A transport and tourism consultant, passionate rambler and environmental campaigner, he is the author of around 40 books, mainly about Yorkshire


What's your first memory of being outdoors?
Aged three being taken by my parents for a walk along the towpath of the Grand Union Canal in Wendover, Buckinghamshire, where my father was stationed in the RAF – the Second World War was not yet over but I didn't have a care in the world.


What's your favourite part of the county and why?The Yorkshire Dales, because even in a county of astonishing variety and beauty, the Dales somehow has that very special magic for me.


What's your idea of a perfect weekend/day out in Yorkshire?
Getting my boots on to the high fells somewhere on or near the Three Peaks, with a view of the Settle-Carlisle Railway below.


Do you have a favourite walk, or view?
Any part of the Dales Way, but the section in Upper Wharfedale between Grassington and Kettlewell along the high limestone shelf high above the valley sides takes some beating.


Which Yorkshire stage or screen star (past or present) would you like to take for lunch?
Diana Rigg, who comes from Doncaster – a fabulous actress who seems to have got even more glamorous over the decades.


If you had to name your Yorkshire hidden gem, what would it be?
Thorns Gill in Upper Ribblesdale, a deep rocky gorge crossed by an ancient packhorse bridge – and happily half a mile from the nearest road.


What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?
Its magnificent landscape, its rich cultural heritage and its resilient people; in a very real sense Yorkshire is a nation within a nation, with its own flag, unofficial anthem, and even its own rich dialect form of English.


Do you follow sport in the county, and if so what?
Sadly none, because most weekends and any free time I have available I like to be out of doors in the Yorkshire countryside rather than watching others enjoying themselves.


What about Yorkshire's cultural life?
I am a huge fan of Opera North, which is one of the most exciting opera and music theatre companies in western Europe. It has done so much to put our region on the international artistic map.


Do you have a favourite restaurant or pub?
The Baht 'At in Ilkley, my local, with its good grub and excellent choice of Yorkshire (and occasionally Lancashire) real ales.


Do you have a favourite food shop?
Askwith's in the centre of Ilkley, a lovely old fashioned greengrocers and flower shop, holding its own with quality produce and good service against the onward march of the supermarkets.


How do you think Yorkshire has changed in the time you've known it?
Much more cosmopolitan and sophisticated than when I first came to Yorkshire as a student at Leeds University in the 1960s.


Are those changes for the better?
Mainly for the better – we're a more tolerant and culturally rich and
diverse community than we were.
But there are losses which include the decline of Yorkshire's rich dialect, at least in cities such as Leeds where
in the new offices and bars you'll often not even hear a Yorkshire accent. A good deal of that wonderfully rich West Riding blend of bluntness and friendliness, Methodism and local pride, so brilliantly captured by Bradford's JB Priestley, has disappeared – though it is still to be found in our smaller towns and country villages.


Who is the Yorkshire man or woman you most admire?
Poet, translator, dramatist Tony Harrison, born in Leeds, one of England's greatest living writers, whose work draws strength both from classical literature and the rich vernacular of Yorkshire working class language and idiom.


How has Yorkshire influenced your work?
Enormously – the landscape, the language, the people inspire both poetry and prose.


Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer
It has to be Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, one of the greatest poetic novels in the English language, deeply rooted in the landscape and culture of the Yorkshire Pennines during aperiod of dramatic industrial and social change.


Colin Speakman's latest book – Walks Around Ilkley and Otley (Dalesman) – has just been published.