Horizon Fever II: Explorer A E Filby's own account of his extraordinary Australasian Adventures, 1921-1931

Even before Archibald Edmund Filby (Victoria Twead's roguish uncle) embarked on his famous African expeditions, he took advantage of a government-sponsored scheme to migrate to Australia.

It was 1921 and his daredevil nature soon had him performing reckless feats as a buckjumper in a popular circus rodeo.Whilst trekking through this vast continent, he embraced the opportunity to become a jockey, photographer, actor, pilot, car salesman and pearl diver.

But Australia was just a stepping stone for Archie to explore many other colourful far-eastern countries including India, Singapore, Borneo, Java and China.

Horizon Fever II covers explorer A E Filby's early years and his descriptions, although utterly fascinating, sometimes make uncomfortable reading.