It is some 50 years since I left KEGS. After a year at teacher training college (not for me) and some time spent in retail, including selling fruit and veg (character forming!), I joined the Ministry of Defence as an Executive Officer in 1971. I have had a wide variety of jobs; for example, working on Royal Navy budgets in the immediate aftermath of the Falklands War and then spending some 25 years as a senior commercial officer negotiating contracts with defence industries at home and abroad for various weapons systems such as anti-tank, maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters and torpedoes, to name but a few. As part of that work, there were overseas travel opportunities to Europe, Scandinavia and the USA. In 1987 I spent 9 months at the Royal Naval Staff College in Greenwich studying defence/military policy. A highlight was the course visit to West and East Berlin (before the Wall came down). The transition through Checkpoint Charlie from West to East was quite remarkable; from the buzzing prosperity of the West to the drab conformity of the East, perhaps best epitomised by the now iconic Trabant car! I retired from the MOD in 2010. Because of poor ‘O’-level results, I never applied to university and missed a later opportunity, so after I retired, I embarked on an Open University degree course in 2013. I graduated in 2018 with First Class honours in International Studies – a result which was as pleasing as it was unexpected. My next and enduring challenge is……my golf handicap!
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