KennetRose's VirtualTourist Home Page

The question has been posed many times. And I'm not at all sure that I've ever found the answer myself, having spent the last five years trying to compile an autobiography that makes sense of it all!

Anyway, here's a brief resumé. I was born in 1954 in Barrow-in-Furness, in that bit of Lancashire that protrudes into the Lake District, and before I'd left school I'd lived in Thorne, in Yorkshire; Greasby, on the Wirral and Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire. Since then I've lived in Reading, Hull, Cambridge, London, Bristol and Reading again. So I guess I've been around.

I studyied physics at Liverpool University without much enthusiasm, spending most of my time as Arts Editor of the student newspaper so that I was the most popular kid around (for once) when Led Zeppelin came to town and I had free tickets for reviewers. It was at Liverpool that I unwittingly created my most enduring achievement by fabricating, in the newspaper, the myth that Paul Simon was inspired to write the song "Homeward Bound" while waiting for a late-night train at Widnes station. There is a plaque at the station to commemorate this non-fact!

I've been a teacher, a computer bod, a journalist and an office dogsbody. I took another degree (a First!) in literature and philosophy with the Open University, and my career nosedived from there. I write novels which I aspire to get published one day, and take photographs, some of which have enjoyed modest success.

I have one daughter, 23, and after two marriages I am single again and happy (most of the time) to remain that way - so don't get ideas young man (unless you have a white Maserati in which case I might be prepared to negotiate.

Travelwise, I remember most vividly the childhood holidays in Wales and the Lake District; a whole summer spent in the Maritime provinces of Canada in my student days; a memorable tour of Scotland with my first ex in 1978; a glorious fortnight in Italy, dividing my time between Rome and Perugia, in 1981; many happy times in upstate New York with forays into Maryland, Toronto, Boston and New York City in the 1980s; a tour round southern Ireland with a car and a tent in 1995. And of course, my September 2002 trip by rail across Europe.

This is Tosca, who was born on 12 July 2004 and came to brighten my life on 26 August 2004. Isn't she adorable? :)

Today I started a new blog, The Light of the Word as a showcase for my photography and writing. Feel free to take a look and make constructive comments.