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
