Born in 1958 (The Year of the Dog!) and brought up in Birmingham, England, my early education came largely from my four sisters, which explains a great deal, but was greatly enhanced by getting away from them! Attendance at local schools improved things and a Geography degree from the University of Leeds in 1979 was followed by teacher qualifications from Canterbury Christ Church University in 1993.

Prior to my life as a teacher, my career was in the travel industry, focusing on the marketing of outgoing tour operations. After working at Horizon and Intasun, by my early-thirties I was running Exchange Travel Holidays, a tour operator specialising in Australia and New Zealand. And then life changed...

My teaching career commenced in Kent in 1991 and I also spent time in Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire, before moving overseas. Together with Andrea (who I met in Tanzania and married in China) I have worked for two years in Tanzania, six in China, three in Qatar, three in Bangladesh and four in Malawi, teaching mainly Humanities subjects, specialising at times in Economics. Throughout my time in secondary schools I have been a passionate and fully engaged classroom teacher.

In June 2020 I retired. Whilst Andrea plans to continue to work, we moved our home base to Mexico in July 2021. My memoirs, HANG THE TEACHER OUT TO DRY, are now on sale. I am in the process of completing a trilogy of novels based on ancient Chinese historical fiction.