For over 17 years a governor of a special school for children with a physical difficulty and an associated learning difficulty, chair of governors for most of that time.A degree in Jurisprudence at Merton College, Oxford. A barrister, practiced for only three years and left the Bar to work for the Liberal Party in London. After that headed up and grew a retail furniture company in NE England. Active in his trade association, played a lead role in the design of Flammability labels for sofas. A director of the British Shops and Stores Association and chair of a nationwide committee that set up the Qualitas Conciliation for the Furniture and Carpet Industry, now the Furniture Ombudsman.He was chair of the board of a residential care home in Newcastle for twenty years. In recent years chair of TYDFAS, the Newcastle branch of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies, now the Arts Society.A member of his local Rotary Club, seeing this book and his involvement in Special Needs as acts of Rotary service.His wife Ros, with degrees in languages, psychology and law, and for many years volunteering her time in the Tribunal Unit of Sunderland Citizens Advice Bureau, shares his values and adds breadth and depth to them. They have travelled widely, enjoy music and the arts and are never, ever bored.If Great Britain had surrendered to Hitler, his life would have ended long ago in a gas chamber along with millions of others. Were it not for the medical profession and the NHS he would not be here today. Were it not for his teacher his life would not have been so rewarding. He sees Death of a Nightingale as a way of expressing his thanks.In June 2008 "Featured Author" of the month - Oxford Alumni and Blackwell publishers