I was born in London in 1975 to an English father and Czech mother. My father was born in 1944 in Gateshead, county Durham. My mother was born in Prague. My father worked for Sotheby's as Company Secretary before retiring, my mother was a Petrochemical draughtswoman.

I spent all of my childhood in North London, studying first at Sunnyfields primary school, moving to Hendon Preparatory School for Boys, then Mill Hill Boys and finally SOAS, London University. My first degree was in History of the Near & Middle East, subsequently I acquired a MSc in Software Engineering from Westminster University. I lived in Munich Germany at the Goethe Institute for one year to learn German. I now live in Shanghai working for HP GDCC as a Software Architect I live just of Pudong Nan Lu, in a place called Dong Yuan Yi Cuang. X marks the spot

My parents own a farm house in the Czech Republic 45 mins drive from Prague and I drive across Europe with my friends every summer in which ever car we have built or rebuilt. The current tally stands at three skodas, two crashed one driven to the scrap yard by my father who could not stand any more cars outside the house, an AC Cobra (sold years ago) and a Lotus 7 (Robin Hood kit car). Sadly my friend David decided to sell the Lotus 7 and replace it with a 7 seater Ford Galaxy (due to his having 3 kids).

My hobbies include rebuilding cars and computing, especially with regards to the internet. I am a firm believer in Free Software and as such only use Linux or FreeBSD as my operating systems. Well in my personal life anyway.

I also run a computer club when I am in the UK Milk Shake Organisation.