Patrick Leigh Fermor

Patrick Leigh Fermor died today aged 96. He lived such a well-filled, fascinating life. 'A dangerous mixture of sophistication and recklessness' someone said about him. I won't begin to relate all the daring adventures or describe the lovely writing, especially about his trans-European walking trip in the 30's - I only relatively recently 'discovered' him through Justin Marozzi's The man who invented history. I greatly enjoyed reading his travel stories in Words of Mercury and his correspondence with Deborah Devonshire, In Tearing Haste. A great advertisement for old age!