Being born/growing up

  • Place of birth:  36 Holywell Sreet, Oxford (no Blue Plaque!)
  • Birth day:  Sunday (Sunday’s child is full of grace…..)
  • Star sign:  Leo (not that I believe in these things!)
  • Height:  6ft 3inches (decreasing)
  • Weight:  14 stone (I’ve lost a stone recently.  It was deliberate!)
  • Waist:  34 inches (give or take – mostly give)
  • Inside leg:  33 inches (this stays the same)
  • Collar size:  16.5 inches
  • Shoe size: 13+ (wide fitting)

Getting educated

  • School:  King William’s College, Isle of Man, 1951 – 1956
  • Before that:  South Oxford Secondary Modern (now converted into flats)
  • ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels:  Yes, all the usual ones
  • Queen’s Scout:  1955 (I was smothered in badges)
  • Failed exam:  11-plus
  • Retrospective excuse:  Dyslexia and dyscalculia (neither existed when I was at school)
  • Inspirational teachers:  Tony Glover (my art master)

Doing National Service

  • National Service:  2/Lt Royal Artillery, 1957 – 1959
  • Posting: Ist Singapore Regiment, RA
  • Medal:  Active Service: Malaya clasp (only my grandchildren are impressed!)

Being a student

  • Degree:  BA (Hons) Psychology, Hull University, 1962 (yes, I knew Philip Larkin)
  • University Air Squadron: Pilot Officer, 1959 – 1962
  • Post Graduate:  Dip Ed, Oxford University, 1963
  • Most lucrative student job: Selling Encyclopaedia Britannica
  • Examination most proud of passing:  City & Guilds Milk Production, Part 2, 1976 (don’t ask)

Earning my living

  • First job as a graduate:  Ford Motor Company, Dagenham, September 1963
  • Starting salary:  £1,260pa
  • Only other ‘proper’ job:  British Airways, 1966 – 1969
  • Went freelance:  9 May 1969 (I probably invented working from home!)
  • Clients that asked me back (again and again): 18
  • Clients that didn’t ask me back: Too many to count
  • First client:  International Computers Limited (and they asked me back!)
  • Longest relationship with a client:  Harwell, 1970 – 1994
  • Working abroad: 24 different countries
  • Started Peter Honey Publications: 1982
  • Sold Peter Honey Publications: 2010 (now owned by Pearson)

Becoming a husband/father/grandfather

  • Met my wife to be: Singapore, June 1958
  • Married:  4 April 1964 (it took nearly 6 years to persuade her to take the risk!)
  • Years married:  58 (and counting)
  • Side of bed:   Right
  • Children:  5 (one deceased)
  • Grandchildren:  8 (one deceased) 6 boys and 2 girls

Being creative

  • Total number of books/booklets/manuals published:  40
  • Foreign Language Editions:  11
  • Articles published: Too many to count
  • First book:  Developing Interactive Skills, 1970
  • Most recent book:  Twenty-five Short Stories, 2021
  • Best selling publication: Learning Styles, 1982 (co-author, Alan Mumford)
  • CD:  Songs of Life and Learning, 2000 (sold out)
  • Wall calendar featuring my watercolours: 12 years (now, alas, discontinued)
  • 54 watercolour illustrations in the book about Portmeirion
  • Unfulfilled ambition:  To die fit

Becoming ‘respectable’

  • Chartered Psychologist: 1967
  • Chairmanships:  Mid-Thames Marriage Guidance Council, 1974 – 1976
  • Berkshire Council for Voluntary Organisations, 1977 – 1978
  • Thames Valley Croquet Champion, 1981
  • Doctorate:  Doctor of Literature, 1986
  • Patron:  Campaign for Learning
  • Prisoners’ Education Trust, trustee for 12 years
  • Fellowships:  RSA
  • Chairman of Roehampton Club Croquet

Staying healthy

  • Pulse (resting):  56
  • Broken bones:  Nose (a few times)
  • Artificial parts:  None (so far)
  • Most successful operation:  Vasectomy reversal
  • Blood pressure:  Not telling – a bit too high
  • Regular Exercise:  Pilates and brisk walking
  • Sport:  Association Croquet and ping pong
  • Phobias:  None

Likes and dislikes

  • Watercolours (doing them and looking at other peoples’)
  • Two hates: Car park machines that don’t give change and labels on clothes that stick up at the back without you knowing
  • Favourite colour:  Blue
  • Favourite composer:  Schubert
  • Favourite opera:  La Traviata
  • Favourite poet/singer:  Leonard Cohen
  • Favourite film:  Kind Hearts and Coronets (Dennis Price and Alec Guiness)
  • Favourite comic: The Eagle
  • Favourite book: Swallows and Amazons
  • Favourite radio programme: Dick Barton, special agent
  • Favourite film star: Alastair Sim
  • Favourite artists:  John Piper (dead), Bob Rudd (alive)
  • Favourite place:  Santon Gorge, Isle of Man
  • Favourite maxim:  Under-promise, over-deliver
  • Favourite expression:  ‘We’ve fallen on our feet’
  • Miss most when abroad:  Marmalade

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