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the writer

young writer The writer is 'work in progress' (compare images). He was born within the shadow of what is called, in the tourist brochures, 'Nottingham Castle' (after the real castle was sensibly burned to the ground by the dispossessed) and is still driven by the myth of Robin Hood - the 'green man' as opposed to our present over-technological, over-scientific, media, military and consumerism-led, lawyer-controlled society. He maintains a goodly collection of axes to grind and sharpens them regularly.

He survived a Grammar School 'education' (most of the scars don't show) by reading much of the content of the local library and this experience made him want to be a writer (see image). Appalled by constantly being told by his 'masters', 'You're not here to think.' he rebelled for the first time and left. He trained in electrical engineering, became a householder, worked hard and long until he felt his self fading away. After too many years of this, he eased himself into thinking and writing by downgrading his consumer-mindless existence, assisted by the policies of the 'Greed is good for you' Thatcher government and moved into a squat in Sheffield for a while. During this transitional period, in the late 1970s - early 1980s (preMayle era), he visited France and lived in a medieval commune in Lot before it became popular with bankers, insurance-brokers and other similarly unethical people.

As a mature student at university, he gained a BA(Hons) in english language and literature and an MA in film studies. He also studied philosophy, psychology and group dynamics - especially groups with power. His personal writing tutors were Jane Rogers (Separate Tracks, Her Living Image, Mr Wroe's Virgins) and Barry Hines (A Kestrel for a Knave, Looks and Smiles, The Gamekeeper) who both encouraged him to continue writing. To support this habit he taught: creative writing, english grammar, linguistics, Shakespeare studies, poetry, drama, film-studies and he also chopped wood (and carrots), carried water, restored barns and roofs and did other odd jobs.

He was a member of a Buddhist group and still uses many of the more useful principles of Buddhism. He has read (among other things): the writings of Jiddu Krishnamurti; H. H. The Dalai Lama; Lao Tzu; Herodotus (which taught him a lot about human nature); David Bohm; E F Schumacher, Robert M Pirsig. He has also read a lot about Sufism, Gnosticism and early Christianity (before it got organized) and also about the later, questionable, activities of the Wholy Roman Catholic church and he still feels somewhat saddened that his mother's family had to leave France as part of the Catholic church's purge of 'heretics' (the unorganizable) a few hundred years ago. Writers have exceedingly long memories.

writer as a serious person He has traveled around Cyprus ('What am I doing here?'), lived at and worked for the Findhorn Foundation in the Highlands of Scotland (What was I doing there?), lived and worked in France and traveled a fair bit around Turkey.

He has spent much of his life traveling around, moving from place to place, leaving a small part of himself in every location, but has recently settled in a pleasant, quiet and remote area of the UK, which he calls 'home for the time being'. He owns very little and writes and thinks about the human condition - what makes us what we are and how we are conditioned by our environment be it social, political, 'spiritual', natural or metaphysical. He doesn't read newspapers and hasn't owned a television since the last century. He reads, observes and listens a lot and practices seeing and thinking for himself which, he believes, is something that would make the world a much better place - if only more people would try it.
He is not really sure that this will happen.