Born In London, the son of a successful builder and developer, Mike Thorne gravitated to agriculture in his teens and soon became familiar with the tractors then used on the land, having a particular admiration for the revolutionary grey Ferguson, with its unique three-point hydraulic linkage for mounting machinery. At this time he also, if asked, would construct modest buildings for local farmers, and this activity grew from being a sideline into a major business, involving large industrial buildings as well as ones for agricultural use.

In the 1980s his love of tractors moved him to start acquiring examples of many makes, and over time he bought more than 100, before a change of direction saw him reduce the collection to only Ferguson and Massey Ferguson models, to house which he designed and constructed a fascinating pair of showrooms, open to the public by appointment and well known to tractor enthusiasts.

In this book he writes about all the tractors he has owned, making an absorbing account of a great passion, with nearly all the tractors illustrated. He has written three books on Ferguson and Massey Ferguson tractors for Herridge & Sons, all of them now standard works.