
‘It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” Leonardo Da Vinci
Ciara said, “I think we can safely include this week’s Human of Frome in the accomplished category that Leonardo so eloquently describes here. Julian is certainly not a man to sit back and let the world revolve without his very active participation and consequent documentation of his chosen subject.
“A graphic designer by trade, a chance discovery of a solitary archival photograph set him on a course that many would have considered rather madcap.
“The time that followed saw a determined Julian visiting the furthest reaches of the world, against many odds and sometimes in circumstances that saw those odds royally stacked against him.
“Surely this archival photograph that sparked such change must hold magical or hypnotic powers to have set this hard working family man on such a journey, for to high tail it around the world to visit 30 countries in a short space of time was quite the adventure for this impassioned explorer.
“What of this photo, what mysteries did it hold, the keys to the world’s treasures….in a manner of speaking yes! The image was of a tree, the famed ‘Major Oak’ of Sherwood Forest. So taken was he with this image that an immediate visit to the tree in question followed; a tree that despite the passage of over a 100 years since the photograph had been taken still stood tall and firm and remarkably unchanged.
“The romantic notion of this tree which had withstood the test of time, and had seen so much of history struck a very deep chord with our keen explorer, and so began his research into the existence of other remarkable trees.
“We have all been amazed by images of Giant Redwood trees with trunks thick enough for roads to run through them.
“Two books later and Julian is as passionate on the subject of trees as ever. His first book ‘Britain’s Tree Story’ backed by the National Trust and sold widely in their shops, featured a host of ‘special’ trees in the UK.
“His latest offering saw this traveller emboldened by the first book’s success to take things to a global audience. ‘World Tree Story’ follows Julian on his journey around the world, from our neighbouring lands of Ireland to those on the other side of the world in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and many many more. His tales of his visits to these special trees.”