Biography

Although being born to a Mancunian mother in the market town of Bedford, I still consider my roots to be fundamentally from South-West Cornwall; between the villages of Mylor, Stithians and Perran-ar-Worthal, just off the river Fal. This is probably because my father returned us, when I was seven, to his home village where my grandparents still lived. My grandfather was a science teacher by training but spent hours researching local history and published a couple of books about the history of Perran-ar-Worthal (which my father, sister and myself are in the process of updating) and the parish of Gwennap. He also researched in depth into my grandmother’s family history so I always feel closer to that side of the family – where I grew up intimately knowing the local areas – than any other part of the family. So, despite not technically being Cornish, I still would like to think I qualify by default.

After attending Perran-ar-Worthal primary school, Penair secondary school in Truro, and Truro College (during the very first year it was opened when Richard Lander 6th form became one of the big four supermarkets!), I went as far away from home as possible whilst still remaining in the South to study Philosophy and Linguistics at UEA in Norwich. Going to UEA suited me to my core with the anarchic 60s spirit it was built upon and its typically seditious motto ‘Do Different’ and I spent four incredibly happy and hedonistic years there (I continued to study for a MA in Social Philosophy after my undergraduate degree).

Although I have always thought of Norwich as a hidden gem, after four years I decided to move back to the West Country. Bristol seemed an ideal location as it had a premiership rugby club and was a vibrant city and so I started a job with the IT company Unisys. The job was a good one and had excellent prospects but I always felt disappointed with myself for settling for a mundane corporate position doing something I didn’t feel passionate about. It was whilst I was coaching the University of Bristol rugby team that a player suggested to me that I train to be a teacher. Teaching was something that I always wanted to do but as there aren’t any PGCEs in Philosophy I wasn’t sure what subject to teach. I applied for a PGCE in Physical Education at UWIC and was accepted despite the fact that I had no qualifications in the subject. It was the hardest year of my life. Fortunately just as I was applying for teaching jobs, my mother saw an advert in a national paper advertising a PhD in the Philosophy of Sport.

So I moved back to my birth place of Bedford after seventeen years away. Bedford was a difficult place to live as it isn’t the most exciting and innovative town but I still enjoyed my three years there studying for my PhD. What made it even more worthwhile was the opportunity to play for London Saracens which is a fantastically professional and successful rugby club and being part of such an incredible club made my years in Bedford bearable.

Eventually I was able to return to Bristol having secured a full time lecturing job at the University of Gloucestershire.

I am now lucky enough to be employed to be doing something I feel really passionate about; thinking and arguing. I love teaching, reading and researching and cannot imagine a better job. I feel very privileged.