Bio

My life in journalism so far

  • 1989: Staggered into my first publishing job at a magazine called Production Engineer. I thought it might have something to do with music studios. I was very wrong. Ended up editing a newsletter about Industrial Management. Could things get any better?
  • 1991: To avoid a relocation to Stevenage (well, seriously), moved over to the glossy world of consumer magazines. As deputy production editor of Gardener’s World magazine, I spent way too much time looking up plant names. Great subbing experience though.
  • 1993: Went freelance and found my way back to the business-to-business press – home at last. Worked on the production desk for Haymarket marketing titles mainly for a while doing layout and sub-editing, but then branched out into feature writing and putting together sponsored supplements. Yes, I know that’s advertorial. Get over it.
  • 1996: First went online. Oooh. Tried to get employers to embrace remote working. Largely failed. Realised how publishing often lags behind technology.
  • 1997: Went to Seattle and the Pacific North West for a while. Loved it so much that I wanted to live there. Never quite managed it.
  • 1999: Started working for digital marketing titles including Revolution and Internet Business. Then the dotcom crash happened. It wasn’t my fault, honest. Around this time I also got into the whole online CMS thing – updating web sites, learning some HTML and wondering why no one in publishing seemed to plan their content for online or have an online strategy.
  • 2000s: Spent a lot of time writing emerging market country reports and business and technology features, as well as sub-editing on financial titles and mobile telecoms magazines. And moving house a lot.
  • 2007: Frustrated with the quality of output from raw journalism graduates, I moved into training – initially feature writing and online production.
  • 2008: Started blogging – a bit late to the party. Also couldn’t quite get it right at first.
  • 2008: Spent three months in Bristol learning stopframe animation. Fantastic. No money in it, sadly.
  • 2008: Failed to take up a job as lecturer in online journalism at UCA Farnham. Mistake, probably. Started teaching there anyway.
  • 2010 onwards: Online production editor for financial business web site. Teaching at UCA Farnham, Solent University and City. Because I spend much of my time slagging off the media’s general scientific illiteracy, I’ve started a science degree with the Open University. Watch me fall flat on my face. Also learning Drupal and Joomla in slivers of spare time.