I joined the British Council in 1978 – that’s 28 years ago! – and this is now my eighth post. Before the British Council I had been a VSO volunteer in Aswan in Egypt. Since I had a law degree (from Cambridge) I wasn’t much use to anyone so VSO trained me to teach English – which I loved. So much so that I decided to go and get properly qualified. I got a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and a Diploma in Teaching English Overseas from Manchester University. That’s where I met my wife Yolanda who was doing the same course. We then went to Iran to teach at the University of Azarabadegan in Tabriz for a couple of years. Back in England after that I taught at a few places while writing “Nucleus: Medicine”, a textbook for medical students learning English.

My first job with the British Council was in Morocco from 1978 to 1982, running a small teaching centre and doing lots of work around the country with universities and schools.
I was then posted to London where I worked on some interesting video projects – producing teacher training materials and then editing BBC materials for use in classrooms – and as a consultant on development projects in Somalia, North Yemen and South Yemen. After 3 years I went to the Institute of Education in London to get my MA in Language & Literature in Education. Then I spent 8 years in Singapore and Hong Kong, running very large teaching centres with lots of exciting projects. Then back to Morocco as Country Director before being called back to the UK to be Director English Language Teaching. That involved up to 10 trips per year reviewing our programmes in countries around the world – including Poland in 1997 – and setting up some really innovative projects like the website www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish. I was also leading on the British Council’s strategic relationship with the BBC, and in my last year acting as Development Director for our global Knowledge and Learning Centres project.

Then off to Sri Lanka in 2002 as Country Director for four fascinating years. I was lucky to arrive not long after the ceasefire was signed so we were able to do all sorts of fun things all round the country. The year following the tsunami was particularly difficult but also very fruitful because we were able to help in so many ways.

And now Poland. Yolanda and I already love the country and the people and we are very much looking forward to four years here. We’ve spent six weeks trying to learn Polish – which is enough time to understand how fiendishly difficult it could be! We spent our first few weeks exploring Warsaw using trams, buses and metro and walking through old town, new town and parks. Then we had two great weeks in Krakow, staying with a lovely Polish family in the suburbs – eating wonderful Polish food, talking politics, learning about Polish families, culture and history. Back in Warsaw now …and I’m amazed at how many pregnant women I see walking around.

We have three wonderful daughters, aged 28, 25 and 22 and we’re really looking forward to them all coming out at Christmas with their husbands. Meanwhile I’ve rashly promised my younger sister that I’ll find her a castle in Poland to celebrate her 50th birthday next year …