My favourite subjects at school were Art, Music and PE. I particularly enjoyed playing pirates in the gym. However, we were only allowed to do this at the end of term as a special treat!

Like most boys of my generation, I played all kinds of sports at school, including basketball, badminton, cricket and, of course, football. I was also fairly keen on gymnastics and pole vaulting, which we did during athletics in the summer term. These days, I tend to swim and cycle to keep fit.

After leaving school, I did an Art Foundation Course at Leicester College of Art and Design. I then applied to study Fine Art at Goldsmiths School of Art in South London. My principal subject at Goldsmiths was sculpture.

After graduating from Goldsmiths, I studied print-making at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. I specialised in silk-screen and lithographic print-making.

I later studied at The Open University, where my principal subject was computer science.

I have, at various times, taught art, ICT and computer science in schools, colleges and adult education institutes. I also ran the Computing Homework site for over a decade. This site was designed to support Computing in secondary schools.

Nowadays I divide my time between writing and painting.