Former academic, now retired.

Until I went to university, I lived on a council estate in an East Midlands city.  In 1967, I was awarded an Open Exhibition at the University of Oxford, from which I graduated in 1970.  During my career as an archivist (1970-1988), I wrote a PhD thesis on a medieval subject.  In 1988, I was appointed Marc Fitch Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, from which I took early retirement in 2005, although I held a University Research Fellowship in the School of English there from 2005-2010.  I am currently Hon. Snr Research Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire.

At junior school, I played football and cricket for the school first team, and subsequently, at secondary school, football, cross-country and chess for the first teams.  I received the school tie for cross-country and school colours for football.  I played football for my college until Prelims.