My Life's Musical Journey... Background
This picture was taken at a time when I was up to all sorts of mischief as a young boy aged 11. Experimenting with my first chemistry set, I almost blew up our home after obtaining a book from the library on how to make gunpowder. And the large hole that I blasted through the garden fence was a result of the successful firing of a home made 'gun' that I had assembled in Dad's shed... when Dad wasn't home!
Intrigued as to how the world war searchlights worked, I also set about making an arc lamp by taking apart two batteries, using two carbon rods as elements, finding a concave mirror and then connecting the entire contraption to the house mains, lighting up the entire suburb, much to my delight and satisfaction.
But when all the fuses blew in the home, I quickly got on my bike and hid in the park!
As a child, I was a wanderer. Unbeknown to my parents, I used to climb out of my second storey window, shin down the drainpipe and roam the neighbourhood in the dead of night. A little old lady from over the road eventually dobbed me in.
At school I was far more interested in sport than study. I could throw a cricket ball a hundred yards at the age of eleven, surprising many a batsmen who thought they could sneak in another run, before the ball came thundering in from the boundary catching everyone unawares. Tragedy nearly resulted when first throwing a javelin: it landed between the legs of a school mate, standing over 150 feet away, who thought that he was well out of harms way. I ultimately represented my school in that event in the All England Championships and was in my school teams for cricket, rugby union, soccer and athletics. Other sporting interests included table tennis and rifle shooting (in a controlled environment of course).
Mum and Dad thought that I should commence piano lessons, so I studied classical music for eight years, passing all grades, but finding, at the age of sixteen, there were far more interesting things to do around the place.
Surprisingly I gained sufficient qualifications on leaving school to enter the public service and found myself sitting behind a counter at the HM Customs and Excise office in London. I spent five long, boring years checking import and export documents, however my department did sponsor me to attend a month long Outward Bound Leadership Course in Scotland which involved mountain climbing, trekking, camping alone, abseiling and rescue, amongst other types of dangerous, yet exciting activities.
