Twin passions fuel journalist's life story

From rorts to rocks, Simon Winchester has written about it.

The British journalist, who made his name working for publications like the Sunday Times and the Guardian, came to Auckland yesterday for the Herald literary luncheon to speak about his latest book, The Map That Changed the World.

Backgrounds in journalism and geology (he has a geology degree from Oxford University) inspired him to write about William Smith, who in 1815 created the first geological map of England and Wales.

Winchester said yesterday that Smith had been virtually forgotten over the years.

He was thrown into prison, and was cut out of the profits from his hard work.

He was deemed too "unpolished" to gain membership to the Geological Society of London, where he would finally be recognised for his efforts, and later his work was copied.

It wasn't until 1831, when his employer, a sympathetic nobleman, brought him into contact with the Geological Society, that the quiet genius was at last honoured and was summoned to receive the society's highest award, and King William IV offered him a lifetime pension.

Winchester said journalism had let him travel the world, writing for publications like National Geographic - a career that may not give one money "but an interesting life".

His idol was James Morris, who wrote Coronation Everest. He told Winchester that to become an author like him he should first become a journalist and write for a newspaper, and, if it was at all possible, he should write for the Guardian.

Since then, he has written a dozen books, including The Surgeon of Crowthorne, about an insane surgeon, a respected professor and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary.

But the author hopes to revisit geology, rather than people, for his next book - the story of a famous volcano.