“I was born in Nuneaton, lived in Bedworth, Warwickshire as a child and was educated in and around that area. I received my secondary education at the excellent King Edward VI School in Nuneaton and then attended Wolverhampton Polytechnic (now the University of Wolverhampton) to read the then-relatively-new concept of Business Studies. Some of the technical elements of the course and many of the people that I met and worked with during the “Thin Sandwich” part of this four year degree stood me in very good stead in later years. It is certainly true to say that the inordinate amount of “creative” writing that school and HE years required me to produce, gave me the core skills to make writing novels at least a possibility in future years.

I found my way into the teaching profession at the age of 29, and taught at a further education college in Coventry. Writing lectures from scratch across numerous different professional courses further reinforced the creative skills that my early education had given me. I have maintained a keen interest in education since this time, hence the attempt to make “Hunting The Bushbird” a multi-dimensional novel.

The internet now gives full opportunity for any reader, young or old, to check out the geographical locations and references in the book. In particular, the real bushbird is just one element in the local and global issues of conservation of the natural world. Hopefully, reading the story will stimulate wider interest in the struggle of indigenous peoples in some parts of the globe, deforestation, homelessness and will underline the central importance of strong family ties.

My fervent hope is that my writing can at least offer an antidote to the “fast-food” diet of social media interaction and opinion. I feel that young people need and benefit from extended periods of imaginative and humane engagement with literature to balance the sheer volume and variety of bite/byte-sized data and subject matter that streams into their 21st century worlds. My own interaction with the world-at-large via social media has been historically intermittent. My only realistic route to gaining anyone's attention for any length of time must therefore lie in my writing.

Hunting The Bushbird” is my first book and is aimed primarily at young readers from 11 to 15. If this natural audience for my work develops into more of a mixed one, both in age, nationality and/or other characteristics,

then so much the better. I did a great deal of research into the background of this novel so, all things being equal, there will almost certainly be more of them! There is a sequel for sure as the keyboard has already produced the opening setting!

I have also written a number of short stories, two of which appear on this website. Sometimes, capturing the essence of a situation in this shorter form can be helpful to a writer not least because it shuts down the nagging feeling that every idea can be converted into a full novel … closing the “book” after 2000 words, instead of after 75,000 more is sometimes a blessed relief.

Comedy verse and rhymes are also never far from my pen. ”The Many Animal Disguises of Henry Bassett” is written for 8 to 12 year-olds. It charts the repetitive efforts of a local postman to survive his working life by introducing an air of irreverence and humour into his interaction with the local community. Hopefully, Henry can also soon be released into the wild in print.

My “Doggerel Bank” is, well… just that… a layer of foggy material that no-one can easily see. Once the editorial focus of a trained eye has scanned the variety of verse and nonsense contained within it, a full collection in print is planned. Some tasters can also be found in the “Writing” section on the site so hopefully they too will amuse and entertain in equal measure.

Sometimes, the human race surpasses its own standards of the incredible. The daily events out in the real world are often stranger than fiction. The contributions in “Strange Times” are a sideways look at the kind of stories that you have to read twice. This is because at first sight, they are either so laughable or so tragi-comic that they are scarcely believable. Even though we do indeed live in strange times, surely we didn’t think they could be this strange…. judge for yourself in the “Writing” section.

This then, dear reader, is my potted history. Having worked in later years as an Employment Tribunal advocate and hotelier, (with genuine Fawlty Towers” staff and guests), with brief forays into egg distribution business and stand-up comedy, I am now settled in the North East and Northumberland and write full-time. I hope you enjoy reading my offerings both now and in the future.”