I was born in Gorseinon (a few miles from where Dylan Thomas breathed his first), grew up in Crawley, have spent most of my life in Bradford, the last decade, and more, of that in what was claimed to be Britain's poorest square mile..

I went to Bishop Bell Infants and Junior School (named after a Bishop of Chichester against whom I have never heard a bad word: it is now renamed so as not to offend those who build a career on being offended); although diabetes, asthma, general lung problems, and hospital food poisoning meant I spent more time in hospital than school for the first few years.  My brother reckons it was like me being at boarding school (apart from the cost, learning and goings on) and the socialisation I got resulted in me being, perhaps, the least loony in my family.  I then attended Thomas Bennett Comprehensive, which was the biggest in Britain, and which I remember as appearing in the Readers Digest twice, once for drugs and once for violence, although apart from getting one broken finger in a fight I hardly witnessed any of the later; and, apart from normal teenage daftness I did not see over much of the former, (although that may be due to being daft).

I went to Bradford University to do Science and Society because I would have had to misspell my name on the A-Level papers to get lower grades than they offered.  I got kicked out.  Richard Macfarlane, latterly Hovis Presley, was in the year above me, but finished the coarse. 

I then Spent several years wading through the sloughs of despond in London and Bradford bedsits; snd became Bradford City fan.

After the Bradford fire in 1985 (the lowest of a very low time) I managed to get my finger out and do a lot of thingsm and survived them all, including a B.ED, despite suffering from almost every medical condition, except hypochondria.  The diabetes especially has resulted in some interesting times, but I am still here, spent over a decade occasionally teaching small children, and often have a smile on my face.

I write poetry and non-fiction and also produce illustrations, and shows.  (check around my sites), and created events, one of the earliest being the first National J.B.Priestley Night as reported in the Bradford Telegraph & Argus.

I was also Hayseed Dixie's poet in residence for the first two Loopallu festivals (before they got bounced from the festival they had created), and a good few other things.