My background is mathematical/musical – I was awarded a scholarship to study mathematics at Clare college, Cambridge, although I thought about pursuing a career as a professional musician. In the end I switched to computer science, which is how I make my living.
Some of my amateur interests over time:
- Music: I studied piano to grade VIII, violin to grade VII. I won various music competitions as a child, and performed the 1st movement of Chopin’s piano concerto #1 at a school concert. I still play the piano, but only rarely in public.
- Bridge : I played a lot of bridge while at school, competing successfully in many adult competitions.
- I played Golf almost every day at school ( Stowe school, which has a golf course ), and after school as a member of Frilford Heath golf club, near Abingdon.
- Go: I played Go (the Japanese board game) while at Cambridge, guided by Charles Matthews (who was also my tutor, and who stimulated my interest in cosmology and fundamental physics).
- I was president of CUGC. I eventually reached a grade of 2 Dan a few years after graduating.
- Athletics: I ran a marathon in 3 hours 8 minutes. I ran many marathons from 1990 up to around 2000.
- Triathlon : I completed an Ironman triathlon in under 12 hours.
- Ultra-running : I ran many “ultra” distance events, such as the Black Mountains Roundabout, the Caerphilly Summits Challenge and the The Wellington Boot.
- Chess: I played chess at school, being part of the winning house team on several occasions. Later in life (around 1998-2000) I played for Gloucester City 1st team.
- Cycling: In 2011, I completed the annual Gloucester 3 cities race in under 4 hours (average speed just over 20 mph ).
- Mountain biking : last winter[2012] I started riding at night, even in deep snow, in local woods. It’s fun.
- I have had an interest in cryptography and the security of the Domain Name System. See my home page. In September 2014, RFC 7344 “Automating DNSSEC Delegation Trust Maintenance” was published with my name on it, something I first proposed several years earlier.
My siblings were or are musical, one of my sisters is a professional musician. Another of my sisters is a councillor in the London borough of Hounslow. My father also went to Cambridge and was a medical doctor, as was his brother. Both served in the RAF during WWII, my uncle’s obituary is here. I am proud of the achievements of my relations, and aspire to contribute to society in my own way as I approach retirement.
Like many people, I have had my fair share of family tragedy as well. My brother had a brain tumour, causing paranoid schizophrenia, he became very violent. He was in and out of mental institutions for many years and died in a road accident while I was at Cambridge. My other brother died quite young after suffering from a degenerative brain disease. My father died from Alzheimer’s disease. A few years ago, I nearly drowned when I was washed off a rock by a huge wave while on holiday in Majorca.
In 2011, after Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were released, I became interested in knowing the truth about the case. I’m someone who likes to analyse things in detail. See Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito a site I created about that case.
I am not paid in any way for any of the victims of injustice I support. I would never support someone unless convinced of their innocence.
You may find out more at my Facebook account, there are some scanned certificates and school reports here.
See also About
If he had another motive, I am sure it would never disgrace him. Pride and Prejudice.
Trial by Media 