I was born in 1932 at Toulon street Camberwell London. in poor quality housing with no bathroom,no electricity,and an outside toilette. The house was lighted by gas light as were  the streets.These conditions as far as I am aware were common in Camberwell at that time. I started School at three years of age in Toulon street.The family was later re housed by the council in flats newly built in Summner Road Peckham. Then in 1939 came the second World war. Some time later we were heavily bombed,the  whole street in front of the flats was severely damaged, and we had a lot of blast damage.As a result of that,we were  relocated to Peckham Park Road,when again we were bombed,this time however we escaped the main damage and suffered only broken windows,the poor souls opposite received severe damage, there were fatalities.

I started work at 14, the first Job was in the Tizer factory,the next job was in Harrisons the baby carriage firm,I was trained as a wheel wright,next came an engineering firm I received training on the lathe makeing brass button compasses.I soon tired of this job and left as soon as possible. I then decided to work in an office in Cockspur Street Trafalgar Square,It was a shipping agency,I enjoyed this job very much,but the firm went out of business.My next try was with an electrical engineering firm, AVO at Horseferry Road Victoria,I did very well at this job and was able to build electronic items,I cant remember how long I lasted but I left over a disputed action. I then took a job as a projectionist at the Astoria Cinema  Old Kent Road,I reached the dizzy height of 4th projectionist,and stayed until the army claimed me.

I was called up in 1950 to do my National Service for two years.I was sent to Catterick Camp Yorkshire for basic training.

 I was then posted to Redford barracks in Edinburgh, my job there was as a switchboard operator in Edinburgh Castle. I was sent from there to El Ballah Egypt for 19 months.

On leaving the Army I found work was hard to find.I went to the local labour exchange in Queens Road Peckham where I was offered work in a local art foundry,I accepted work there, but I hated it, it was a dark dirty place under the arches in Consort Road Peckham,I was determined to leave sculpture casting  as soon as I could. 50 years later I left.

I moved from the foundry, Corinthian Bronze in Peckham, and moved to The Morris Singer Foundry at Dorset Road Lambeth.

 In 1977 Myself,  Dennis Ball  and Eric Gibbard moved to Loudwater High Wycombe and formed a new casting studio called Burleighfield Arts,this became a very successful foundry casting for most of the top sculptors of the day.

During my career I had the pleasure of meeting and working for many sculptors such as:-Jacob Epstein,Henry Moor,Barbara Hepworth,Elizabeth Frink,Lynn Chadwick,Kenneth Armitage,Anthony Caro, and many others.

In June 1996 I was named in Country Life as a "Living National Treasure" A title I somehow had to live upto.

After installing a large bronze of Lady and Winston Churchill by Oscar Nemon at Winston Churchills ancestral home, I was invited by the National Trust to the unveiling,and to lunch in  the presence of the Queen Mother who did the unveiling.