The journey to success rarely runs smoothly and never more so than this author's who refused to let life's challenges stand in his way.

Orphaned twice, moved from one foster home to another, Tony Moore became an entrepreneur in the US, designing the biggest selling military glove in the US firefighting history, which is now in every GI’s kit bag.

Tony, who spent his life in Ealing - he and his ex-wife Jane owned the Village Wine bar in the 80s and she and their daughters Amanda and Georgia now run Enchanted in Northfields - has now written One of a Kind, a rollercoaster of his life.

Now based in Indianapolis with his wife, Sue and two sons, Nicholas and James, his book, published in the States, delves in to the secrets of success, with an overriding theme: the importance of taking risks.

He said: "I learned to take the risk, take a chance and just go ahead without fear.The question to ask ourselves is this: ‘If you could change anything in your life what would you change?’ Fifteen hundred retirees were asked that question and most answered very honestly, ‘I wish I had taken more risks.’ How sad

that would be to realise that when it’s too late to do anything about it.”

His mother died of tuberculosis when he was just four years old. He was orphaned again by the time he was 11 and foster and children's homes followed before he was forced to go to boarding school in the 60s where he managed to ignite a 400-year-old hedgerow with a can of petrol. The book moves through the London fashion and music scene to a five-year career in engineering.

He moved to Indianapolis in USA to run global operations with a company, Alfa Laval, before leaving in 1997 to start a fragrance company with the former nose of Elizabeth Arden. It launched a fragrance called Stardust into Bergdorf Goodman in New York and then into other top tier stores in the USA, becoming number two in US sales.

Tony married Sue in 1988, sold the fragrance company and joined a family owned glove company, where he developed several market leading products in the US fire fighter and military markets, but still found time to write a book.

He said: " The reason I began to write my own 'story' was that I came to a point in my life when I found myself telling people stories of some of the things I had done, in a casual way, and found that people I met seemed really interested. Also, I wanted my children to know more about my life,

"The book is an autobiography which shows that despite coming from very humble beginnings as a orphan in Ealing, in and out of foster homes and orphanages, while growing up in Ealing, I made it to international success.

"One Of A Kind is about achieving success and overcoming life´s difficult times and coming through with amazing and often hilarious results. Not the sort of success of being a millionaire, a famous actor or politician, though I have to say there is nothing to stop any of us being one of these if we so choose, but the success of taking the risk and gaining success in whatever we choose to do.

"I honestly wanted to convince young people that life is absolutely a roller-coaster, and no matter how bad you think your life is you can change your circumstance as soon as you decide to take the chance. Also, I truly believe that we are given skills, talents, and we can choose to use them or not. When we do life takes a dramatic turn for the better and I have spoken to hundreds of young people I have met and I see the sparkle light up in their eyes as I explain this to them. I love that."

He said in spite of the delights of the US, he still misses the UK adding: "I miss the busses, the taxis, the street life, the closeness of everything. I found it so funny to be sitting on the upper deck of a double decker bus with my funny daughters going from Hanwell to Ealing to meet up with a lot of friends in a couple of pubs. Here, sadly, everything is so spread out a car is an absolute must."

One of a Kind is available from: www.Xlibris.com or www.amazon.com.