I was born in Lancashire, England, in 1943. My paternal grandfather was born in Knock, Co. Mayo and my maternal grandmother in Camlough, Co. Armagh. I am English on my mother's side. I read Geography and Economics at the University of Liverpool. I started working life in town and country planning in Liverpool and Warrington. I then worked in development planning with Asda. I was in practice on my own account from 1982. I published a number of articles on planning, including a chapter in a textbook for students in the UK and North America. Later I published amateur articles on subjects of Irish interest in the magazine of the Ulster Historical Foundation, Belfast, Northern Ireland; Irish Families Monthly, Kansas City, Mo, USA; and not least Glór Achadh Mór, Co. Mayo, Ireland. I used different variant spellings of my surname, whichever seemed appropriate at the time. Some of these articles I have reproduced on Scribd. See Scribd Edward Neafcy Pictishfort.