For the American science fiction author, see Richard C. Meredith

Richard C. Meredith

Richard Carlton Meredith , also known as Richard C. Meredith, was a science fiction author.-Biography:...

Richard Meredith is a British writer of adventure travel novels best-known for Driven Together, his account of the 2007 first car crossing of the new Asian Highway

Asian Highway Network

The Asian Highway project, also known as the Great Asian Highway, is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and Europe and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific , to improve the highway systems in Asia...

.

Meredith and his co-driver Phil Colley drove from Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 (the Highway’s farthest point East) to Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

 (farthest West) in a journey facilitated by the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, whose Commission in Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

 had finally secured a pan-Asia agreement on the new road network in 2005 after nearly 50 years of negotiations.

Silk Roads Revisited

Intended as a major benefit for international trade and towards alleviating poverty among Asia’s poorer nations, the system is one of the most important developments in global transportation for centuries and resurrects many of the ancient Silk Road

Silk Road

The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...

 trading routes between Asia and Europe.

Meredith, from Newport Pagnell

Newport Pagnell

Newport Pagnell is a town in the Borough of Milton Keynes , England. It is separated by the M1 motorway from Milton Keynes itself, though part of the same urban area...

, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, recruited Colley, a linguist and travel expert from south London, after being lent a V8 Vantage

Aston Martin V8 Vantage (2005)

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage and the Aston Martin V12 Vantage are a series of hand built sports cars from the British manufacturer Aston Martin. Aston Martin has previously used the "Vantage" name on high performance variants of their existing GT models, notably on the Virage-based car of the 1990s....

 sports car for the trip by Aston Martin

Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...

 who wanted to put the car through a live durability test and to demonstrate its prowess to China's car-buyers.

From Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, they followed the Highway’s main AH1 and AH5 routes along the system’s ‘central corridor’ across China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and many of the former Russian states in central Asia and eastern Europe.

Including considerable customs clearance problems, ferry trips and minor crash repairs, the journey of approx. 10,000 miles from Tokyo to Istanbul and then onto London, took 49 days. It was independently logged and monitored throughout and ended with a reception and press conference at the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane

Park Lane (road)

Park Lane is a major road in the City of Westminster, in Central London.-History:Originally a country lane running north-south along what is now the eastern boundary of Hyde Park, it became a fashionable residential address from the eighteenth century onwards, offering both views across Hyde Park...

.

As an author

A former national newspaper journalist and business magazine publisher, Meredith turned to adventure travel writing after selling his Holcot Press business in 2000.

He published his first novel One Way or Another in 2002 after what he called a ‘Gap Year for Grown-ups’ in which he described falling into a series of adventures and misadventures while armed with a back-packers’ round-the-world ticket from British Airways

British Airways

British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...

.

His second book Which Way Next came after he drove a Daewoo

Daewoo

Daewoo or the Daewoo Group was a major South Korean chaebol . It was founded on 22 March 1967 as Daewoo Industrial and was dismantled by the Korean government in 1999...

 family hatchback saloon from Luton

Luton

Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....

 to South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 with a young student companion in a hair-raising journey that included running the gauntlet across war-ravaged Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 and the Khyber Pass

Khyber Pass

The Khyber Pass, is a mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Pass was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "Pesh Habor," and it is one of the oldest known passes in the world....

.

A member of the Society of Authors

Society of Authors

The Society of Authors is a trade union for professional writers that was founded in 1884 to protect the rights of writers and fight to retain those rights .It has counted amongst its members and presidents numerous notable writers and poets including Tennyson The Society of Authors (UK) is a...

 and a card-carrying journalist, Meredith has also published an anthology of his experiences as a writer titled Views From the Front Line.

Philanthropy

By linking his various activities to fund-raising for charity, he has helped to generate more than £400,000 in recent years for causes including the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital

Great Ormond Street Hospital

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children is a children's hospital located in London, United Kingdom...

 in the UK, the SOS Children's Villages

SOS Children's Villages

SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental international development organisation which has been working to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children since 1949. It was founded by Hermann Gmeiner in Imst, Austria...

 organisation in Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

, and UNICEF programmes to reduce the number of deaths of young people on the roads of China.

Biography

Meredith was born in Barnet

Barnet

High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet, North London, England. It is a suburban development built around a twelfth-century settlement and is located north north-west of Charing Cross. Its name is often abbreviated to Barnet, which is also the name of the London...

, Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 (now north London) to a family whose name of Reynolds on his maternal side can trace their ancestry to before the British Civil War

Civil war

A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....

. His great uncle was Air Marshal

Air Marshal

Air marshal is a three-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...

 Sir Bryan Reynolds (1902–1965), the former CinC of Coastal Command, and the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) was believed to be a distant relative.

He was educated at Great Ballard School

Great Ballard School

Great Ballard School is a private school for children aged 2–13 of both sexes. It was founded in 1924 and set up at its current location in Eartham, Nr Chichester, West Sussex in 1961...

 near Chichester

Chichester

Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...

 and Allhallows (now closed) outside Lyme Regis which he left before his 16th birthday. In later life he took a short degree course in Business Growth Management at Cranfield

Cranfield University

Cranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on two campuses, with a research-oriented focus. The main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire and the second is the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom based at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. The main campus is unique in the United...

.

As a journalist, he trained with the Herts Advertiser in St Albans

St Albans

St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...

 and reached the Daily Express

Daily Express

The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...

 in Fleet Street

Fleet Street

Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...

 via Thomson newspapers and the Press Association

Press Association

The Press Association is the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland, supplying multimedia news content to almost all national and regional newspapers, television and radio news, as well as many websites with text, pictures, video and data content globally...

.
At Thomson’s Evening Echo at Hemel Hempstead his newsroom colleagues included John Clare

John Clare

John Clare was an English poet, born the son of a farm labourer who came to be known for his celebratory representations of the English countryside and his lamentation of its disruption. His poetry underwent a major re-evaluation in the late 20th century and he is often now considered to be among...

 and John Coldstream

John Coldstream

-Life:Coldstream, only son of Robert Coldstream, merchant, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Phillips of Stobcross, Glasgow, was born at Leith on 19 March 1806, and after attending the Royal High School, Edinburgh, continued his studies at the university...

 (later with the Daily Telegraph), Tony Holden

Tony Holden

Tony Holden is a television producer and director. He has been involved in New Zealand television since the 1970s. In the 1970s, he directed episodes of the sketch show A Week of It. In the 1980s, he produced and directed The Billy T. James Show and episodes of the Roger Hall sitcom Gliding on...

, the Royal biographer and Stephen Pile, the TV critic and author; while at the Express, his era included the brief editorship of former ITN newscaster Sir Alastair Burnet

Alastair Burnet

Sir Alastair Burnet is a British journalist and broadcaster, known for his work in news and current affairs programmes.- Early life :...

, Chapman Pincher

Chapman Pincher

Harry Chapman Pincher is an Indian born British journalist and novelist whose writing mainly focuses on espionage and related matters, after some early books on scientific subjects.-Family and education:...

, the Defence Correspondent, and Jean Rook

Jean Rook

Jean Kathleen Rook was an English journalist dubbed The First Lady of Fleet Street for her regular opinion column in the Daily Express...

, Women’s Editor.

His time there added to the family's long association with Express and Standard newspapers. His grandfather Harry was a printer with the Evening Standard

Evening Standard

The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...

, his mother was billeted in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 with the family of Reg Wootton, the Express's legendary Sporting Sam cartoonist, and his cousin Frances worked in the commercial department.

In 1975, in partnership with friends from the Express and elsewhere, he launched the Northants Post weekly newspaper in Northampton

Northampton

Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

 (now owned by LSN Media ltd, part of Iliffe) and later sold his shares to start the Holcot Press Group, a publisher of business magazines and directories which grew into a national organisation from a base in Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...

. It was sold in 2000 to the Zoa Corporation.

A keen sportsman, Meredith is a former playing member of the Saracens

Saracens F.C.

Saracens are a professional rugby union team based in St. Albans, England – although they play their home games at Vicarage Road, in Watford. They are currently members of the Aviva Premiership, the top level of domestic rugby union in England...

 and Northampton rugby clubs

Northampton Saints

Northampton Saints are a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The Northampton Saints were formed in 1880. They play in green, black and gold colours. They play their home games at Franklin's Gardens, which has a capacity of 13,591....

 and once played tennis at Junior Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...

. His daughter Clare is a barrister and son Robert was a finalist in BBC2’s

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 Design for Life competition with Philippe Stark in 2009.