I was born just after the outbreak of World War II. My earliest memories are of war, bombs, and air raid shelters. My father was in the Royal Navy, and was away at sea for most of the war. My first memory of him was seeing a man in uniform climb out of a US army jeep, when I was four years old.

My mother recognised that my father could easily die at sea, and that she could have been killed in an air raid, so she taught me to stand on my own feet at an early age. She was a keen Methodist with progressive social convictions; and my childhood was a mixture of boring Sundays, strong morality, the Bible, and a frank view of sex. She was opposed to the appeasement of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s, and I inherited her deep suspicion of dishonest compromise in the face of serious issues.

When my father returned from the war, life became less serious. My walks with him in the country gave me a love of nature and the countryside, which explains why I came with my wife and family to our country smallholding in Lincolnshire in 1972. My father's career in the Navy meant that we moved around the country. I went to five different schools; ranging from an RC primary in Scotland, to a minor public school in Devon. I particularly remember happy days in Bath as a 10-11 year old, travelling around collecting train numbers.

As I grew up, the trains were replaced by jazz. I took up the clarinet, and we formed a school band. As we got better, I remember going for an 'audition' with a professional band. It was at a sleazy pub, with me, aged 17, trying to hide the fact that I was dressed in school uniform. I didn't get that job, but I did end up playing with what later became the Tamar Valley Jazz Band.

Between all this, I did study. I got good science A levels, and went to Oxford to read Physical Metallurgy. A life of angst, fun, and laziness; left me with a poor degree, and little chance of the academic career that I fancied.  However, I rediscovered the Christian Faith; and I had a friend who was interested in Orthodoxy.

Nothing came of this at the time, but when I realized that I was in the wrong church in the 1970s, the memory of that first acquaintance with Orthodoxy was my first step homeward. By 1987 it came to fruition with my admission into the Orthodox Church. (More on my journey)

My bad Oxford degree meant that I had to improve my qualifications. After two years in industry, I went to Birmingham University to study for a Master's degree. That's where I met my wife Judy. Marriage, family, an academic career, and our country life, all followed in a rush; and I realized that a bad Oxford degree can be a blessing in disguise.