After growing up in Buckinghamshire, about fifty minutes by train from London, I settled on England's south coast, spending my time between Southampton and the Isle of Wight. My academic background includes a degree in Philosophy, History, and Politics from the University of Southampton and a Master’s-equivalent qualification in Education.

I started my writing career as a playwright back in the 90s, soon progressing to directing my own work and running a theatre company with the help of some Lottery funding. After tasting some local success, I was spotted by the late theatre and TV maverick, Ken Campbell. I worked as his writer and sidekick for a while, right up until we fell out—just before he made a TV series I was supposed to co-write and perform in.

Around the same time, a publishing deal for my first three plays fell through because I took far too long to edit the manuscript. To top it off, a local TV station invited me to showrun a sitcom based on two of my plays. I did, and it was a total disaster.

After that, my showbiz career spiraled. I shifted into teaching writing, acting, and directing at a local college until I eventually hit a wall, had a breakdown, and ran away to Europe. That period of my life became the inspiration for my one-man show, Beat Freak.

A few years later, in the mid-2000s, I got back on the horse. I set up another theatre company, staged some revivals of my old plays—including Writers’ Block—and took Beat Freak to the Edinburgh Fringe. It got some attention, and I ended up doing a showcase gig at the Spitz in London with DJ and Bestival founder, Rob da Bank. That led to performing at the Bestival and getting an offer to do more festivals the following year.

Right on cue, an existential crisis struck, prompting me to pause performing and start writing a novel. Flash forward 17 years—a period that included owning a bar in the Philippines and teaching in China for seven years—and I’ve finally finished it.

While any semblance of a traditional career was thoroughly shot in the foot by my own doing long ago, the story turned out alright. Today, I’m happily married with a wonderful family, living in the Philippines. That's about it in a nutshell.

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