Alan  was born in Stockton-on-Tees, England, in 1941, and apart from four years at Durham University, has lived there all his life.  Fascinated by drawing and painting since childhood, at age eighteen on leaving school he planned to take a degree in Fine Art, at King's College, Newcastle. However, circumstances dictated otherwise, and instead he did his degree in French, followed by two years' teaching. In 1965 he joined ICI, and spent the next 32 years with that company, all of them on Teesside, in Work Study, Personnel, Quality and Manufacturing Technology. 

 

During all that time he has drawn and painted in his spare time, as well as attending a number of part time courses at Cleveland College of Art and Design. Having retired from ICI, he  embarked on the Fine Art Degree (at CCAD) which he had originally planned to undertake 40 years previously - hence the title of his first one-man exhibition, "Unfinished Business", held in February - March 2001. He graduated in June 2006.

 

• Click on one of the Red Gallery buttons above to view samples of Alan's art (the music is also arranged and played by Alan)
   

• Click on the Pale Blue Degree Show button for a short video
   

Alan's other interests include playing music (which, in his view, "is not a spectator sport"), and he has over the years been involved in all kinds of music on Teesside - including some years as a member of The Fettlers folk group, when he wrote "the Hartlepool Monkey" which is still played occasionally in folk-music circles. His particular musical passion, however, is for jazz. All the music featured on this website is played by Alan, using multi-track recording to enable him to play several instruments "simultaneously". Since gaining his Fine Art degree, he has been more interested in making music than making art.

 

• Click on the Dark Blue Rock Around the Clock button for a short, illustrated sample.

   
He also enjoys messing about with computers, ever since buying the family's first computer (a Sinclair ZX81), twenty-five years ago. This website is a d-i-y creation.

In 1971 he published a book on Management Information Systems, which became recommended reading for students of Open University courses. 

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In 1982 he was overall winner of the Mensa Superbrain competition, part of the prize being a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica, which is still used occasionally to supplement Google. 

Alan is married to Pat (also a lifelong Teessider). They have two grown-up children, Colin and Helen, and two grandchildren, Charlie-Jack and Carys-Mia.

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November 2016

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