Dr Brian S. John (born 1940) is a Welsh writer. He is the author of the historical-fiction series '' Angel Mountain Saga''. John was born in

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

, Wales. He studied at

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the county, ...

Grammar School and at

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship St ...

, where he read Geography from 1959 to 1962 and went on to obtain a D Phil for a study of the Ice Age in Wales. He worked as a field scientist in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

and spent eleven years as a geography lecturer at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

. He has travelled widely in the Arctic, Antarctic and Scandinavia. Since 1977 he has made his living as a writer and publisher. He is the author of ''The Stonehenge Bluestones'' and he has made extensive studies of the relationships between megalithic structures and landscape in the Preseli region of Pembrokeshire. He is the author of Part Two of ''An Historical Atlas of Pembrokeshire'' (2019). John is also actively involved in environmental and community organisations; in 1980 he founded Eco Centre Wales in Newport and is one of the leaders of the community group GM Free Cymru. He is the author of a number of articles and 90 books, including university texts, walking guides, coffee table glossies, and books of popular science. His ''Glaciers and Landscape'' (written with David Sugden), a university textbook, remained in print as a

geomorphology Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...

classic for almost 30 years. He also writes on topics of local interest related to Wales: tourist guides, books of local jokes, walkers' handbooks, and titles on local folklore and traditions. In 2012 he won the Wishing Shelf Book award for his children's book called ''The Strange Affair of the Ethiopian Treasure Chest''. In recognition of his contributions to polar geomorphology, a glacier in the Pensacola Mountains of Antarctica was named John Glacier. In recent years John has done radio and TV work, and has featured in the BBC2W programme called ''The Man from Angel Mountain'' and on the BBC1 ''One Show''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:John, Brian 1940 births Academics of Durham University Welsh novelists Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Living people