 He also wrote several books under the name "John Godley", including "Tell Me the Next One" (1950), "The Master Forger" (1951), "Living Like a Lord" (1955), "A Peer Behind the Curtain" (1959) and "Shamrocks and Unicorns" (1962), a biography of the Vermeer forger Han van Meegeren (1967), a war autobiography entitled "Bring Back My Stringbag" (1979), and "The Easy Way to Bird Recognition" (1982), which won an award and was followed up by "The Easy Way to Tree Recognition" (1983) and "The Easy Way to Wild Flower Recognition" (1984).He succeeded his father as Baron Kilbracken in 1950, while visiting New Zealand to celebrate the centenary of the foundation of Christchurch and the province of Canterbury by his great-great-grandfather, John Robert Godley.He took his seat in the House of Lords, but rarely attended until he made his maiden speech in 1961.