I attended the Old Hall School in Shropshire from 1954 to 1960 as a boarder from the age of seven. In 1960 I progressed to Felsted School in Essex where I specialised in sciences from the age of 13. In 1964, aged 17, I entered the London Hospital Medical College, University of London, graduating MB BS in 1969. In the same year I married Agnes. After two years hospital postgraduate training I joined the Royal Air Force on a short service commission where I trained to become a general practitioner. I left the RAF in 1976 with the rank of Squadron Leader and joined a GP practice in south London. I went on to become a GP trainer and a course organiser for the Lewisham Vocational Training Scheme for general practice. In 1982 I passed the membership examination for the Royal College of General Practitioners. In 1994 I graduated MSc in general practice, University of London. In 2000 I was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners. I retired from my London practice in 2006 and undertook freelance locum GP work in Somerset and Wiltshire until the age of 65. I now work part time in the law courts as an expert medical adviser to the judges on tribunals.

I have various interests outside medicine. I enjoy long country walks, photography, painting in oils, fiction writing and studying the night sky with my 20cm Meade telescope.

Agnes and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary in 2014. We have three children, Mary, John and Sarah, and five grandchildren.