A FORMER teacher is turning his passion for history into a business, teaching school children and tourist groups the history lying within York's walls.

Francis Richard Conolly, the former squash master at St Peter’s School, in Bootham and Bootham School, who has also taught history, English and physical education at schools across Yorkshire, left the world of teaching to become a writer.

His play, Funny How We Don’t Talk Anymore, was dramatised on BBC Radio, and now Francis has found a way to combine his love of writing, history and teaching. Francis has written YorBestGuide, an educational guided tour developed to make the most of his insider knowledge of York’s history.

He got into tourism working at the Archaeological Research Centre where he realised his ability to make children enjoy history through showing them fossilised Viking poo and other things.

He also taught English as a foreign language, when he was a popular tutor for taking his students out of the classroom to teach them, and show them, the city’s history.

“All the tourists in York do the same thing. They go to the minster for a while, then they might go to Jorvik and the National Railway Museum. But there are historical hidden gems around York and not even the residents of York know where they are.”