I was born in a small mining village where life was hard and luxuries were few. My father and grandfather, both miners, were lost before their time. The dust, the miners called it. Pneumoconiosis should have been on their death certificates.

It wasn’t.

For many, the only choice was the pit or the factory. I wanted neither, and education opened a different path.

At university I studied history, economics and psychology, supporting myself in coal yards, factories and on production lines. That experience shaped both my perspective and my writing, giving me a lasting respect for those who endure such work, and a determination to understand the forces that shape people’s lives.

A business career of almost five decades took me around the world, working with leaders at the top of the corporate ladder—some generous and inspiring, others driven by ambition. Those years showed me how systems shape lives, how stories influence decisions, and how easily quieter voices are lost.

When I left that world, I chose to turn my attention elsewhere.

Not to success, but to understanding.

Now I live in North Wales, where landscape and history shape my writing.

What interests me is the continuity between past and present—how experience, belief and circumstance shape the lives we lead.

The past does not sit behind us. It remains, quietly shaping what comes next.

I call this The Human Thread.