Brough Scott is a fine journalist and Galloper Jack, his brilliant book about his grandfather, Jack Seely, is published by Macmillan – www.panmacmillan.com.

Catch up with the rest of Brough’s fascinating output on www.broughscott.com

The River Thames and the more obscure parts of London crop up regularly in my books. The interest runs in the family for my brother, Roger Tagholm, is the author of Walking Literary London and Walking London’s Parks and Gardens, both published by New Holland – www.newhollandpublishers.com

Food is another theme and for some years I produced television programmes with the great restaurateur and food writer, Robert Carrier, who became a friend. I am hoping to write Robert’s biography in order to underline what an extraordinary influence this American had on the way the British regard food. Robert’s books are available via Amazon as are my own. www.amazon.co.uk

The arena of unwitting behaviour, one of the themes in Parallel Lives, is brilliantly captured in psychoanalyst Adam Phillip’s book Side Effects, published by Hamish Hamilton – www.penguin.com

Julia Hobsbawn, queen of all things PR, can be found on www.editorialintelligence.com. Julia's latest book is The See-Saw, 100 Ideas for Work-Life Balance, published by Atlantic Books – www.atlantic-books.co.uk.

I have found myself speaking a lot in the West Country, partly because my son Hugo, his wife Sarah and their son Darwin, live in Truro. Hugo runs Surfers Against Sewage, a marvellous organisation which does so much to protect the quality of our beaches and seas – www.sas.org.uk.

The writing of Parallel Lives was informed enormously by Jean Harrison, who was a member of the Haringey Phoenix Group – www.haringeyphoenix.org.uk – a charity which works with the blind and partially sighted in North London. She sadly died recently. My wife is the Group’s Outreach and Development worker.

Peter Denton, friend, writer and photographer has taken some pictures of me over the years. They can be found amongst his fine collection on www.flickr.com/photos/peterdenton/.

I am now on the board of CSRFM, the Ofcom licensed independent radio station for the Canterbury district on 97.4FM – and available throughout the world on the net on www.csrfm.com. A brilliant radio station run by student and community volunteers to professional standards.