Born in 1951 in England, Les Bird joined the Royal Hong Kong Police in 1976 and served for two decades in the lead-up to the change of sovereignty. He was a rural officer in the remote fishing town of Tai O, he was involved in bringing in Vietnamese refugees along the Southern Boundary, and he chased down the “big flyer” daai fei smuggling speedboats which carried stolen luxury cars across Mirs Bay to China.

Bird is married with two daughters and still lives in Hong Kong. He has previously written his memoir: A Small Band of Men: An Englishman’s Adventures in Hong Kong’s Marine Police. His website is at www.lesbirdhk.com.