Many thanks kind people, and especially jwolf for ensuring that I started this week with a much-needed smile!
anyway, time to dust off my biography. Like many (most? all?) the people on these forums history is one of my passions, and has been since I watched Michael Wood's series In Search of the Trojan War when I was six. I've wanted to write since I was about eight or nine, or more precisely when I started to read Lord of the Rings. I used to be entirely wrapped up in ancient history, though in the last ten years or so have spread my wings to other areas too. My favourite book (other than LotR) is Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, my favourite current author is Guy Gavriel Kay, and my second favourite is C J Cherryh. My favourite historian is probably Simon Schama for Citizens, though an old professor of mind, Robert Bartlett, is probably my favourite in the acedmic sense. I live in Taunton, the county town of Somerset, in South-West England. I was born on the far north coast of Scotland (twenty miles or so west of John o'Groats. I went to university in St Andrews. For my sins I am working for the NHS. One day (even if it is only in retirement) I hope to relocate approximately 4000 miles westard, and southward - if only so the baseball is easier to watch. I've been a participant in the AAR forums since late 2002, albeit with I think now three long-ish periods of absence, and the friendliness and welcoming atmosphere of these forums is something to be cherished.