Maps and surveys interest Knight. “I produced the only accurate map of Pitcairn Island ever made,” he said. “It has 400 place names in three languages—astonishing for an island only two miles by one mile.” He also paints water­colours, but history has been his ruling passion. In his younger days he tramped all over the peninsula, examining every historic site. Although physically too fragile for this work now, his mind remains acute—nourished by a vast collection of books. Indeed, in his lounge there was scarcely room for the two of us to sit down. I perched on the corner of a sofa stacked with weighty books, and Knight squeezed into an old easy chair facing the ashes in the fireplace. A black beret covered most of his grey hair and accentuated his bristly and disordered eyebrows. The room was dim and smelt of woodsmoke. Bookshelves extended right to the high ceiling. I realised with a pang that Knight could now never retrieve books from the upper levels. They were beyond his physical reach.