- Born of expat Scottish parents in Farnworth, 1934.
- At Plodder Lane Council School 1939-45,
- FGS 1945-50. Enjoyed some of it: history, geography, German, French, English (but bored witless by As You Like It and Milton's Minor Poems); useless at algebra, chemistry and sport.
- Started work in 1950 at the Admiralty in London, drawing maps and charts, mainly of islands in the South Pacific. Interrupted 1952-4 by National Service in RAF; completed Russian language course and posted to Germany for nine months: at RAF stations Uetersen and Hambühren, both convenient for the delights of Hamburg.
- After demob returned to Admiralty but transferred to the Scottish Office, Edinburgh in 1964. Remained there, in drawing office, map library and latterly i/c aerial photos section, until offered the chance of two-years-early retirement in 1992. Happy to leave, as 'new management initiatives' and constant meetings-about-meetings had spoiled a lot of the enjoyment in the job. Since then, working on a couple of books.
- A life-long railway nut, wrote a dense volume on the ancient locomotives of the London & Birmingham Railway 1837-1862, published in 2001 to rapturous acclaim by about a dozen blokes, world-wide.
- Likes jazz (ODJB, Oliver, Morton, Hot 5, Bix, Muggsy) and agrees with Charlie Parker's assertion that he did not play jazz.
- Married Margaret Allan (from Dumfries) in 1984. Lives in the 'New Town' (built c1800) in Edinburgh, but has persistent St Bruno pipedreams of emigrating - Germany? Australia?
- On a rare visit back to Lancs, was astonished to learn that the old school had been demolished - and to read the opinion of some dimwit local politico that the building had no architectural merit.
"Shame"? It certainly was.
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