Thomas Cook : The Holiday-Maker

Thomas Cook (1808-92), the father of tourism, is a forgotten hero of his age. When he was born, neither of the words ''tourism'' or ''sigtseeing'' had been invented. Driven by his Baptist faith and the promotion of Temperance, Cook founded the travel industry -- now one of the world''s biggest trade sectors. Over 150 years after his first overseas tour was conducted, this book brings to life the complex man behind the famous name.

There have been many accounts of the history of his firm, but this readable and provocative book is the first full-length biography of Cook himself. His early years in Melbourne, Derbyshire, as a gardener, carpenter and preacher, then in Leicester as a printer and travel organiser, give a vivid picture of the political influence of the Nonconformists in England in the 19th century.

Cook did everything from starting soup kitchens to leading an innovative campaign for the repeal of the Corn Laws. During his 50-year career in travel he drew on the same enthusiasm and originality to make holidays easier by introducing pre-paid inclusive tours, hotel coupons, traveller''s cheques, the ''round the world'' trip and the first travel newspaper.

Few people, though, know of his determination to improve the lot of the working classes, his abhorrence of drink and his deep faith. The sex, alcohol and over-spending now associated with holidays would horrify the man whose first escorted trip in 1841 was a Temperance outing to Loughborough in the Midlands. He also helped set up a Baptist Chapel in Rome in the 1870s, and from 1869 onwards he brought the largest number of British people to the Holy Land since the Crusaders. At the end of his life Cook could boast that he had escorted thousands of tourists abroad with few mishaps, but he sadly witnessed the accidental death of his only daughter in his own home. A moving and enthralling account, this book gives a new perspective not only on Thomas Cook himself but on the birth of the travel industry.