Gary Crossley retired as the Principal of Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London a few years ago. His background in Fine Art translated over time into a career as an academic in Higher Education. After he retired he sought and achieved a complete change in direction by buying a small house in County Mayo and taking over a modest angling operation on Lough Conn. It was then that he started writing seriously as a way of keeping in tune with the thoughts and actions of fellow fishers and his own Irish roots.