professional accomplishments, Adrian’s memoir remains deeply personal - filled with observations about people, cultures and the changing nature of travel itself.

Written with warmth and detail,The Memoirs of a Wayward Traveller reflects on a generation that witnessed the world opening up in unprecedented ways, when international careers were becoming possible and travel still carried an element of unpredictability and wonder, his story highlighting how a Yorkshire education helped launch one former pupil into a truly global life.

*The Memoirs of a Wayward Traveller by Adrian Little is available via Amazon