Sunderland based author Keith Gregson (63) has been very busy over the last eighteen months on five books commissioned by three different publishers. All are now in the shops and/or online.

Two of the books were commissioned by the Stroud based History Press and both have family historians in mind. A Viking In The Family and Other Family Tree Tales started life with the simple title Interesting Ancestors and was  published onSeptember 1^st. The book contains a large number of tales from different family historians, explains how their research was carried out. It also gives advice on the do's and don'ts of creating a family tree. Sporting Ancestors: Tracing Your Family's Athletic Past has a self-explanatory title and was  the last of the five books to be published (late January 2012).

The Bath based educational publishers Hometown World  commissioned two of the remaining books. Both are aimed at helping youngsters of primary school age to appreciate national history through local examples. The books - A Children's History of Sunderland and A Children's History of Northumberland are lively and well illustrated and can be used at school or in the home. The first sold out in local shops on a number of occasions over the Christmas period and the second is came onto the market  early in 2012.

Last but far from least is One Among Many - the Story of Sunderland RFC 1873 in its Historical Context published by international award  winning publishers MX Publishing in October 2011. Keith beat off fierce competition to have this book published by winning a competition in the world's top rugby magazine Rugby World.

' The book is not just for Sunderland folk,' Keith notes. ' It is the story of the development of a typical English rugby club set against what is happening elsewhere both in sport and society.' The book has now sold out at the club but is available at the local Waterstones and online.

Keith is an experienced writer and has had over 400 articles and a handful of books published in the last eight years. Prior to that he was Head of History at Hartlepool's Brierton School for over thirty years. He is also well known round the northeast for his musical work and in particular for his song writing with school children. All the new publications can be pre-ordered from the top internet books sites and will be available in major book shops from the date of publication.

His earlier Bluffer's Guide To The Olympics ( Oval Books) should be of current interest as well as his booklet on Olympic cricket dealt with elsewhere on this site.

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