About

About

I was born in Brighton on 21 December 1945. After brief periods at a village school in Tollard Royal, Dorset, at The White House, Wokingham and at Holme Grange School, Wokingham, I was educated at Copthorne School (1954-1959), Charterhouse (pictured above) (1959-1964) and St. John's College Oxford (1964-1968).

While at St. John's I read Modern History for three years, and then stayed on for a year to read for a Diploma in Education.

I then went into teaching, and taught at Arnold Lodge Preparatory School (1968); Harrow School (1969); Holme Grange School (1969-1971); and Ellesmere College (1971-1973).

In the summer of 1973 I became a full-time author, and during the next 27 years I authored or co-authored some 19 titles.

Since the autumn of 2000 I went into partnership, jointly setting up an Online Media business called GWS Media in which I am the Marketing Director.

From the spring of 2001 I continued my Literary life with lectures and chaired the Powys society from 2001-2005.

My publications are as follows:

  • Lawrence of Arabia and his World. (Thames & Hudson 1976; Charles Scribner's Sons 1976); tr. into Swedish (Wiken 1984) and Spanish (Salvat 1984).
  • A.E.Housman: The Scholar-Poet. (Routledge & Kegan Paul 1979; Charles Scribner's Sons 1980; Oxford University Press paperback 1981)
  • The Brothers Powys (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1983; Charles Scribner's Sons 1983; Oxford University Press paperback 1984)
  • [with David Graves]  A Beginner's Guide to the BBC Micro (Kingfisher Books 1984)
  • [with David Graves]  A Beginner's Guide to the ZX Spectrum (Kingfisher Books 1984).
  • [with David Graves]  A Beginner's Guide to the Acorn Electron (Kingfisher Books 1984)
  • [with Philip Graves]  A Beginner's Guide to the Commodore 64 (Kingfisher Books 1985)
  • [with Andrew Thomson] The Family Computer Book (Century 1985)
  • Robert Graves: The Assault Heroic (1895-1940) (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1986; Viking Penguin 1986; Papermac 1987; Penguin paperback in the USA and Canada 1990; Weidenfeld & Nicolson paperback 1995)
  • How To get Published (Severn Publications 1988)
  • Robert Graves: the Years with Laura (1926-1940) (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1990; Viking Penguin 1990; Papermac 1991; Penguin paperback in the USA and Canada 1992); also translated into Spanish.
  • The Story of Shrewsbury (Hardwick House 1993)
  • [substantially rewrote] H. Montgomery Hyde, Walter Monckton (Sinclair Stevenson 1991)
  • Richard Hughes ( Andre Deutsch 1994)
  • Robert Graves and the White Goddess (1940-1985) (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1995; Phoenix Giant paperback 1998).
  • [ed. with a biographical essay and annotations] the original 1929 edition of Good-bye to All That by Robert Graves (Berghahn 1995)
  • [major contributor to] The Castrol Story (Bloomsbury 1998, but not for general circulation.)
  • Achievements (Bloomsbury, 1998). [a related history of achievements by land, air, sea and space from 1899-1999]
  • [redrafted] Bob Freeman, Half a Millionaire (A.J. Manson Ltd. Shrewsbury SY4 4SD, 1999)