I am a Professor of Mathematics and a keen student of nautical history.
My father, the late Capt Peter de Neumann, had an extremely "adventurous", not to mention dangerous, war. My uncle, the late Capt Derrick de Neumann, was aboard BANDAR SHAHPOUR when she was sunk on 30 April 1943 off West Africa. And my aunt, Pamela de Neumann, was a prisoner of the Japanese, having escaped from Singapore on 12 February 1942 on the requisitioned warship MATA HARI.