In a distinguished British Diplomatic Service career spanning 23 years Keith focused on the security and intelligence dimensions of international issues.

On joining the Service in 1976, and after a period of intensive training, Keith was posted to Johannesburg, South Africa, at the heights of apartheid government. Over the ensuing years, with periodic returns to work in the United Kingdom, Keith's Service career then saw him living and working in many parts of the world. For 3 years, in the early 1980's, he was in Moscow, Russia, experiencing the challenges of the depths of the Cold War. Then to Kingston, Jamaica, with responsibilities spanning an arc through the Western Caribbean to Central America. And also to Harare, Zimbabwe, and to Kampala, Uganda.

When working from a United Kingdom base Keith traveled extensively in support of foreign policy objectives. Including assisting and supporting international and national efforts to combat global crime, such as drug trafficking and illicit financial activities, and to counter the threat from domestic and international terrorism.

In late 1999 Keith retired from active government service. From a career in the most delicate and least visible aspects of international diplomacy he moved to a new role in corporate security, working for multi-national businesses in their efforts to protecting against international threats.There followed appointments at senior level with a number of companies, most notably in oil and gas and related fields. Climaxing in the early 2000's in Keith's appointment to the position of Global Security Director of a major international corporation.

Keith now engages in occasional consultancy work, and lives with his wife Joan quietly in rural England.

ALL TALKS ARE BASED ON PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT AND EXPERIENCES, AND ARE ANCHORED AUTOBIOGRAPHICALLY.

1. Licensed to Thrill.
Recollections of work and play in Soviet Russia. Life in Moscow in the early 80's working with and against the all-powerful Soviet State.

2. The KGB Remembered.
KGB: what it was and what it did. It's spying successes and failures.
Drawing on unique personal experiences, tales of KGB actions and plots against western citizens in the Soviet State.

3.Loyalty to the Party. Loyalty to the People.
The KGB’s reach stretched throughout the Former Soviet Union and beyond. But how many KGBs where there, and what where they up to? And how deeply where they immersed in the everyday lives of Soviet citizens.

4. A KGB Postscript.
More tales of KGB operations and their consequences, for their targets, and for them!

5. Guerrillas in the Mist:
A visit to Uganda. The search for mountain gorillas and human guerrillas of a different hue. The Lord’s Resistance Army, its genesis and impact. And a brush with disaster in the mountains.

6. Searching for Apartheid's Bomb.
Did apartheid South Africa develop and manufacture nuclear weapons? And did we know!

7. Economic Sanctions: Policed or Beaten!
In 14 years of unilaterally declared independence Rhodesia was subject to the international community's first ever economic sanctions regime. How were sanctions applied, and did they work? An account, with exclusive personal stories, of combating sanctions busters and what was achieved.

8. Tea with a Despot.
Mugabe and Zimbabwe, the land that lost its way. At independence Africa's bread basket. 35 years later famine, a broken economy, and political dictatorship. What went wrong? How and why? And can it be fixed!

9. Cold War, Proxy War, and a Railway.
A Caribbean overseas adventure and revolution in Portugal. The story of colonialism's end in Africa. And of the Railway which became the front line in subsequent Civil War, a proxy war in Africa played out in the cold war context of conflict between East and West.

10. Yardies and a Windy Day.
Learn about the Caribbean Yardie culture, from its origin to global reach. And of a historic hurricane.

11. Dictators, Democracy, and Magic.
Explore the history, politics and unique culture of Haiti, Latin America’s first independent nation.

12. Searching the Caribbean Crossroads.
Consider the region’s position at the intersection of international finance, trade and much more.

13. Guns, Gangs, and Ganja.
Caribbean gang culture. It’s migration from the Islands to become an international issue. The consequences and impact. And what it means for us.

14. Q and A.

Ongoing and extensive guest speaker appointments with Cunard, Viking, Silversea and Seabourn. Past experience also includes appointments with Fred Olsen, Saga, Voyages of Discovery, CMV.

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.