John Donald Hillaby (24 July 1917 – 19 October 1996) was a British travel writer and explorer.

Early life and education

Hillaby was the eldest of three sons of printer Albert Ewart Hillaby (d. 1967), of

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wak ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, and Mabel (née Colyer; d. 1977). He was educated at

Woodhouse Grove School Woodhouse Grove School ('The Grove') is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding public school and Sixth Form. it is located to the north of Apperley Bridge, West Yorkshire, England (Apperley Bridge is located in the City of Bradfor ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

. His younger brother, Joseph Gordon Hillaby (1933-), is a historian and writer, and was chairman of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England and president of the

Jewish Historical Society of England The Jewish Historical Society of England (JHSE) was founded in 1893 by several Anglo-Jewish scholars, including Lucien Wolf, who became the society's first president. Early presidents of the JHSE included Hermann Adler, Michael Adler, Joseph Jacob ...

from 2006 to 2008.Jewish Communities of Medieval England, The Collected Essays of R. B. Dobson, ed. Helen Birkett, Borthwich Publishing, 2010, pp. xxvii, 174

Career

Hillaby embarked on a career in journalism, interrupted by service in the Second World War. After the war he worked for the Manchester Guardian, the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

and the

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

. In 1949, he published his first book, ''Within the Streams''. His real impact on the literary scene came in 1964, when he published ''Journey to the Jade Sea'', an account of his 1,000-mile walk with a camel train through northern

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to Lake Turkana. The book set the pattern for his later books, ''Journey Through Britain'' (1968), an account of his walk from

Land's End to John o' Groats Land's End to John o' Groats is the traversal of the whole length of the island of Great Britain between two extremities, in the southwest and northeast. The traditional distance by road is and takes most cyclists 10 to 14 days; the record ...

, ''Journey Through Europe'' (1972), an account of his walk from Holland to the Italian Alps and back to France, and ''Journey Through Love'' (1976). His earlier journeys were always alone, but after he married Kathleen Burton (also a great walker) in 1981 the two travelled together. She featured in his later books, ''Journey Home'' (1983), ''John Hillaby's Yorkshire'' (1986), ''John Hillaby's London'' (1987) and ''Journey to the Gods'' (1991).

Personal life

In 1940, Hillaby married Eleanor Riley. They had two daughters before divorcing in 1966. His second marriage was in 1966, to Thelma Gordon (d. 1972); he married thirdly Kathleen Burton, in 1981.

References

John Hillaby website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hillaby, John 1917 births 1996 deaths English travel writers English explorers Walkers of the United Kingdom English male non-fiction writers 20th-century English male writers