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Retired editor publishes history of home village

flushing-historyA retired editor has published a hardback book about the history of the village he has called home for the last 30 years.

John Marquis has produced a revised and extended edition of his ‘People’s History of Flushing’, which he first brought out in paperback in 2014,

John has had a home in Flushing since 1986, when he became editor of the Packet Newspapers group in Cornwall.

The book covers the village’s 400-year history, including the 150-year Packet Ship era when it was Britain’s clearing house for international mail.

John, 73, said: “Having written about politics, sport, the arts and everything else in a 50-year career, it seemed only right that I should devote some time to my home village.

“Apart from being one of most idyllically situated seafront villages in Europe, it also has an incredibly rich history for a community of its size. I’ve called it a people’s history because it focuses on the Cornish families who have made the village what it is.”

John, former chief boxing writer and London sports editor of Thomson Regional Newspapers, was editor and publisher of the Packet and associated titles until 1999 before becoming managing editor of the Bahamas’ leading daily, The Tribune, for the last ten years of his career.

He has published several books, including a profile of the Haitian tyrant Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier, and an acclaimed account of the 1943 murder of Sir Harry Oakes, one of the most famous crime mysteries of the 20th century.

John has also published a book about his years as a political reporter and editor in the Bahamas, and a newsman’s memoir.