Edit your profile

About me:

• Born and brought up in the US (Atlanta, Memphis, Washington DC, Manhattan), and graduated from Stuyvesant High School, NYC, 1972.

• BA English & Drama, Exeter University, 1975. PGCE (Secondary), Alsager College of Higher Education, 1976.

• Taught English and Drama in a Leeds comprehensive school, 1976-1980. Youth & Community Centre Director, Leeds, 1980-82. Lecturer (later, Senior Lecturer) in English, Theatre, Film, etc., Wakefield College, West Yorkshire, 1982-1994. Head of English, Foreign Languages, Media, etc., Brockenhurst College, Hampshire, 1994-99.
• Also, Examiner/Moderator and later Senior Examiner/Principal Moderator in GCSE/AS/A level English, for JMB and AEB, 1988-1999; plus, Examiner in AS level Critical Thinking OCR, 1998-1999.
• Regional Director for the South East, at LSDA (the Learning and Skills Development Agency), 1999-2006.
• Independent consultant in further education, skills and training, 2006-2020.
• Now retired -- undertaking a part-time, external MbyRes in English at Exeter University from September 2019.

Research Project:

I'm working on a Master's by Research (MbyRes) degree as a part-time, distance-learning student at Exeter -- from September 2019. The subject is the Cornish writer and broadcaster Charles Causley (1917-2003); the specific focus of the investigation is the impact of war on his writing.

This impact appears in several ways. The first of these centres on his early years as the only child of a Great War soldier who died when Causley was only 6. Secondly there was his life as a young man in his home town of Launceston in the 1920s and 30s. Following that, he served as a lower-deck sailor in the Royal Navy 1940-46, Finally, there was a half-century of post-war civilian existence as a returned veteran.

Causley's 30-year career as a primary school teacher in his native Launceston was paralleled by a steady output of poetry and other kinds of writing, as well as editing, criticism and broadcasting work. This led to his early retirement to become a full-time writer, including a period as Writer in Residence and Visiting Fellow in Poetry at Exeter in the mid-1970s. Causley was subsequently awarded an Hon. D.Litt. from the University. He was also the recipient of many other literary awards, prizes and honours.

The largest Causley Archive is lodged with Special Collections in the Old Library on the main Streatham campus of Exeter University.

Research Supervisory team:

First Supervisor: Professor Tim Kendall.

Second Supervisor: Dr. John Wedgwood Clarke.

Research Wider Research Interests:

Still to be determined, as a relatively new 'return-to-learning' postgraduate student.

(I might otherwise have applied to research several other, very different areas, however: e.g., the films of Powell and Pressburger, or the influence of European emigres and refugees on the British film industry around World War II, or even the use of film and television on-stage in live theatre performances.)

Professional Development:

2021-09-08

Conferences/Symposiums-

2021-07-12

Conferences/Symposiums-

2014-12-06

Conferences/Symposiums-

'Charles Causley: Influence and Legacy', University of Falmouth (Penryn Campus)

Paper: ‘"A spatter of scarlet poppies": Causley and the Great War’

View full profile