Title: George's Big Adventure (the life and times of George Thomson Lyburn)
Description: It is about the life and times of the author's grandfather who lived from 1888 to 1971.  It was inspired by the discovery of a Diary of a six-week journey he made with a friend, David Shanks,  to Australia in 1914.  The Diary appears in full and yells the story of how George Lyburn had gone to visit his brother Alex who had recently emigrated and set up his own sheep farm.  But the 1st World War broke out only weeks after their arrival and the three Scots ended up serving in the Australian Army.  So the book covers a lot of ground - from life in 19th century Glasgow through to life as a soldier in World War One.  Then there is the story of how George met his wife, whose parents worked as servants for Prince Christian & Princess Helena (Queen Victoria's third daughter)and a whole chapter describing 'the Royal Connection'.  My Grandpa helped design the Finnieston Crane, one of Glasgow's most iconic landmarks to this day.  This is explained.  He was an Air-Raid Warden during World War Two & wrote many amusing poems in the Scots' dialect (five of which survive and are included here).  But the book also keeps the reader informed of what was happening around George Lyburn as his life went on.  So everything is in context.  And a chapter towards the end of the book brings the reader right up to date by revealing some details of his descendants. With over 300 pages, 100,000 words and 200 pictures and diagrams, the book is a substantial work.  Many who have read it, however, have commented on what an entertaining read it is.
Places: Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, Gibralter, Toulon, Naples, Port Said, Colombo, Australia, France, Germany, Scotland, England
Time periods: From around 1820 until the present day.