"What are O-Levels?" I was that uneducated!

I did 5 O's at the Peoples' College of Further Education (average mark 72%, highest 99% for chemistry -- 1955-57) and 3 A's at the Technical College (student rags) (lowest mark 62% for physics -- 1957-59).

I became a student teacher for a while (1959-July, 60) but got fed up with £8 per week, so became a soft-drinks salesman until I went to university in September, 1961.

At Chelsea College of Science and Technology, London University, I read physics and got a First Class Honours degree (Bs C) in 1964. I then did a doctorate (Ph D) in physics (Thesis: "Dialectric Properties of Macromolecules in Solution"), 1968.

All of my colleagues that year joined the "Brain Drain" to America. Here is Cedric.

I met my first wife Sonia in 1962 and was married 7 12 1963. She was at the St Martins School of Art (1961-64 -- painting) and the Royal College of Art (1964-67 -- fashion).

I joined IBM UK on my 28th birthday (27/11/67) where I was a systems engineer and, later, a salesman (oil industry territory). My wife became a lecturer in art and fashion.

On 1/1/1973 we emigrated to France where I took up a position as a manager in EHQ -- IBM's European HQ. I joined IBM Europe as a permanent employee 1/1/1976. My wife became a well-known painter. I had many management jobs during the next 15 years. My wife and I split up (amicably, nobody else was involved) in August 1983 and I took a post that meant that I spent much of my time in London. I rejoined the IBM UK Company 11/11/1987 and after some boring and pointless jobs, I took early retirement 5/5/1993.

I tried to start a consultancy and spent £6,000 on training, but got nowhere, as did nobody else I knew. I also applied for about 160 jobs, with no luck. I soon found that 53 was about 13 years too old for a change of job in IT!

In 1996 I became ill and you can read about the rest here