I am a native of Surrey – my father was a Scot who had come south with the army.

In 1962 I graduated from the chemistry department, Leicester University, with an upper second class honours degree, and in 1966 with a Ph D in spectroscopic chemistry.

I worked for a short while for British Rail but found my skills did not cover the research they required. I then went into computer programming for the gas board, after which I spent 21 years teaching programming at Charles Keene College.