Personal

All sides of my family have been in southern Bavaria and the adjoining areas of Austria for as long as historical records allow us to go: some are from Tirol around Innsbruck, some from Bad Reichenhall, some from Abtenau south of Salzburg, and some from Traunstein near the Chiemsee, where I was born in 1949 and partly grew up. In the late 1950s my parents emigrated to Canada and settled in Montreal, where I spent the remainder of my childhood and attended McGill University from 1967-1971, majoring in English and linguistics. Thereafter I moved to the National University of Ireland in Dublin, where I did an M.Phil. in Medieval Studies, and thence to a D.Phil in Oxford University (Merton College), UK, from 1973 to 1979. While in Oxford I tutored in Old and Middle English at Oriel College and was appointed to a temporary lectureship in Old and Middle English in Leicester University. In 1980 I was appointed to a lectureship in English Language in Newcastle University, and remained there until my retirement in 2014.

My research is described elsewhere on this site. Hobbies include history of the Middle East, Central Asia, India, and China, hill walking, and motorcycling. I have been building, modifying, and riding motorcycles since I was 16, and spent three summers as a mechanic at Honda City in Montreal. Northern Britain is rich in deserted winding roads which encourage spirited sports-bike riding, and I have been doing that for decades on a succession of Suzuki GSX-Rs. In the interests of self-preservation, more and more of my riding has been on track-days at various circuits aroung the UK. A few photos are given below; click to enlarge.

Anglesey 2008 GSXR 750 Anglesey 2008 GSXR 750 Cadwell 2009 GSXR 750 Cadwell 2009 GSXR 750 Cadwell 2012 GSXR 1000 K6 Cadwell 2012 GSXR 1000 K6 Cadwell 2018 GSXR 1000 K6 Cadwell 2018 GSXR 1000 K6 Oulton 2019 GSXR 1000 L7
A few laps of Cadwell
Donington 2020 GSXR 1000 L7 Donington 2020 GSXR 1000 L7 Donington 2020 GSXR 1000 L7 Donington 2020 GSXR 1000 L7 Click text to start

To stay sane during the Orwellian idiocy of covid lockdown I bought an old Yamaha XV1100 to restore. Initially it looked like a rusty version of this, including a seat nibbled by mice:

This is what it looked like stripped down:

Here's the result: Suzuki GSX-R 750 front end to replace the impractically long and rust-pitted original, Suzuki RGV 250 seat unit, YSS shocks, hand-made footpeg mounts, comprehensively de-chromed. The idea is to have an alternative to the GSX-R 1000 in the background for relaxed street use, so the engine is standard; click on a thumbnail for a large picture.