Born and raised in Leicester My life has grown up alongside the computer industry from being a kid seeing the first console and home computers from the Amstrad, Commodore 64 and Vic 20 to what the industry is today My first experience with computing and moreover programming was at High School with the wonderful program – turtle, creating wonderful patterns initially manually and then with my first programming experiences And the computer industry really has evolved right through my life at the amazing pace it has no sign of slowing down

I grew up studying as anyone would and being in England my first sporting experience which I took over other sporting activities was football and initially grew up playing that at a school level but before I then moved to a club level in the sport my interests shifted.
As a youngster I have course found many things to do, one of these was the Cub Scouts and in my early high school times I took part in many activities and also learn many things and be rewarded for that in the forum of certificates and of course badges, which I of course had many. Each club has many scouts and so are divided into smaller groups and each group can have a leader (the sixer) which has to be earned and for me I did which at the time was a great achievement, through high school though sport and other social activities took up the time and when I finished the cub scout’s I did not peruse the next level scouts. Normally from this you join the TA
Further into High School my brother began to take an interest in rugby and joined a club, and it swept through the family and I soon took up the sport also both of us playing for our school and club all be it in different age groups with him being the younger.

Through High school and at the start of G.C.S.E I became very much more interested in art, design and computing as time went on with computing being my main interest and I also was interested in music and learning the guitar. With starting a new school and learning at G.C.S.E level there was a lot more work and sporting wise Rugby was also becoming and increasing activity with training and matches for both school and club and so sadly some other enjoyments like playing the guitar were put on the back burner due to time constraints

Unfortunately not to long into my first Year at G.C.S.E I became very ill spending much of first year in hospital, but I got over that and my final year was a big challenge to be able to catch up and pass these grades, which I did passing all with c and above by oddly PE but This class had regular assessments in both years to go to your final grade and not being there means that a student can not do as well as they would like but I as very pleased with what I had accomplished.
A-level’s come and went ok, as young lad growing up the usual activates of youth occurred. Rugby continued and being well again took a real hold in the family and although not as good as my brother we both began playing at a higher level.

By the time I started University Rugby was a big part of my life with me and my brother playing for the same club and the birth of the professional era of the sport in England being signed on contracts as semi professional players, for me this was very exciting playing the sport I enjoy. I had a number of choices in University as my CV shows but it was hard to choose where to go, I finally chose to stay in my home town of Leicester. When I started University was when the government first introduced fees and loads for students over paying them grants to go. Money was a big issue and so in some locations like Newcastle the cost of living was far too high.
My rugby also came into it, I was playing a good standard of rugby at my club and I considered it to be higher of that of the Universities I could attend as they were more intellectual places of study and not renewed for good rugby teams. So I chose DMU in Leicester for its very good computing course and to stay in Leicester to help keep living costs low and continue playing for my club.

My A-level computing project involved creating a program in dbase, and this did not help me when In my first University we were introduced with Java, if it had been more c based programming It would have been better so initially I struggled at first but in the second part of the first year I finally began to start doing quite well in the courses. With university at times came module choices and I decided to always take any interesting module in regard to networking, web design and development and also I was very interested in the Ethics and concepts of computing and the effects on the world they had.
I really did enjoy learning html and web creation more then java although I did like the idea of object oriented design but web design appealed to me the most.
University was going well with in the 2nd year a small hick up from a broken leg which came of course from rugby, a hazard of the sport but a small price to pay for the enjoyment and it meant a few extensions on coursework but nothing I could not handle With the course I took at DMU it had two parts, not just the degree but in the first 2 years the HND qualification so it did mean a bit more work but I was glad to achieve this qualification after 2 years and then onto the full degree. The course was tough and I again took web development courses when ever they came up which included Java for the web (JSP) and XML here though came a bit of a problem, again Rugby caused an injury but this time a nasty one, my thumb was torn out of its socket, to cut a tedious and long story in short as possible with one operation and long physiotherapy I thought it was well on the way on the mend and back playing rugby although heavily strapped but it was of all things a web exam that caused me to damage the thumb further and on my final year it really wrecked the flow of things and so caused a bit of a delay graduating, a number of small operations and treatment I did indeed finally finish And while still with ongoing issues I have had things happen and strived to push through them and in the past have achieved tough challenges as a result of such issues and motivated to get through them.

While I still love rugby whether I can play again I still love web design, philosophies, concepts and development and under a free lance capacity worked to improve my knowledge and produce small sites and web elements for a number of people (which are in my portfolio and references sections of my site)

As with any Young lad growing up in the UK the first sport you really play is football and indeed I did, but soon I lost interest and took up tennis and then Rugby and played both until Rugby required more time and is the sport I love and have been playing for many years now to a semi professional standard. I do still watch tennis and play tennis with friends more as a fitness thing then anything else and I also enjoy Motor racing moreover Formula 1 and Touring car



Rugby Clubs I have played for: Leicester Lions RFC, South Leicester RFC, Wigston RFC, Aylestonians RFC and School to college rugby


Supporting Club - Leicester Tigers RFC

Movies: I am a big movie fan, anything that really catches my eye mainly but I would say action and adventure tend to be my films of choice.
Older movies would be the Die Hard Series, Highlander and such, more modern movies I have enjoyed have been 300, next, Batman Begins which for me brought back what the first 2 movies had and I have enjoyed the fountain, the prestige and the illusionist You have to mention the Lord of the Rings Movies which did amazingly well to capture the books which I loved as a kid

Tv wise I have to admit I do not watch much tv any more there are only a few shows I currently watch – Heroes has been amazing, Lost, Battlestar Galatica, Southpark and Some of the Uk Comedy presenter shows. Past shows I have enjoyed have been the short lived firefly, Babylon 5, Band of Brothers which was stunning, the comedy show red dwarf and of course as a kid the good old 80’s cartoons

I do read but I tend not to read books any more other then technical and programming books as well as the web and articles on anything written on the web, One of the things I like and enjoy is reading and learning about anything new in the world of technology and sport.

Socialising of course like anyone is something I enjoy although visiting the nightclubs A few years ago I do not enjoy them any more and prefer the large pub atmosphere with friends.