Writers, even the most conformist and conventional of them, very seldom receive knighthoods. Adventurous, uncompromising and idiosyncratic novelists almost never do. Yet, last week, in the Birthday Honours List, the Queen rewarded just such a figure. Raised in Guyana, by training a surveyor with a profound, life-changing knowledge of the fragile eco-systems of his native land. he has long lived in Essex. Half a century ago, TS Eliot (in his role as editor at Faber & Faber) talent-spotted his first novel.

All the talk now is of Eoin Morgan. It began as an excited muttering in South Africa last September, grew into something more voluble on his return there in November, became more urgent in Bangladesh in March and has shown no sign of declining from fever pitch in Guyana this week.

This week I'm writing about a recent break that I took to a wonderful rum distillery in Guyana. What with my tequila mission to Mexico last year, as well as quite a few wine trips abroad, it's true that many of my excursions are based around alcohol, but I justify them by telling myself that having a full understanding of all the types of alcohol in the world is an integral part of my job – at least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Cy Grant has died after a brief illness at the age of 90. He was the first black person to appear regularly on British factual television.

Thirty years ago, Chris Parrott co-founded the travel specialist Journey Latin America. At the time, the region was in turmoil, from Mexico and Guatemala to Argentina and Chile. Today Latin America is largely calm, peaceful and accessible (except, temporarily, Machu Picchu in Peru). But there is still plenty of virgin territory. In September, Chris will lead a prospecting trip to the territory that Evelyn Waugh described as "gobs of Empire": the Guianas. He tells Simon Calder about the trip.

Today: Adventure Travel Live at the Royal Horticultural Halls in central London features talks on the Inca Trail, going overland from Beijing to Cape Town, and Galápagos. The event continues tomorrow ( adventuretravelshow.co.uk ). Also today, the striking Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium will open with three days of cultural celebration in Ravello on Italy's Amalfi Coast ( auditoriumoscarniemeyer.it ).

Janet Jagan was white, Jewish and from Chicago, but for two years she served as President of Guyana, a Caribbean country on the mainland of South America deeply divided between communities of Indian and African origin. She was training as a nurse in her home town when she met Cheddi Jagan, a dental student whose parents had been brought from India as indentured labourers to work on a sugar plantation in what was then British Guiana, and the future course of her life was set.

There have always been Australians in county cricket. They have frequently, like Stuart Clark last week, prompted a fuss. Take Billy Midwinter. WG Grace did. Born in England, Midwinter emigrated to Australia (like Darren Pattinson of more recent vintage, but that is another can of worms). He played for Australia in the first Test match of all in 1877 and became the first bowler to take five wickets in a Test innings in the Aussies' 45-run victory. Later that year, missing Gloucestershire where he was born, he became the county's first professional. But the following summer Australia were touring and Midwinter, offered oodles of cash, agreed to play for them. As they prepared to take on Middlesex at Lord's, WG Grace, the captain of Gloucestershire, stormed the dressing room and kidnapped Midwinter to play in the county's match at The Oval. He stayed awhile and toured Australia with England in 1881-82, playing four Tests. But he changed allegiance again and played another six Tests for Australia. From the 1950s on, there has been a steady flow of Australians in county cricket – the spinners Bruce Dooland and George Tribe among the first, miffed at being overlooked by the Test selectors – and recently it has turned into a flood. Thanks to the polarising acquiescence of counties, five of Australia's team in the Third Test against South Africa have played county cricket, many for several clubs. Clark has played for two counties already. Middlesex will be Phillip Hughes's first, but probably not his last. Loyalty is of no consideration, they are merely professionals being professional. They should all be welcomed as guests, but to suggest they do not hinder the development of English cricketers is folly. Perhaps they should be kidnapped.

I've been looking back at my life, this past week. I'm not in therapy or anything, although hints to this effect are constantly being sprinkled all about me by the people who know me best.