Gerald Ponting

Gerald Ponting was brought up on a small farm in Hampshire - the subject of 'Scenes from a Hampshire Childhood'.

He attended grammar school in Salisbury and obtained a degree in zoology at the University of Southampton. For 30 years, he was a biology teacher in Suffolk, Stornoway and finally back in Hampshire.

While in the Hebrides, he was awarded a British Archaeological Award 1978 for research at the Standing Stones of Callanish.

In the 1990s, following early retirement from teaching, he was a Blue Badge Tourist Guide for Hants, Wilts and Dorset.

He is the author or co-author of over 20 books, many of them published under his own imprints, and mostly on the history of Hampshire communities.

He is also a keen photographer and an experienced and popular speaker at many local societies. Topics include local history, wild flowers, stone circles and foreign travels.