'Jack of all trades, master of none' is what I was threatened with becoming when I was a child messing around with Meccano, Sturmey Archer gears on my bike, chords on the piano and roller skating (but not in any athletic kind of way). The problem was that I was exceedingly nosey and was always interested in 'what?', 'how?' and 'why?' and this is a personal trait which has plagued me throughout my life. Nevertheless I was blessed to have a father whom you could say suffered from a similar affliction and boy, did I take advantage of this! He had the wonderful knack of talking people into allowing me into all sorts of factories, engine rooms, workshops and other exciting places where I could indulge my passion for things mechanical and electrical. 'No Entry' signs were, shall we say, a challenge but he could always back up his requests by pointing to his little son who, bless him, "only wanted to look"! (Health and Safety had never been invented in those days!) So I looked on whilst carpenters planed doors, worked on roofs, plumbers fitted pipes, electricians connected cookers, light fittings . . . and so on and so forth. Interestingly, most of the people I watched were only too pleased to explain to a young lad what they were doing.

Anyway, the two things which fascinated me the most were machines and electrical things and this led in particular to a life-long interest in electronics. However it has always been the practical side of electronics for me as my grasp of mathematics was never very strong (although Ohm's Law is still pretty useful!) and my approach has always tended towards the 'suck it and see' rather than the pencil, paper and calculator method.

Maps too have always fascinated me and over the years I have collected quite a number of OS maps. I like to study a map (i) before visiting somewhere new, (ii) during the visit and (iii) on returning home. I find there is so much of interest to be gleaned from maps!

Music, of course, has always interested and intrigued me - not just the playing and the listening but also the workings of harmony, structure and instrumentation. And then there are the instruments themselves and how they work, particularly the piano and the organ. So I suppose you could say that, having long since retired from teaching, music remains one of my main interests and I have been fortunate in being able to combine music, electronics and computers in my more recent 'hobby' - that of arranging and composing. (I could give Sibelius Software a plug here, but I shan't as they're not paying me!)