I spent most of my working career in British Telecom as an engineer in satellite communications, a field which further stimulated my boyhood interest in astronomy. In the later years I was much involved with the international satellite organisations, Intelsat, Eutelsat and Inmarsat. I left BT at age 54 and worked as a consultant until retiring in 1997 at the age of 61.
I am married to Doreen and we live in Swanage a seaside resort in Dorset in south-west England. We are surrounded by beautiful countryside and our house has views over the hills and sea. If you are familiar with the novels of Thomas Hardy then Dorset is the area where many of them are set.
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| View from the window where I do my painting and computer work | Our garden - June 1999 |
Our joint interests are the garden, exploring the local area, birdwatching and local interest groups (eg. local history). Doreen has done quite a bit of voluntary work and I was involved with other engineers in supporting a local school on anything related to engineering. A significant amount of my spare time is spent in putting on public astronomy events and talks plus observing sessions for groups such as schools, Cubs, Scouts, Guides etc
My own interests include astronomy, painting, now mostly oil colour, (see separate page), reading - especially about evolution, science and religion, cosmology and biography. I have always loved mathematics and enjoy applying this to computing.
I am a member of the Wessex Astronomical Society which meets monthly in Wimborne, about 25 miles away.
I have written computer programs on various things that interest me but the most notable is a planetarium type program, which has evolved over 30 years, having been written originally for my first personal computer in 1980, a Commodore Pet. The program served for many years to control my telescope and has a number of features designed for my specific needs and not found in most commercial software. I use it now mostly for planning observing sessions and what to image. Other "fun" type prorams are entitled "Pendulums", "Mandelbrot", "3-body simulation" and "Swingograph"