When I was 12 years old, my father, brother and I walked 372 miles from Umhlanga Rocks, just north of Durban, South Africa, to Lourenco Marques in Mocambique. On the trip, my father kept a very brief diary, jotting down what we did on each day and revealing some of his thoughts and feelings along the way in a matter-of-fact style so typical of him. I made a copy of his diary when I was still a boy and have always treasured it because of what the trip meant to me.

Although it is now 50 years since we completed our walk, the memories still vivid in my mind. I have always wanted to write about our journey together and, now that I am retired, have done so, using the copy of my father's diary and my memories in an attempt to recreate our adventure and the important part it played in my life.

Roald Dahl, in a postscript to Danny, the Champion of the World, said that fathers should be "sparky":

"A message to children who have read this book - When you grow up and have children of your own, do please remember something important: A stodgy parent is no fun at all. What a child wants and deserves is a parent who is sparky. (Roald Dahl)

And Danny, in a way, is more a story about how a single father brought up his son, defying convention and authority, making young Danny feel like a champion, than it is a story about a boy.

In this audiobook I want to share about how my father, through the adventures he took us on, moulded the lives of my brother and me and, in so doing, sowed in me the seeds of how I would later live my life and bring up my own children - for the better, I believe.

And if there is a father (or mother) out there who listens to this audiobook and decides to be more "sparky" because of it, I will have achieved my purpose.