I was born in a modest working class home in a small post-industrial railway town in north east England called Darlington in 1963 and left school with almost no qualifications a month before Margaret Thatcher came into office as PM in 1979. As a 'writer' I've had no formal training. When I was 18 I decided this was what I was going to do: write, act and create. I dedicated myself to this re-education for the next few years and returned to mainstream education and got myself qualifications relevant to my goals (drama school, A Levels, O Levels) and crowned it with a teaching degree from Nantes University in France (where I have lived since 2006). From 1985-1988 l studied as an actor at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and lived in London and also travelled internationally for a further 8 years. From 1996-2006 I ran two professional theatre arts companies in north east England employing many actors. I now have 33 good theatre plays spread over 5 volumes and 20 books, one in French. My entire life from birth to very recent times has been recorded in books, plays and poems, in one way or another. It takes a kind of psychological courage to lead the life I lead. Nobody is forcing me to do it. I'm not obliged to live it this way. I voluntarily test my mettle in the public arena in order to achieve new understanding of myself and the world I live in. We pass this way but once - to neglect our talents while we are here is criminal.