Born at Thame in Oxfordshire during the war (don’t ask which one) and am married to Barbara who works for Oxon County Council developing services for older people (bit of long term planning here!).
We have three sons, Tim, 35, (teacher) recently married to Kate; the other two both work in Marketing, Sam,30, is in London and Ben,28, in Thame.
Educated at Lord Williams,Thame, and left school to work in the family business – farming and the wholesale and retail meat trade. Over the years went over to food and wine retailing which ended with the sale of the business in 2000. I then joined the EBU initially to replace Brian Claridge who was retiring and have worked with competitions since then. I particularly enjoy the event management side whether it is large like Brighton or small as in Lords v Commons (only 4 tables) each presenting their own challenge. This is especially true of the Overseas Congresses, which I have done since Cyprus 2002; those that have heard about the exploits in Egypt will know this.
I have been very happy at Aylesbury and have made lots of good friends among my colleagues. I have also made many friendships among the wider bridge community and although some are not seen that often those that enter competitions regularly talk to me a lot.
I play bridge at least three times a week mostly at Thame, Oxford and Richmond. I direct at local clubs and although am not teaching at the moment I really enjoyed the years that I did which included helping Sandra Landy with the launch of Bridge for All.
I have always played lots of sports, probably better at cricket and table tennis than all the others with golf being the most difficult. Still keep fit with Gym, swimming, cycling etc and an annual skiing holiday.
Apart from sport, in general, among my specific passions are being a season ticket holder at The Arsenal (this passion is shared with Tim and Sam) and I love going to the theatre and the Opera (especially Italian)
We enjoy holidaying in France where we regularly maintain contact with friends that we made whilst in business; probably because most of them own vinyards!