I qualified as a chemist and and spent 25 years in my early working career, developing and manufacturing detergents.

 That got boring, so I went into consultancy and learned how small computers work.  Then branched out into running food companies,  much more interesting.  But inevitably the business of board meetings became tedious, so I opted for an early retirement.

That was about 10 years ago - that's when I started doing the things I really enjoyed - playing golf and bridge, writing short stories and radio plays, and trying to help small start-up food companies  to get off the ground.

I'm married to Carole and we have two children, both married.  Robert is a business executive in Johannesburg; Lynn splits her life between being an IT professional in London and a diving instructor in Thailand.