The author was a parish priest for over forty years in Derbyshire and Suffolk. Born in the Anchor Inn, Maulden, he was brought up in Ampthill, Bedfordshire.
The author trained for ordination at Kelham Theological College, run by the Society of the Sacred Mission, a religious order of the Anglican Church. Before the five-year course he was literally sent to Coventry, to work as a labourer in the carpenters' shop at an aircraft factory, during which time he was in digs with a family that included six daughters at home - an ideal preparation for living in a monastery.
He has no degree. But he was awarded the Territorial Decoration, with two bars and rose, for service in the Territorial Army.
The author has been married to Barbara for forty-nine years. They live in retirement, in Suffolk.
