I was born on Sultan Road, Portsmouth. It's been twice flattened and re-built since I was born. My parents were lodging in a terrace house | Here's part of my birth certificate in Italian (done for my wedding) |
Here's the calendar in our Farlington living room, the "Y" of "Friday" having been worn away by thumbs | One of my science notebooks |
Our school was the best in the country for chess. I managed 3rd in the UK U-18 championships when the best players of my age were elsewhere | Our school was good at basketball too, but I didn't achieve much - just a few games for south-east Hants |
Norwich, where I did a degree, half-heartedly continued chess (played top board for Norfolk once) | I spent a year in Bristol, teacher-training. I tried painting |
Oxford, where I spent a year as a teacher | I interrailed to Morocco |
I taught myself computing and wrote a game that was mentioned in a Guardian cutting | The money kept my going for 6 months or so |
I visited India | Here's a rare photo of me in Liverpool where I did an M.Sc |
I lived in Nottingham for a while, under the roof | I got a job in Cambridge |
A slide from my only academic paper "Graphical Interfaces in Education: A Case History" (UKUUG, 1991) showing 2 of my programs | I used punched cards as a UEA student. At Cambridge I won an iPod in a draw. My oldest webpage existing was written in 1993 |
My parents-in-law's village | My ipod's start-up picture. Sienna |
A letterhead I use on webpages. I'm on the left | Visiting a new house with our new baby |
Me, the Sahara and a camel | My poetry booklet acceptance - ISBN 978-1-905939-59-6 |
My second book - ISBN 978-0-9570984-9-7 | Berlotti beans from our allotment. Some years we grow 30 different things |