A TENBY man who spent three years travelling across Australia selling encyclopaedias has penned his experiences nearly 20 years after returning to his home town.

Following three years of writing – and many more years of persuasion - Lance Russell, 46, launched his self-published book, The Encyclopedia Man, last month.

Leaving Tenby in 1991 with working visas in hand, Lance and two Pembrokehshire friends, Ian ‘Yobbler’ Thomas and Andrew Swales, began their adventures Down Under.

But there was a recession on and Lance had to leave his friends in Kiama, eastern Australia, to find work.

From Sydney and Melbourne to the remote outback towns and Aboriginal communities, he met people from all walks of life and saw a side to the country that many people miss.

Speaking about his experiences in the aboriginal communities, Lance said: “People said we were mad going in there – everybody’s drunk and never work, they said.

“But what we saw was people wanting to buy educational books for their children to get them out of that cycle.”

Lance went from selling £1,000-worth of encyclopaedias a week to about £8,000-worth.

“These people had never had the opportunity to buy these sort of books,” he added.

“At first I looked at them in the same way a lot of Aussies did – as drunk offenders. But after a few months I started seeing things differently.”

He added: “I experienced events that, quite frankly, most people would have preferred to avoid completely, but I took it in my stride daily, trying to earn some money to keep me travelling.”

Back on home turf, Lance often talked about his travels and many people said he should write a book about his experiences.

“Discarding this idea, I thought it would be much easier to tell my story verbally rather than put pen to paper.

“Having since travelled the world extensively, and wherever I have been, told a story or two, people have asked whether I had written a book or that I should write one.”

About 350 copies of the book have been sold so far.

Lance is holding book signings at Victoria Bookshop, Bridge Street, Haverfordwest, this Friday (January 17), from 11am to 3pm, and the Hope and Anchor, St Julian Street, Tenby, on Sunday (January 19), from noon to 4pm.

The book is available from The Tenby Book Shop, Tenby Newsagents, Caffe Vista, Tenby, and Victoria Bookshop, Haverfordwest.