I suppose I always regarded life as a cross between an experiment and a game of dare, with the result that it’s been rich and spicy but never a rehearsal. I’d planned to be a beachcomber but the weather put me off, and after a demoralising three years getting an art degree at a prestigious London art school I turned to the natural sciences for consolation. The rest is history. I became curator of fossil reptiles and birds at the Natural History museum, then being a restless soul transferred to marine fishes and learned to dive. Not satisfied with the challenges, or salary, of a marine biologist I bluffed my way to a seven year managerial stint in Visitor Services. These days I’m a “resource”, which might mean National Treasure, but is more likely to indicate a spare part who is too expensive to make redundant. I achieved most of my ambitions, including working with David Attenborough, a long time ago, so now I’m working on a whole new set.

I like to live in the present but if required to nominate a few magic moments from the past, I’d opt for these (what a romantic) :

• Paddling down the Zambesi, crocs, hippos and all.
• Tracking rhino on the Waterburg, even when they were between you and the Land Rover.
• Skiing my first black run in the French Alps.
• Diving the reefs round the skirts of the live volcano, Miyake-jima.
• Photographing the fauna and flora of the Namib Desert
• Watching the stars come out on New Years Eve in the deserted temples of Luxor.

I also like silence, feasts with friends, clean air, a good argument and I’ll do anything for a laff ? That’s some of the things I can mention. Don’t like sitting still, frostbite, mobile phones and restrictions. History and archaeology are fairly recent interests and can be directly attributed to some of the people I knock about with. I’ve dug a few sites where archaeology meets palaeontology, like the Gower Caves, Swanscombe and some Mendip caves, but these days the armchair wins over the trowel.

I come in useful if you want to see behind the scenes at the NHM and I have a wide range of contacts who can help you with your Palaeolithic problems.

I’m an English Civil War re-enactor and civilian member of the famous Fairfax Battalia. http://www.fairfax.org.uk/

Special Interest Areas

17th- 18th Centuries and early medical practices.

I’ve only discovered the delights of Time Team recently (sorry) so am still fairly new to the forum. I’m originally from Coventry, currently in Stevenage in Herts. Yet another teacher, I’m afraid (primary – lots of special needs children). I’m just your typical culture vulture! In other words, I’ve no qualifications in archaeology whatsoever. My first degree was in Music and Education and following a year teaching in Bradford, did an MA in Philosophy of Education many moons ago. I’ve got enough points for another but as you can’t use it to get a discount at M&S, I’ve never seen the point.

My ambition: to do my PhD when I find something that holds my interest long enough! The most usual description of me has tended to be a cross between barking mad and daft as a broom, both of which are just cruel aspersions on my character. If I choose to see the world in alphabetical order, starting with the letter I; well, why not??

I was born in Edinburgh and grew up in Scotland until I was 12, when I moved to Lancashire. At school I loved art and history, especially when we did the 1900’s and got to dress up, interview relatives etc. It really caught my imagination. Ever since then people have said that I was born in the wrong century, although it has not yet been decided which century I should have been born in!

I have absolutely no historical or archaeological qualifications but once I have finished studying and am working, I would like to do an evening class or OU course. I would love to go on a dig one day, just to see what it’s really like if nothing else.

At the moment I am studying at The Norland Nursery Training College for the NVQ3 in early years care and education and also a higher diploma in the same subject. When I qualify I want to go back to working as a nanny (which I did to fill in my gap year). I would also like to teach English in a remote village in India, or somewhere similar, for a year.

I don’t really know enough to have developed any special interests yet but I am keen on the details of everyday life. I like to think of the individual people involved in a battle or living in a house.

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My partner Linda and I live in Filey on the East Coast of Yorkshire. I’m a jeweller by trade and we both work in our shop in the town. We are generally interested in all aspects of archaeology, but have a specific interest in Aviation Archaeology. We have two Siamese cats, Monte & Sam, whose manic antics in the wee small hours drive us out of the house to seek the peace and tranquillity of the Moors and Uplands. We have two small children, Ann (5) and John (3),who occasionally get dragged away from the “square box” and out into the fresh air for miles of walking!

I have always had more than a passing interest in aviation, and in recent years had been involved in restoring WWII aircraft. To this end we had to visit crash sites to recover (under MoD Licence) parts to help in these restorations.

We have excavated a number of aircraft crash sites (also under MoD Licence) and have always endeavoured to employ some traditional archaeological techniques.

We recently took the decision to stop excavating such sites because of a minority of people who don’t obtain the necessary permission before a dig. We have however opted to survey crash sites in order to pass essential information to the MoD, National Parks Authorities, the National Trust, and the County Archaeologists. The information we provide is being used to put each site on the Sites and Monuments Records. We hope that this will provide added protection for such sites and back up the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

In recent years the increase in collecting and trading in wreckage from crash sites has tainted Aviation Archaeology and many people find the pastime distasteful for the right reasons.

We are currently surveying sites on the North Yorkshire Moors, although we have looked at sites in the Yorkshire Dales and the Peak District.

I failed to join the RAF aged 17 as aircrew, but recently started training to fly helicopters. Great for building on your self confidence but very financially draining – cheaper to have another kid?

Special Interest Areas

Aviation Archaeology, Egyptology

This website is maintained for Time Team Forum Friends by: Corinne Mills

Your comments on this site are welcome. Please email [email protected]

Copyright © Corinne Mills and contributors
Last updated February 13, 2005

We would like to thank Steve Platt, Website Editor for Channel Four Time Team, for continuing permission to use the copyright logo of Time Team.

Born in Worcester, later lived in Weston-super-Mare and Harrow. Spent happy childhood holidays and weekends visiting castles, museums, abbeys etc – loved scrambling on ruins! No interest in history at school – did a degree in Library Studies at Loughborough University and was inspired by tutorials on Local History librarianship, and introduced to W.G. Hoskins’s classic books on landscape history.

Moved to Portsmouth with first job in an MoD library, married Chris (a chiropodist) and both continued to enjoy visiting old sites, walking, visiting old churches (lots in the countryside near here), going to evening classes on geology, local history etc.Started as a volunteer steward at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton.

Children now 12 and 8, getting a bit fed up with being dragged to “boring old historical stuff”, so I’m delighted that local TTFF has emerged at just the right time.

Have watched TT since the very first series and have only missed a couple of programmes – still the high spot of my week in winter! Stayed at a cottage in Much Wenlock the week after the very early TT programme was filmed there and were thrilled to see it in the view from the church tower on the film.

Special Interest Areas

History of buildings, vernacular architecture, castles, old churches, landscape history. I collect pictures of doorways of all kinds.

I’m researching the history of Farlington House and its residents (a large house, now demolished, near my home on the outskirts of Portsmouth).

This website is maintained for Time Team Forum Friends by: Corinne Mills

Your comments on this site are welcome. Please email [email protected]

Copyright © Corinne Mills and contributors
Last updated February 13, 2005

We would like to thank Steve Platt, Website Editor for Channel Four Time Team, for continuing permission to use the copyright logo of Time Team.

I am Jackie Burnett (sometimes known as Jacks, amongst other things!). I live in North East Fife in Scotland, I am married and have 2 children aged 13 and 8.

I am not really into archaeology at all – however my sister (you’ll know her as Co or Corinne) does her best to encourage me, and I tag along quite patiently to meets with her!!! – and it does work because I sometimes ask questions about things I would never have been interested in before!!
I’ve been on one TTFF Siluria meet with Co to Chepstow Castle and Tintern Abbey which I really enjoyed.

I work for DC Thomson in Dundee, they print the Dandy, Beano, Bunty etc so I am sure you will all have heard of them – where I work in the advertising Department.

Nothing much else to say except I enjoy looking at the Forum and occasionally posting on there.

Although not an ‘original’ Forum Friend, I joined the community just a couple of months after its inception, and apart from a break in the last twelve months, have been happily posting away ever since. I am neither an archaeologist nor an historian, but I find both subjects of abiding armchair interest, and I particularly enjoy the excitement and immediacy of the TT concept. My special area of historical interest is the English Civil War (I am a lapsed member of the Sealed Knot) although there is fascination in all periods. I feel thrilled to be part of a country and a world with such a rich heritage and, in a way, I prefer that we need to seek the truth of our past, in a quest for knowledge which is such an inherent part of the human condition. I am currently working towards a Literature degree with the Open University (I am about to embark on my 4th of 6 years) and if anyone is interested in OU study, I can thoroughly recommend it. After that shameless plug, I will just add that I work full-time for BT as a Training and Development Manager, I live in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and I can thank the forum for introducing me to some wonderful people. I have been to stay with Lesley on a couple of occasions and had the time of my life; nothing to do with catering to my Retail Therapy needs, either!

I enjoy a glass of red / white / wine / spirits (delete as applicable), and I’m interested in more topics than I can possibly list here. The world is, indeed, a thrilling place, and one in which I can live in constant hope that England will excel in international cricket!