As a Pageboy and Steward in the Merchant Navy, despite loving ships and the sea, I very soon found that I wasn’t born to serve.

The obvious career move was to become a musician since I had always fancied being a rock n’ roll singer. London’s Tin Pan Alley (Denmark Street) drew me in and I quickly got the reputation of being the worst bass player in the world but my voice got me a living. 

Times change and I found myself at 25 with no qualifications so I went back to school. If I had known how easy I was going to find both O and A Levels I probably would have worked harder originally.

Where to next? Social Work seemed a good idea so I qualified as a Social Worker and spent the next years with two major children’s voluntary organisations.

My experience led me  to be appointed as a Consultant to the International Red Cross responsible for assessing the impact of their Child Care training programmes in the orphanages in Romania.

I moved on to become a Trainer in the same field and then worked for the Open University Business School and also the Institute of Financial Services lecturing in England, Cyprus, Singapore and Mauritius.

Music was still an interest and I fronted a band featuring hits of the 50’s and 60’s, the Pink Cadillacs, for a number of years.

Time just seemed to fly by and the threat of retirement raised its head.

Having been enthralled by Forester’s Hornblower and Patrick O Brian’s Aubrey and Maturin books I took an MA in Maritime History at the Greenwich Maritime Institute as the oldest student on the campus of the University of Greenwich.

I now find myself a Maritime Historian, a public speaker and an author.

I live in Hertfordshire with my wife and two cats.