Brought up in the east Devon of W.G. Hoskins, I drifted into local history – although topography would be a better description – after reading classics and theology at Bristol, followed by a doctorate there on the church in the late Roman empire. I’ve always been surrounded by books, so it was an easy choice to train as a librarian, and then to work in public libraries. After three years at Amesbury I was appointed local studies librarian for Wiltshire, and my nine years at Trowbridge made me a local history jack-of-all-trades, while in my spare time I was writing. My social history of Salisbury, Endless Street, is still in print more than 35 years later, and I went on to edit an edition of nonconformist records and other bits and pieces. In 1988 I decided to quit my job and go freelance – very brave, my colleagues said, which I interpreted as meaning ‘very stupid’.
Ever since then I’ve tried to make ends meet, by writing short popular histories, magazine articles, bits of consultancy, working with archaeologists on development sites, and – since the late 1990s – by learning to typeset and then publishing local history on Wiltshire and neighbouring counties. Hobnob Press, my imprint, has produced some 150 titles since then (I’ve lost count), and my time is now spent partly on that, and partly writing and editing text for the Victoria County History, in Gloucestershire (where I now live) and Wiltshire. I should have retired by now, and the pension is very welcome, but if you’re lucky enough to have been doing your hobby all your working life, what do you do in retirement – just carry on.
