I was born and bred in York; cycled daily past the Minster and through Bootham Bar to school.
I studied maths at Cambridge. Enjoyed various expeditions, one to the High Atlas in Morocco, another to the highest peaks in Norway.
Afterwards I taught maths to sixth formers in North Ghana. Took students to villages to visit Wycliffe Bible Translators. Later to Togo, Upper Volta and Ivory Coast in a battered minibus. Four very special years.
After that I did what might be called useful maths in health, coal mining and finally the water industry, culminating in a PhD on London's multiple patterns of water use from Lancaster.
Once "retired", my wife and I bought a small cottage in North Cornwall. Bracing countryside, especially the rugged Coast Path. Over the years an old college photographer friend and I walked it all.
Although I'd written many management reports, I'd always hoped to write crime fiction; the county seemed bounding in possibilities.
It took three early novels to migrate from management data to free-range fiction. Would my reports have had more impact if I'd included dialogue, or a pen-sketch of the recipients? I showed them to friends and received cautious encouragement.
I also joined a Writers' Circle. The old hands took early chapters and trimmed them by 20% without losing any substance. Finally, I started writing in earnest.