WHAT'S IN AN IMAGE
WITH KEITH CHANNING
I
was very keen to be born in the first half of the twentieth century, but
wanted to let things settle down after the second World War before appearing. Accordingly, I made my entrance in the middle of 1949, in Exeter, as the second of four children. From what I can recall, my childhood was unexceptional, culminating in five years at Hele's Grammar School for boys. For reasons that are lost in the past, I couldn't complete my A-levels and go on to university. I left school and started work at 16.
After a career that included two decades in the insurance business followed by two decades in IT, I was made redundant towards the end of 2005. At the tender age of 56, I took
early retirement, sold up and moved to central France with my wife and pets. The change from insurance to IT had evolved over a period of eight years, during which I worked with a construction company; a job that saw me spend five years in Dubai, two years in Tanzania and six months in Nigeria. The time in Dubai gave opportunities for holidays in much of the Middle- and Far-East, opportunities that were not wasted. Dubai and, perhaps to a greater extent, Tanzania, had an enormous effect on shaping my world view and my way of looking at life.
My first marriage ended shortly after my return from two years of unaccompanied service in Tanzania. I subsequently remarried and, more than
IMAGES IWACA
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AN INTRODUCTION