I was born in Doncaster in 1950 and my earliest recollection is that at the age of six months I tried to eat a bar of soap while being bathed in the sink at my grandparents home in KirkbyMoorside. My maternal grandfather was a timekeeper at the Plant and at the age of three I went to the Plant Centenary celebrations, and this gave me a lasting interest in engineering.

At the age of three I was diagnosed as having cherubism, this familial disease caused the bones of my face to grow unevenly, and at the age of five I went into hospital in the Children's Hospital in Sheffield. I actually enjoyed my time in hospital, I soon found out where the telephone exchange was, and a friendly operator (Mrs Blinco) soon showed me how to operate it.

At the age of six the growth of bone stopped my breathing, and I had to have an emergency tracheotomy which meant I could not go to school. Evidently the doctors had found that other children were wont to stuff small objects down tracheotomy tubes. So I missed two years of primary schooling, and then had to catch up, which I did during my Junior School, being in the top two places most of the time.

I did not do so well at Grammar School, I was bullied, and bullied in return, and after taking 'O' levels I more or less dropped out, printing the school magazine and co-ordinating the South Yorkshire Theatre for Youth. I got into theatre in a big way, doing lighting and sound for a number of shows.

My 'A' level results were not what they should have been, so I did not go to University but ended up at Sheffield Polytechnic, which still thought of itself as a technical college. I wanted to do electrinics, but the Head of Department was a heavy current man, anything under 20Kv and 200 amps was anathema to him.

I passed computing with flying colours, and indeed everything but the main course subject. I ran the entertainments committee and took part in a lot of fringe activities, but did not really take to the academic life. However I took the first year again, and failed again, so left a got a job as a lighting engineer.

Shortly after this I met Sue (graphic appearing shortly) and then she went to art college in Liverpool, and my job moved to Northampton, so I ended up hitch-hiking around a 400 mile triangle.

One of the few people actually to get a job in Liverpool, I went to work as a photocopier engineer, and later moved onto phototypesetters. At weekends we went out into the countryside, and that's how we found Hebden Bridge, and soon after bought a house there. In Liverpool I got involved in setting up housing co-operatives, and toured the country, lecturing on the subject.

In 1976 I had major plastic surgery to try and correct some of the problems caused by the surgery I had as a child. Although the surgery itself was quite traumatic I had some bone taken from my hip for grafting and came out of hospital on crutches) I felt much more confidence about my appearance and after qualifying for Mensa I decided to start studying again.

In the meantime Sue was working in Manchester as a housing manager. Eventually we both moved to Hebden Bridge as I was then working in Leeds. My job was relocated back to Salford and eventually I was made redundant.

Redundancy led me to the Open University, and at the same time I started a new job as a field service engineer for Extel. I also took the Radio Amateurs Examination to pass the time between OU courses.

Shortly after I obtained my honours degree I was made redundant for a second time, and luckily found a job with Royal Mail in Chesterfield. In 1992, my son Tim was born. As Sue had her own business in our home town of Hebden Bridge I found myself commuting home at weekends. However we have now bought a big old house in Clay Cross which was built by George Stephenson for William Howe, the Chief Engineer of the Clay Cross company.

For recreation I have now given up my pot-holing exploits and taken up yoga and circle dancing, and at weekends my wife and I attend folk festivals and concerts. In the last few months I have been liaising between local firms and "Women's Aid for Peace to former Yugoslavia".