Attending auctions in my early years spawned my interest in antiques.This has lead to a wide knowlege of the subject plus a eclectic collection of worthless objects!

My degree (gained what seems like 1000yrs ago) in the histoy of art and acrhitecture coined my interest in the subject. I remain fascinated by buildings and the built environment, thus I like to keep up to date with its latest development.

These are of course part and parcel of the working life of a guide. There is little more satisfying than explaining the development of these structures and thieir evolving use through time

Again these are 'griss to the mill' of guiding. The development of churches and the crowning glory cathedrals is eally most interesting. I have separate guiding qualifications for a number of our cathedrals.

The development of the population of the UK and Ireland from the Mesolithic and Neolithic sets the scene for subsequent developments in our history. From the faint signs that give us a knowledge of these beginnings to the plethora of information of modern times our history is written in structures, buildings, books and works of art. Without this history our society would be without base.

I add walking tours at this point because so much of the access to so many points of interest lies on foot. I have lead tours along many of our long distance paths as wel as to sites of industrial heritage and into museums of diverse and specialist intest (for instance the Chuchill Museum and Cabinet War rooms, the Imperial war Museum and the Blaenavon Iron and Coal Industry Museum.

This area is a real 'turn on' it represents mans striving for advancement. My interest stretches from mineral mining in the Bronze Age through the development of the coal and iron industries in Wales (and contemporary literature of the time)to the mills of the 18/19 century and all that lies between. I have a specialist qualification in the Cornish mining industry.

The 'great houses' of the land reflect an important light into the deep grove of our history. Not just the building and gardens but the people who built them, their lives and those who subsequently live in them. How could anyone not be absorbed by these stories.

Transport is the tool that has underwritten and made possible our national development. A life long interest in railways, their beginnihgs, their development, their war time use (and I was a WW2 evacuee) and the retrenchmet has provided a great deal to me.
A long career in aviation both military and civil gives me further background for my interest in this subject