Philpott, Don 1946-

PERSONAL:

Born March 7, 1946, in Hull, England; son of Reginald Richard (an educator) and Doris (a homemaker) Philpott; married, June 6, 1998; wife's name Pamela (an estimator); children: Matthew, Aaron, Adam, and Meredith. Education: Skinners' Company School for Boys, National Certificate in Journalism. Religion: Anglican. Hobbies and other interests: Wine, food, wildlife, and photography.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Maitland, FL. Office—Florida Features, 375 Douglas Ave., Ste. 1002, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714; fax: 407-862-5734. E-mail—dp@donphilpott.com; dp@mediawiseus.com; dp@myfloridafeatures.com.

CAREER:

Travel writer and journalist. Reuters-Press Association, senior correspondent, 1968-88; Mediawise Communications, London, England, founder and president, 1988-94; Mediawise Communications US, Orlando, FL, founder and president, 1994—. Institute of Public Relations, media trainer.

MEMBER:

Wekiva Wilderness Trust (president, 2006—), North American Travel Journalist Association, International Food and Wine Association, Travel Writers Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

First prize, National Travel Writing Awards, 2006.

WRITINGS:

The Vineyards of France, Globe Pequot Press (Chester, CT), 1987.

Visitor's Guide to Iceland, Moorland (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1989.

Wine and Food of Bulgaria, Mitchell Beazley (London, England), 1990.

Florida: A Home Buyer's Guide, Mediawise (London, England), 1992.

Champagne Almanac, Eric Dobby (Kent, England), 1993.

The Wine Drinker's Almanac, Eric Dobby (Kent, England), 1993.

Food, Fact, and Fantasy, Mediawise (London, England), 1994.

(With others) Off the Beaten Track: Austria, 2nd edition, Moorland (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1994.

Visitor's Guide to Norway, Moorland (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1995.

Visitor's Guide to USA: Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, Moorland (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1995.

Visitor's Guide to Burgundy and Beaujolais, Moorland (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1995.

Visitor's Guide to the Windward Islands, Moorland (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1996.

Antigua & Barbuda, Landmark (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1999.

(With Pam Philpott) The Trailside Cookbook: A Handbook for Hungry Campers and Hikers, Firefly Books (Buffalo, NY), 2005.

(With Michael W. Kuenstle) Education Facility Security Handbook, Government Institutes (Lanham, MD), 2007.

"CARIBBEAN SUNSEEKERS" SERIES

Grenada, Moorland (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1994, Passport Books (Lincolnwood, IL), 1996.

St. Lucia, Moorland (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1994, Passport Books (Lincolnwood, IL), 1996.

St. Vincent & Grenadines, Moorland (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1994, Passport Books (Lincolnwood, IL), 1996.

U.S. Virgin Islands, Moorland (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1995, Passport Books (Lincolnwood, IL), 1996.

Dominica, Moorland (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England), 1995, Passport Books (Lincolnwood, IL), 1996.

Contributor to numerous periodicals. Editor of the Mediawise International Food Digest. Editor of the Landmark Visitor's Guides to Orlando and Central Florida, Florida's Gulf Coast, Florida Keys, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao, British Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago. Editor of Homeland Defense Journal, 2006—, and cofounder and editor of Footloose.

SIDELIGHTS:

Don Philpott is a travel writer and a journalist. Born in Hull, England, on March 7, 1946, Philpott is the son of an educator. He attended Skinners' Company School for Boys and earned a National Certificate in Journalism, marking the beginning of his long career in travel writing and journalism. Philpott worked for the Reuters-Press Association as a senior correspondent from 1968 to 1988. With twenty years of journalistic experience, he opened his own company, Mediawise Communications, in London, England, in 1988. Mediawise Communications is an international business solutions company that provides writing services and consultation in the areas of marketing, advertising, and public relations. Mediawise Communications's North American and European clients have included Barclays Bank Ltd., the UK Civil Aviation Authority, Hoover European Appliance Group, the Icelandic Tourist Board, the International Red Cross, Mars, NASA, Safeways Ltd., Sara Lee, and Walt Disney World. In 1994 the company relocated its headquarters to Orlando, Florida, with Philpott remaining as president of the company. The company maintained its office in London and also opened an associate office in Brussels, Belgium.

Since 2006, Philpott has been the president of the Wekiva Wilderness Trust. He is also an active member of the North American Travel Journalist Association, the International Food and Wine Association, and the Travel Writers Association. Philpott also served as a media trainer with the Institute of Public Relations.

As a writer, Philpott has published dozens of books and contributed thousands of articles and photographs to periodicals from his work with Reuters. He was awarded first prize in the 2006 National Travel Writing Awards. With Mediawise, he edits the International Food Digest. Philpott cofounded and edited Footloose, an outdoor activity magazine, which was a leading publication in its market for nearly ten years. He also began serving as editor of the Arlington, Virginia-based Homeland Defense Journal in 2006, a journal that focuses on security issues and provides training courses and conferences in the United States.

Philpott is responsible for the "Caribbean Sunseekers" series. The series is a set of travel guides that focus on popularly visited Caribbean nations and territories. Philpott has written nearly half a dozen guides for this series, including on Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Dominica, all first published in the mid 1990s.

Philpott is also editor of the popular Landmark Visitor's Guides. With Landmark, he has written travel guides for Caribbean islands as well as several regions of the United States and Europe. In Europe he wrote the guides for Iceland, Norway, and Burgundy and Beaujolais. In the United States, he wrote a single guide for Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. He also edited guides to regions in Florida, including Orlando and Central Florida, Florida's Gulf Coast, and the Florida Keys. Continuing south into the Caribbean, Philpott edited the guides to the Windward Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao, the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 1996, review of St. Lucia, p. 206; September 15, 1996, review of U.S. Virgin Islands, p. 206.

ONLINE

Don Philpott Home Page,http://donphilpott.com (December 13, 2007), author biography.

Mediawise Communications Web site,http://www.mediawiseus.com/ (December 13, 2007), author profile.