Born in Sheffield and raised to work in the steel factories.
Unfortunately by the time I had studied metallurgy and material science at 16 all the local steel factories had shut down.
I was then left with a few options with one being join the Armed Forces.
After watching Top Gun at 16 I wanted to be a Naval Aviator so I went to the careers office and was sent to Biggin Hill to do my flight tests which, to my surprise, I passed.
I was then sent to the Royal Navy selection board for Officer training which at 16 was very much out of my depth.
I later ended up at the Army careers office and joined the Intelligence Corps, which at the time was studying site security and Russian Armoured formations so i transferred to the REME and played with helicopter for 9 years then worked on a missile range in Wales for a further 3 years before doing the round trip back to Sheffield.