I read European Studies at the University of East Anglia (I graduated with a 2.1) and was one of the 400 students who provided its third year of intake in 1965. Among my contemporaries were Jeremy Harmer, Nic Ridley and Steve Walters - many ELT alumni have followed.

After two years at St Giles and several European adventures, I arrived at IH in London, where teaching led to teacher training - and to the English Teaching Theatre. With the ETT I did 27 tours abroad, from Japan and Mali to Argentina, and several less exotic summer seasons in the UK, from Hastings and Edinburgh to Blackpool Pier.

During that magical time, I had a baby (he's now 23) and became freelance. I continued to do teacher training and write coursebooks for Macmillan ELT and for the BBC. BBC Beginners' English won Simon Greenall and me a ESU prize, so I bought a hat and had that wonderful moment saying to a cabbie: 'Buckingham Palace, please'.

Simon and I also wrote two series of radio scripts for the Beeb - a spoof of Dallas called 'Taking Off', and 'Look Ahead'. We also worked with UCLES on specifications for PET, and I've written items for the FCE and exams for the CCSE reading paper.

Around 20 coursebooks later, I'm working with Philip Prowse on Inspiration, a teenage course for Macmillan ELT. And I know I'm incredibly lucky for many reasons - not least because apparently only 500 people in the UK make a living out of writing books, and I'm one of them.