The 1960s, and my early childhood was spent growing up in Lisburn in Northern Ireland, getting a taste for cheese, sausages ... and books. However, both my parents were English. Boarding school drummed out my Irish accent, and I became 'posh spoken' by default.

Towards the end of the 1980s I gave up the legal profession, and the stress of work in Libya and Hong Kong, yearning for the artistic life. For the past twenty years I've just about managed to avoid wearing a tie to work or getting grubby.

Before turning to writing and illustrating I morphed into a documentary filmmaker. Having created 'Old House Productions' I narrated several documentaries and worked for BBC and ITV news. Being 'Legal Eagle' for live BBC local radio for a year put my law training into good use. My film Dragons – The Story of a Country Parson was broadcast on HTV in 1999. Come 2006 I was the first Englishman to win a documentary film award in the Republic of Moldova with Water of Tears (Green Man Films).

Throughout I've found time to be full-time dad of four, a part-time college lecturer, a part-time school teacher, an occasional BBC radio broadcaster, and to travel the world.

Now nesting with my wife in Melbourne, Australia, I admit to my enjoyment of cricket and poddling through the lighter side of life’s rich tapestry relieved that I've never been bankrupt.

© 2016 Charles Wood