RESTLESS


What They Say About The Book





“Restless is a refreshingly honest “warts and all” reflection based on hard-learnt experience. If you have ever had great ambition but perhaps lacked the courage to go for it or wondered whether the risk is worth it, then this book is for you.”




Alan Hooper
Founding Director, Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter





“This is a read that will appeal to all ages. For the young, it will be inspirational – if you have the courage and the determination you can achieve anything you want. For the more mature, it will generate feelings of, ‘God, I wish I had done something like that’.”




John Purnell GM QPM DL
Former Deputy Assistant Commissioner Metropolitan Police & currently Lord Lieutenant of Greater London





“I would say that John Peck is in the same league as the explorer Robin Hanbury Tenison. He is undoubtedly a leader with that rare ability to inspire others. I was particularly taken with his address to the Police College in which he defines good leadership as the ability to know your men.”




Captain Peter Voute CBE, Royal Navy





"If I was in quicksand and I could call one person, it would be John Peck. He can look into your eyes, assess what's there and help you take on what at first appears impossible.”




Alex Mahon
Former CEO of Shine Group, now CEO at The Foundry





“The words “no” and “impossible” are side-lined in John’s unending pursuit of the next adventure.”




Emy Rumble-Mettle
Director, Talent & Development, GroupM





“Restless is a compelling and passionate reflection on a life well lived. Peck’s desire to explore his physical and mental limit is equal parts thrilling and inspiring. It made me long to go on more adventures of my own.”




Rick Pearson, Editor, Men's Running





“I first met John some years back while taking part in a Bravehearts program he was running in the remote islands off Scotland's coast. He articulated to some degree his experiences back then but his focus on us as his participants made him withhold all the nuggets that I have been fortunate enough to collect from his book! I am grateful to have read the book but blessed to have met the man.”




Karl Lokko
Former gang leader turned community worker campaigning to reform gang culture in the UK





“God only knows what has driven John on all these harebrained, frankly barmy adventures, but I’m supremely envious of his drive, his focus and his good humour throughout. This book compacts decades of lunatic but ultimately life-affirming capers into a barnstorming read. If I turn out to be half the man he is (and my time’s running out!), I’ll be very happy.”




Rob da Bank
Co-founder of music festival, Bestival, and former BBC Radio 1 DJ





“I have, on a cold winter’s evening, been transported to far-away mountains to climb with John, to run on scorched earth with him, overcome mountainous seas as I rowed with him, taken to the pinnacle of pain and utter exhaustion...I have been elevated, humbled and challenged...I have traversed the globe with him – and all of this while sitting at home with my dog asleep at my feet.”​




David Kay
Retired international marketing and aviation consultant to the film industry





“John Peck is not only an adventurer but a skilful and beguiling writer. This book is more than an interesting biography – it is funny, reflective, wise and, above all, inspirational.”




Adrian Furnham
Professor of Psychology at University College London
and Sunday Times columnist





“This fascinating book by John Peck describes how his thirst for adventure shaped not only his character but the whole pattern of his life. Many of his adventures were first time experiences rather the culmination of years of training. They were undertaken because his instinct was to pursue each idea when it arose rather than abandon it. This is the true spirit of an adventurer and he obviously revelled in it. The stories themselves are riveting. Physical fitness, determination, expedition planning and stresses on family life are all dealt with and collectively offer sound advice for any would be adventurers thinking of following in his footsteps.”




Major-General Ian Freer CB CBE





“John is a quiet spoken, affable man, thoughtful and rational; a surface demeanour, however, that masks a passionate core of molten steel and a determination to do the right thing in the right way. One example of this out of many I could chose from, hinted at by him here, was at a time of dangerous tensions with volatile communities in London... John steered paths between successfully meeting the expectations of a divided diverse society, vocal activists and difficult politicians in mountainous political seas...How he achieved that is revealed in his stories of other kinds of mountains and mountainous seas. No wonder he was a great police officer in the most diverse, problem-riddled, capital city on earth.”




John Grieve CBE QPM
Former Deputy Commissioner Metropolitan Police,
Professor Emeritus London Metropolitan University
and Senior Research Fellow, University of Portsmouth