For those intrepid adventurers who enjoy travel food and wine, this Month’s author is a must. Again, like earlier incantations, this author had a varied life and came to writing after a varied career in advertising where he wrote as part of a creative team and eventually “bought the company”. Mayle’s advertising slogan for Wonder Loaf Bread in 1972  was used as a football chant by supporters of Tottenham Hotspur, and became  the basis of the song “Nice One Cyril”.

After selling the advertising agency and commuting for a period between the United Kingdom and the USA as a creative director to the purchasing company, Mayle took up full-time writing. His initial success was with a series of educational books, including a series on sex education for children. In the late 1980s, he hit the big time with three books of memoirs based on his life in Provence, France [where he lived post-advertising]. These books, “A Year in Provence”, “Toujours Provence” and “Encore Provence” set out life in eating and drinking his way around France and were followed up by similar themes in “French Lessons”, “Anything Considered” and “My Twenty-Five Years in Provence”. The books described great restaurants in French villages, the various festivals throughout France, and the local customs associated with them.

Stories of life in Provence were then followed up with adventure stories and comedies, always with a French background catering for food and wine interests. The novel “A Good Year” was made into a movie starring Russell Crowe, Marion Cotillard and Albert Finney and tells the story of the French wine classification system. “The Vintage Caper” dealt with a wine heist, “Chasing Cezanne” dealt with an art heist and “The Diamond Caper” dealt with a jewellery heist, and all have backgrounds covering gourmet interests. The action is always lively, the scenery well described and all in alI the books are a great advertisement for the French travel industry. It is thus not surprising that Peter Mayle was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur [Knight of the Legion of Honor] for his contribution to la belle Francais.

The books of Peter Mayle are both interestingly informative and exciting reads. Very highly recommended for the gourmands among us!!!