Timeline

28th Dec 1956 � born at home, a terraced house in Leicester (English Midlands). A 'blue baby"� off to an incubator while his Mum had a rough time of it.

1961 � went to Hillsborough School in Birstall, Leics. Competed with Maria for top of the class, took the chance for lasting ascendancy when she was sick. Played lead elf in a show.

1963 � went to Loughborough Grammar School � broke leg by running in front of a car, in plaster for 6 months

1967 � usually holidayed in Westward Ho Holiday Camp, but went with father overseas for the first time. Beginning of regular trips to Tangiers, Gibraltar and Marbella

1968 � moved up to the senior school. Put into an accelerated learning group of very bright kids, astonished to find he was no longer top of the class. Floundered in Maths and Sciences, where imagination wasn't called for. Struggled gamely with languages. Had to be satisfied with outperforming in English and at the debating society.

1971 � Had moved around Leicestershire quite frequently with the family. Now moved to the countryside and the Old Rectory at Rempstone, a magnificent house where Oliver Cromwell was once taught. His bedroom had been the room of two writers earlier that century � Dorothy Hartley (of Food in England) and Cecil Roberts, best-selling novelist of the 1950s whose Growing Boy was based in the house.

1975 � Worked in a department store in Berlin as part of on official program to introduce young people to the city. Went on to study English at Leeds University.

1976 � return to Berlin and the store job for the summer vacation, inter-railed round Eruope 1977 � holidayed in Italy � decided he would not teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL) there or anywhere �

1978 � finished at Leeds, went to teach EFL at Sels College, London (first of a few stints, including becoming its Director of Studies) then on to Vercelli, Italy � early evidence that he would end up doing everything he took a vow against doing

1980 � Loughborough, Leics Promotions manager for nationwide music retail firm, staging shows and managing a mobile exhibition unit

1981 � Petromin, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia On-site English teacher for oil refinery trainees

1982 � Leeds University, for the Postgraduate Diploma in English as a Second Language, including teaching practice in Maastricht

1982 - 83 � Burleigh Community College, Loughborough, Leics. Providing and coordinating ESL support, instituting language support across the curriculum. Replaced in evening job as bar-room organist by a pool table.

1984 � taught English to Qatari naval cadets in York, then teacher of English for Academic Purposes in Beijing Forestry College, Beijing, China to science graduates from Northern China.

1985 - 1986 � Scottish Opera for Youth, Glasgow Music / drama workshops and performances in primary, secondary and special schools. Title-role in Dracula at the Tron, more acting jobs around Glasgow's year of culture

1988 � Qatar Teacher of English for management in the oil industry

1989 � Teacher of English and Modern Languages (they were desperate) for the Inner London Education Authority. Bought a house in Glencoe, Scotland. Played cocktail piano. Co-founder of Eagle Eye Productions, soon to become the nation's premier publisher of documentary videos (admittedly there was feeble competition).

1991 � St. John's College, Bangkok, Thailand Setting up an English Language School. 1992 � On Bended Knees published

1992 - 93 � Teacher of English, special needs, in schools and university, Glasgow

1993 � Awarded a Writer's Bursary by the Scottish Arts Council, and the K.Blundel Award by the Society of Authors. Travelled back to Bangladesh to research a novel � Her Hair turned Gold with Grief, still being redrafted.

1994 � Moved to one of a set of Coastguard Cottages, the end of which had fallen off the white cliffs into the English Channel. Ran secondary ESL support for East Sussex schools. Visited the American Southwest for the first time.

1995 � sold everything, took over a house in the French Pyrenees, and headed off to India to research In Search of the Divine Mother � then went off to join my mate James Thornton in Big Sur, moving on to Santa Fe, beginning our life together.

1996 � Destroyed completed In Search of the Divine Mother on the instructions of its subject.

1997 � Began writing In Search of the Divine Mother again.

1998 � In Search of the Divine Mother published, despite fierce legal attacks by its subject. Went to the Amazon and the Andes in Peru on a shamanic quest, from which I nearly died. Visited by Carlos Castaneda in the Pyrenees. Started building a new home on mountain land in Santa Fe, after squeezing life into a waterless trailer for a year or two.

1999 � Remind me again � what was 1999 all about? Mostly writing I Was Carlos Castaneda, I think.

2000 � Began the millennium with friends and an astonishingly sublime meal in Paris. Life can go on this way if it likes. Kept writing to bring a number of long term projects to fruition.

2001 � I Was Carlos Castaneda published. Rented out Santa Fe and hit the road for six months, ending up in Sandy, Bedfordshire, England.

2002 - Publication of On Sacred Mountains to coincide with the International Year of the Mountains. Really though this was the year of the passing of my mother, Kay O'Neill, who struggled through the toughest months in hospital and died much too young. Took up a post at Samuel Whitbread School teaching English, with a wee break up north to appear at the Wigtown Book Festival. Terrific to cross the border and be in Scotland again - like coming home.

2003 - Switched the English teaching post for one teaching Learning Support. Started a Creative Writing PhD at Lancaster University, committing myself to the new novel Ectopia, enjoying the to and fro with my supervisor Graham Mort. The death of another mother - James's Mom Kit Thornton. I got to visit with her in the Autumn - my first return to the US. As her coffin was being lowered after Christmas, an earthquake shook the ground.

2004 - Late Summer, I broke away from school teaching, restored by a break on a friend's island in the Lakes of Ontario. Then back to full-time writing and creative writing teaching. Vissited the writer James Purdy for interviews in November, in his Brooklyn Heights home.

2005 - A year for 'rounding off' projects. Finished a novel 'Slippery When Wet' in France over Easter. That's been on the go, through many drafts, since 1992. Back in France in the summer, I finished a play that's been on the go even longer, 'Feeding the Roses'. Wrote up a proposal for a biography of the scientist J.S.Haldane, sold to Simon & Schuster UK. A brief return for a term's school teaching, to boost money. Teaching also on Lancaster University's Creative Writing MA, on the british Council's 'Crossing Borders' programme (mentoring African writers), and to third year undergraduates at the University of Hertfordshire. Writing my novel ECTOPIA for my PhD. Not even a weekend away in terms of holiday - definitely overload this year! Got a welcome award from the Authors Foundation, to help on the Haldane research.

2006 - End of February as I write. Not a bad year so far. 'Slippery When Wet' out. An excellent couple of weeks on a British Council tour of Zimbabwe, running workshops for the writers there - and a short break in Matobo National Park. Just finished my PhD - just the final polishing to do. Starting work on a book, co-authored with Sara Maitland, commissioned by New Writing North among others, 'Mentoring for Creative Writers'. Work ongoing on the J.S.Haldane biography. And at last, a brief holiday booked for next week - 5 days in Lisbon. Hooray! More of the same please.