I have been interested in the Second World War since early childhood. My father fought as an infantryman in Burma with the 1st Battalion the Northamptonshire Regiment and my mother was an evacuee from Birmingham who got homesick and returned just in time to endure the blitz. When the family went on holiday to Dawlish in Devon to recover they were nearly strafed by a German plane on the road to Teignmouth!
I grew up on a diet of the Victor comic, War Picture Library and war films. I have also read some more academic works since!
I am now Head of History and Politics at Bury Grammar School in Lancashire. I guide annual tours to the battlefields of the two world wars-2004 is our tenth anniversary year.