Born in the early 50s, (possibly as a result of enthusiastic celebration of the Queen’s coronation), I grew up as the youngest of four boys. Leaving school in 1970, I worked as a clerical assistant at Hillingdon Council and soon became very bored! I transferred and became a trainee building surveyor which was much more interesting! In 1976, I joined the NHS as a Building Manager, doubling my salary and enabling me to marry Gail (aka Boudicca). We moved to Thame, Oxfordshire, in 1980 and, in 1993 (after several moves), ended up just across the Oxfordshire border, in the sleepy Bucks village of Haddenham. Loss of Crown Immunity in 1990 laid the NHS open to the full impact of Health & Safety legislation. So I gave up my career in building to become one of the first full time NHS H&S professionals. I still hold the position today, working for two NHS Trusts in Buckinghamshire. As a hobby, I became involved with Ryman Division 1’s Thame United FC. At first I attended as a First Aider and ended up as club therapist. I studied Massage, Sports Injuries and Bowen Therapy but after 6 years, in order to develop my own practice, I left the club in March 2000. I’ve always loved animals, but with little spare time I ended up keeping parrots. It’s not just their comical expressions and poses, but their madcap characters and antics that make them the ‘Clowns of the Animal World’. Having always had an interest in things scientific, I suppose this is from where my interest in archaeology stems. At school I was never particularly interested in history, particularly when they started throwing dates at me with some expectation that I might remember them! However, television provided a more interesting way of learning. When Time Team started I became hooked on the first programme and have not missed an episode since. Unfortunately my memory is less sharp, so whilst I can remember the digs themselves, I can’t remember where they were or what they were called (I remember Seahenge though!). Then, with a new computer capable of accessing the web, I found the forum. I am very grateful to the forum members for their acceptance of me as a new visitor The welcome was warm and immediate and I find this both a refreshing and rare quality. I thank the ‘forummers’ for tolerating my abject ignorance of both history & archaeology and hope they will continue to educate me in these fascinating subjects. I cannot see myself studying archaeology academically, I believe that preference will remain with physio and related therapies, but I am definitely destined to remain a dedicated armchair enthusiast. Who knows, I might one day be tempted to join my local history group, invest in a metal detector and go field walking. At present though, I must concentrate on my practice, my parrots and, of course, my family Gail and the kids Emma (19) and Adam (17).
My main areas of personal interest are in pre-historic and Roman Britain, but for which I can only claim a casual knowledge. Particularly I am riveted by Boudicca and the Boudiccan Revolt, a subject about which I read most and the one that I have made my personal challenge to know and understand.