PHOTOS: TIM ANDERSON
THE Royal Geographic Society in Kensington was last night the setting for the launch of Bulletin columnist and leading author Anna Nicholas's new book Goats From A Small Island.
Key to her third and latest book about life in Majorca is the Myotragus, the extinct giant that roamed the island in ancient times and last night's presentation was attended by historians, fossil hunters, international journalists and literary lights.
The launch has been sponsored by the Council of Majorca and the Spanish Tourist Board Tursepaña with the Director of the Spanish Tourist Office in London, Ignacio Vasallo, attending the event along with the Council of Majorca's Director of Tourism, Isabel Oliver and Maria del Mar Suau, the newly appointed Director of the Majorcan Tourism Foundation.
The Deputy Spanish Ambassador to London, Ramon Gandarias was also present. And, because of the historical interest in the lost Majorcan goat, the Curator of the Natural History Museum, Andy Current and the Director of the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam and the Natural Science Museum in Soller, Jelle Reumer were also there to give Anna Nicholas and her new book their support.
Karolyn Schindler and her partner, the TV presenter and radio presenter Henry Kelly also attended. Schindler has a particular interest in Nicholas's latest work because she wrote the biography of the Natural History Museum's fossil hunter Dorotea Bate who discovered the first evidence of the Myotragus's existence in a cave in the North east of Majorca exactly 100 years ago in September, 1909.
TV presenter and celebrity Nicholas Parsons, a close friend of the family, was also on the guest list, which had grown from the original 80 to well over 120, along with the celebrity couple Neil and Christine Hamilton. The Majorcan launch is being held next week at the Soller Science Museum.