Me as an enthusiastic 10-year-old.

I was born in London, where my father was a policeman, but lived most of my youth in a small village, Dinton, near Salisbury. I remember Dinton fondly as a village that still had a two room village school, a smithy under a chesnut tree and a village lake where we young boys spent hours fishing for tiny roach and wild carp.

I went to Gillingham school in North Dorset, a happy time, where I became a nationally ranked Long Jumper, before studying Physical Education at the then Cardiff College of Education, now part of Cardiff University. I taught Physical Education in three different South Wales schools during which time my first daughter, Amy, was born. Sport has always been a part of my life and whilst teaching I was privileged to become coach to Llanharan RFC, a very enjoyable and successful four years. I got bored with teaching and left after seven years to open a sports shop with my wife and later, an import export business during which time my second daughter, Lucy, was born.

Looking forward to a glass of wine after a hard day in Corfu.

I continued to work in the sports business with a major sporting goods manufacturer and later as a management and marketing consultant to many firms throughout the UK, never-the-less I still found time to stand as a European Parliamentary Candidate in the 1994 election in South East Wales. This was a challenging experience and although I didn’t win (I was up against Glennys Kinnock, wife of the former labour leader who was defending the safest seat in the whole of the European Parliament), I had some great experiences. I always remember being invited to the House of Commons for a candidate meeting and afterwards to dinner there. Prior to the dinner, I, my wife and two other people were given a tour of the chamber (it wasn’t sitting) by Menzis Campbell MP. Before we went in, we were told that we were not allowed to sit on any of the benches. In we went and the splendour of the place was intoxicating, I actually stood at and put my hands on the dispatch box. As I did so, the great names of history came into my head, Wellington, Disraeli, Churchill and Thatcher, they had all stood in that very same place and had put their hands in exactly the same place as mine. Wow, goose bumps everywhere. I thought, you’re never going to stand here again in your whole life. Go on, sit down; any penalty will be worth it. So I sat in the same seat as these greats – for about two seconds before a security guard’s voice boomed out, “Stand up. You can’t sit there.”  He didn’t arrest me; I got away with it but will never forget that moment.

Towards the end of this time my first marriage dissolved and I met my present partner, Siegrun, who lives in East Germany and the rest is history. I now teach English to companies, organise tours to the UK and indulge myself with golf and by writing.