Born a Londoner, I still live in my grandfather's old house in the
East End. Built in the 1840's the family has lived there for over sixty
years. I used to spend school holidays poring over wonderful Victorian
encyclopedias in rooms with dark brown woodwork and yellowing wallpaper.
When I was little I wanted to be a marine biologist - and a train driver,
a painter and a DamBuster. In 1968, I went to Haberdashers' Aske's Boys
School, Elstree, near the famous film studios - the school made frequent
appearances in 60s TV programs like The Avengers and The
Saint. A year later, I bunked off with my friends to catch the end
of the Sixties, and see the Rolling Stones memorial concert for Brian
Jones in Hyde Park. At school I became a keen actor, and left my marine
(and other) science pursuits behind in favour of literature, languages
and history. I went up to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1975 to read
English, and graduated with a B.A. in 1978 - something of a miracle as
I'd spent most of my time at university pursuing amateur theatricals; one
way or another I was involved in almost 60 shows in three years. Of
course, I swore to myself I'd never go into the "real theatre" - and
joined Contact Theatre in Manchester as an assistant stage designer
exactly one year after graduating ... the start of my theatre career.
Despite the pressures of the theatre, down the years I managed to squeeze in some real life; travelling to the North Cape by motorcycle in 1980, spending time with the Save the Children Fund in Bourkino Fassa (or Upper Volta, as it was back in 1983), hawking my services around Hollywood in 1987, and teaching drama in Canada and Israel.
After ten years in the professional theatre, I made a major switch into computers, and joined City University in 1992, gaining my M.Sc. a year later. So for the moment, I'm a full-time PhD student, my grandfather's house has white walls, white woodwork and Ethernet, and I share it with my partner Amanda and her daughter Jilly (aged 9).
See Computing and my Research Area for more tech. info.
See Theatre for more on a colourful
thespian life, and Shows for details of recent
productions.
See Fun Stuff for hobbies, interests and
worse.
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