What do Graham Greene, Howard Marks, Robert Maxwell and Bill Clinton have in common? They are all Oxford rogues, according to a new book written by one of the city's tour guides, Rob Walters.

Mr Walters, who is also the author of the acclaimed Haunted Oxford, told The Guide that he originally planned to write a fictional work about the 19th century explorer Sir Richard Burton, the 20th century actor Richard Burton, and the former drug dealer Howard Marks.

The 61-year-old father-of-four, who lives with his wife Margaret off North Parade in North Oxford, admitted that the fictional project "didn't really work out".

So he hit upon the idea of writing a tour guide featuring the three men, together with seven more.

Mr Walters said: "I have written the book as a tour through Oxford, which examines the interesting and often scurrilous lives of these rogues.

"I know from my own tours that people are really interested in stories about rogues, so I decided to write them down. The book is fun but it is also a concise history of the lives of 10 fascinating men who were also rogues in different ways."

Each chapter ends with Mr Walters giving readers the opportunity to assess the subject's rogue rating against various criteria, on a scale of one to five.

You can judge, for example, how much of a womaniser, liar, adventurer, and charmer Graham Greene was and then enter your score in the book, or on Walter's website.

When I ask the author if he has any rogue-like vices himself, he grins and tells me that real ale is perhaps his only major vice.

"I might drink eight or 10 pints quite easily in a day at the Oxford Beer Festival," he admits.

At the moment, Howard Marks is the guide's favourite rogue, and he met him briefly when the charismatic one-time courier appeared at the Oxford Union.

"I certainly don't agree with some of Howard's statements about drugs, but he is a very charming character and a lot of students venerate him," he says.

The former telecoms engineer loves travelling when he is not walking the streets of Oxford, and he recently returned from a trip to Taiwan, where his 28-year-old son Rafe lives.

Mr Walters has been a tour guide in Oxford for about four years and hopes his book, which features a map suggesting a route for rogue watchers, will be popular with tourist and locals.

The guide is packed with fascinating details about Oxford's past, and you have to wonder how American tourists will react when Walters explains to them the rather ribald history of Magpie Lane.

I have no doubt that the affable writer, whose own rogue rating is a modest 22, will have no trouble putting visitors in the picture without causing any offence.

Oxford Rogues, Their City, Their Lives, is published by Oxface Publications, price £8.99 and will be available at high street book shops and at the Tourist Information Centre in Broad Street. Visit Mr Walters' website at satin.co.uk