"And, Clancy, you must wheel them,

try and wheel them to the right.

Ride boldly, lad, and never fear the spills."

In 1973, facing prosecution for dangerous driving following a high-speed motorcycle collision, a young civil engineer accepted a short-term job offer in Singapore. That twist of fate catapulted him into a global oil and gas industry fuelled by fallout from the Yom Kippur War, which saw crude oil jump from US$23 to US$62 a barrel. One year turned into thirty. Singapore turned into the Far East, the Middle East, the North Sea and South America. The journey took him to the world's greatest opera houses and through England's and Ireland's finest fox hunting country. David Wilson rose, fell, and rose again. This is the story.

Born in Dalby in 1947, David Wilson grew up on Mount Oscar Station just outside Clermont. Having matriculated, his initial instinct was to study medicine but when offered a scholarship in civil engineering his future path was decided. His early years as a graduate engineer were spent on projects around Australia but faced with losing his driver's licence for driving dangerously, he accepted a job in Singapore in theoil and gas industry. Later, David established an engineering office in London where he spent much of his time improving the written English of his colleagues, but Never Fear the Spills is his first published book. The book was spawned by a desire to impart some of his wisdom to younger generations of engineers. David now spends his days in retirement on the Sunshine Coast.