I was born in North Yorkshire, England. As a child my mother, brother and myself went to live in Tripoli, North Africa, where my father was doing his national service in the army. In Tripoli I had a head injury, falling from a third storey window. After emergency surgery in Tripoli, I was transferred to Oxford, England, for further treatment to my injury. As a result of the cerebral vascular accident, I have the disability of right hemiplegia ( paralysis on one side of the body ). In 1958 I had a kidney infection and the start of rheumatoid arthritis. During my childhood I had many a long-term stay in the London Great Ormond Street hospital for children for treatment of the nephritis, and also for various orthopaedic surgery.

My parents had six children, of which I am the second eldest. After living in Oxford for a short while my family moved every few years to different towns within the south and midlands of England. During my education I attended two boarding schools -- First school: See 1962 photo: St. Mary's School, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex.-- the other school: See 1968 Photos: Chilton Cantelo House, Chilton Cantelo, Yeovil, Somerset.

Due to the nature of my head injury when a child, with one hemisphere ( the left hemisphere ) of the brain damaged, I had a condition known as Aphasia, also known as Dysphasia. Doctors at the Great Ormond Street hospital for children recommended I attend an appropriate school. The pivotal aspect of my education was that I had an intensive learning programme of reading and writing. A lot of allocution lessons, which were really speech articulation sessions, this involved reciting poems mostly. So, with the right schooling I did at least have an adequate education, I think this is an important point to make, it was the 1950's - going on into the 60's: my education could easily have been very different under the circumstances.

I left school in 1968. In 1969 I went to Leeds to train as a drawing office tracer. I then went to live in Harrogate, the place of my birth, in 1970. I started work at that same time for a Harrogate company of chemical combustion engineers. I wrote poems in my spare time. Also I started to paint expressionistic and symbolist narrative type pictures of my poetry in oil colour. To follow my interest in painting I went to art school in the evenings. I had a lot of encouragement from friends at various poetry events, art sessions and poetry workshops etc.

I was made redundant from work in 1985. I decided that there was no point continuing in a drawing office and 'engineer' environment. I really had no aptitude for engineering, neither was I adequately educated in the subject. My interests lay in the arts and I wanted to get a degree in fine art painting.

My education in childhood was interrupted considerably by health problems, I had left school with no qualifications and my art portfolio was very poor. With wishful thoughts I did apply for art school at the age of 18. Inevitably, due to my circumstances, it was not to be. So, at the age of 35 I became a mature art student. First, I did a foundation course in art and design at Harrogate Art College. I then went on to do a Fine Art Painting degree at the School of Art and Design at Loughborough University where I graduated in 1994. I up-date my book "A King Rose to build a Palce" from time to time as I continue to produce poetry and paintings. My curriculum vitae gives additional information about me.