I have been a collector of militaria since 1990, but only got involved in re-enactment when I went on the internet in 2001.  I found my first group at the end of that year and started my first event at Eden Camp in Yorkshire in April 2002.  As I drove there, I wondered what I was letting myself in for.  However, I got to meet so many people from other groups at Eden Camp who were all pleased to see a newcomer, and right away I felt part of the gang.  What you soon discover is that the re-enacting community is like an extended family, with everyone else all sharing your same main interest.

When I got home after the four days - with aching muscles from standing for so long with a rifle over my shoulder - my family and friends could see that I had had the time of my life. I couldn't wait for the next event to come along! Today, I hate having to pack up at the end of each event: its a shame to only be able to do it for a couple of days and go back to normal life and work. Roll on summer, when you can go virtually every weekend if you want to!!

I prefer to re-enact as German, particularly as the German uniform seems to fit me better than anything else. The uniform was so damned smart it was no wonder that even today it remains a powerful symbol of World War Two Germany - and a reminder of how the Nazis tried to instill pride through propaganda and imagery. Wherever we go, I get so many people eager to take photographs of me wearing it - the effect is astonishing.

My other main interest is RAF, since both my uncle and father were in the Royal Air Force, and I grew up on airbases both in this country and Europe during the 1960's and 1970's.

Since 2005 I have also appeared at shows in my Luftwaffe bomber pilot's gear.   I am one of the few re-enactors in the UK to regularly wear such an outfit, and one of the few people in the world who owns TWO original Luftwaffe pilot's lifejackets used by bomber crews.  I have two sets of everything now - it is all authentic and has so far cost over £8000 to assemble. There is still much more I want to own: finding it is the main difficulty, and then having the money to pay for it is another matter entirely.  A lottery win would very useful right at the moment!

FAVOURITE MOMENT: There have been so many; every event is especially memorable. However, I like getting work on films and television the most - I enjoy being infront of the camera. My favourite was the film "A Far Cry" when I get shot in the battle sequence at the start. After being wounded, I try to shoot the hero of the film, and he empties four bullets into my chest and a fifth bullet passes through my forehead courtesy of some neat special effects work. I'm a bit of a show-off, and telling people I act in films gives me a real ego boost when I can actually prove it when the film gets shown on television like this did.

If you have broadband, you can now watch "A Far Cry" online.

I have also appeared in a number of documentaries on The History Channel over the years, including episode 3 of "The Map Makers" in which I played the real life hero of the French Resistance, Rene Duchez, who stole the Atlantic Wall defence plans from the Germans in advance of the D-Day landings.

WHY DO I RE-ENACT AS GERMAN?: This is a question which I am often asked by members of the public at events.  There are a number of reasons why I do.  In 1989, I saw a documentary about American soldiers in Vietnam called "Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam". It featured cine footage of the lads larking about in the camps, whilst famous actors of the day read out their letters which they had written home to loved ones.  I was touched that they were all just ordinary guys, plucked from their homes and sent overseas to fight in a war which they'd rather not be in, and yet - when they came home - were sometimes spat at in the streets and despised for having been out there.  I thought "that could have been my generation!", and I felt such empathy towards them.

During the next few years I got into watching WWII films and documentaries and was surprised to see how young many of the German soldiers actually were.  I think it was the film "Operation Daybreak" (made in 1975 and starring Anthony Andrews and Timothy Bottoms) where the German soldiers were sent into the Prague church to find the Czech resistance fighters who had tried to assassinate Heydrich that made me feel sorry for the German soldiers too.  Their commanding officers ordered them inside, where they died in their scores as they entered the church to be met by a hail of automatic gunfire.  Yes, I know it was a film - although based on true events - but after some research, I began to realise that not all Germans were supporters of the Nazi ideology.  It is like saying that all our current soldiers in Afghanistan are "Labour", or that all our troops who went to the Falklands were "Thatcherites".  In fact, most German soldiers were just like our own Allied soldiers - they were put into uniform, given a weapon, told to fight for their country and lied to by their leading politicians.  At least in Britain, if you wanted to be a conscientious objector you could spend the rest of the war in jail......if you felt the same way in Germany you were simply taken out into the street and shot.  It was the socially ambitious political climbers who supported the Nazis and both committed and condoned the atrocities which occurred during those horrible times.

At my second event, East Lancs Railway, I was nervous when I met a group of British veterans.  I wondered what they would say about me wearing a German uniform in their presence.  But I was amazed to discover they actually appreciated it.  "Most German soldiers were just like us," they told me.  "Just ordinary men to whom politics meant nothing."  The veterans said they supported what I was doing as "there were two sides to the war" and I was helping to keep the memory of what they did alive.

Later, at the same event, as I was standing in the street, an elderly lady approached me with her family (children and grandchildren) in tow.  She was German, although all her family lived in Britain and spoke with English accents.  She was amazed to see me wearing a Wehrmacht uniform and asked me why I was doing so.  When I told her I did it to show that not all Germans were Nazis, she broke down in tears and hugged me, saying that she had never seen anyone in such a uniform since 1945; that her father had worn a uniform just like mine, and that she had spent almost her entire life with people saying to her that she could never talk about her father and his generation because of "what they had done".  But, she said, her father had hated the Nazis, never supported them, and had - to her knowledge - committed no atrocities.  She thanked me from the bottom of her heart for showing that not everyone regarded all Germans from that period as Nazis and she proudly had her family take a series of photographs with her standing next to me.  It was after that touching moment that I decided I was doing it for the memory of all those German fathers who never came home to their loving families, and who - as our own veterans had said - were not political followers but simply ordinary young men thrown into extraordinary circumstances.

And, as mentioned above, German uniforms were a lot smarter than the average British ones.  The German uniform had been deliberately designed to make it appear as smart as possible to give the often reluctant recruits into the services some pride in wearing it.  The Germans also handed out awards like confetti for the same reason.  Although I do have British Airborne gear and RAF, whenever I wear my Wehrmacht kit, I always receive far more attention from members of the public and get my photograph taken more often.  A colleague commented recently that did I realise, with scores of people taking my photo every weekend, I am probably one of the most photographed men in Britain?  I'd like to think I'm not big-headed about it, but judging by the number of photographers websites I now appear on, he could be right. 

MY AMBITION: My ambition used to be to appear in a film - which I have now done. I suppose now I'd have to say I want to appear in the new "Doctor Who" tv series as my kids would be dead impressed!! You never know..... one day the BBC might give me a call :-)