He was elected to write The Courier's Book of Dundee (1989) and its Millennium (2000) and Bicentenary (2001) supplements, and most recently represented the paper at the Beijing Olympics. His books include Dundee's Suffragettes (1990), Dundee: A Short History (2006) and WRVS in Scotland (2008). He won the 2007 Robson Lowe literature award for The Postal History of Perth. He is currently writing the first proper biography of William McGonagall. He has researched, written and broadcast on women's history for 20 years.