An evening with journalist and broadcaster Trevor Fishlock will be held at the Great Oak Bookshop, Llanidloes,  on Friday, December 8, at 7pm.

Trevor Fishlock has become a familiar face on Welsh television over the years thanks to his programmes exploring the highways and byways of Wales.

Now after years of writing stories about other people - from the Davies sisters of Gregynog to Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama, Trevor is finally writing his own story in his new book – Trevor Fishlock – Reporter.

This book takes the reader on a journey from Trevor’s boyhood home in the south of England on an adventure around the world into war zones, crashing dictatorships and an expedition into the mountains of Tora Bora in Afghanistan.

Trevor’s time as foreign correspondent for The Times newspaper and Moscow correspondent for The Daily Telegraph have taken him around the world and he has interviewed many famous people including Saunders Lewis, Benazir Bhutto and Rupert Murdoch.

He also tells the stories of ordinary people in extra-ordinary situations and places – bandit kings (and a bandit queen) in India, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Argentina silently demonstrating for their missing children and life in Russia under Mikhail Gorbachev.

“People often ask me where was my favourite place to live or work,” said Trevor. “I find that question difficult to answer, even when I pose it to myself.

“The best part of my job was always meeting the people in the countries where I was writing. I wanted to write about the humour as well as the horror. I described the things that were not at the top of the news headlines – elderly people dancing in the parks in Moscow, for instance, or strolling families eating ice cream or playing cricket on the maidan – the Indian equivalent of the village green. India was a place full of wonderful characters.”

Trevor talks fondly of his early days in Wales as The Times’s first ever Wales correspondent.

“I started writing from Wales in December 1968. I had never seen Cardiff or a colliery, a steelworks or Snowdon. I had never been to Wales but thought it would be a good time to go there because there was so much going on at the time and I felt it would be an exciting place to work.”

During his time in Wales he shared a 10am sherry with Saunders Lewis and a lunch of stinging nettle soup and cheese with Clough Williams-Ellis the architect of Portmeirion.

He delights in the eccentricities he encountered – Welsh nicknames for instance – Emlyn Kremlin (a communist), Dai Drop (a paratrooper) and Dai Quiet Wedding (who, being poor, married in plimsolls).

Trevor’s journey ends – almost as it began – back in Wales where, on retiring from newspapers, he found a new career as a broadcaster and a series of television programmes for ITV Wales including Fishlock’s Wild Tracks, Fishlock’s Wales: 40 Years On.

“Wales is an orchard of stories,” said Trevor. “I liked the fables as well as the documented history. In Wild Tracks, I feel we gave a voice to a nation of storytellers and took viewers on a journey through its jigsaw of varied landscapes.

“In all of our 84 Wild Track programmes I never tired of the look of the land and always found Wales speaking for itself in an eloquent and entertaining way.”

Jonathan Hill, English Language Programmes Editor for ITV Wales said: “ITV Cymru Wales has had a long and successful relationship with Trevor Fishlock. His programmes about Wales, it’s people and stories are among our most popular and he is a firm favourite with our viewers.

“Trevor broadcast his first series Wild Tracks with us nearly 20 years ago in 1998 and we are continuing to work with him on Fishlock’s Choice in which he takes a look back at some of his favourite programmes from the ITV Wales archives. He is a delight to work with – always totally professional with a great talent for getting people to share their experiences.”

“Trevor’s career as a foreign correspondent and roving reporter has taken him all over the world, so we are thrilled that he has chosen the ITV Cymru Wales studios in Cardiff Bay to launch his book.”

Reporter by Trevor Fishlock is available now priced £14.99 in local bookshops or directly from the Welsh Books Council website www.gwales.com.