Letchworth historian and author Bill Lindsay went on a countrywide speaking tour to tell the story of his prolific forefather.

William Schaw Lindsay, who was Bill's great-great-grandfather, ran away to sea penniless and then became a shipping magnate in the 1850s.

Bill said: "He was well-known in his day, but forgotten now. His life was amazing.

"He was orphaned aged 10, ran away to sea as a teenager, built up a very successful shipping business in London, and became an MP.

"He was the Richard Branson of his day. His diaries are housed in the National Maritime Museum in London."

Bill took six years to transcribe his ancestor's diaries, which have now become the book William Schaw Lindsay Victorian Entrepreneur.

The book is available to buy from Waterstones Hitchin or from billlindsayhistorian.com for signed copies.

Bill has so far given 26 talks, with another 12 planned.

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He said: "I was thrilled to give a talk last year at the British Schools Museum in Hitchin with its close connection to the Victorian age.

"My great-great-grandfather met the great and good in that era including Isambard Brunel, Florence Nightingale, Charles Dickens, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Disraeli and many more.

"His diaries are full of anecdotes of them all."