About Me

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Where I was born…

I was born in Kennington, South East London on 9th February 1958. My parents Bill and Violet were both working-class people, hard workers and great parents. I did have two elder brothers Billy and Charlie and an elder sister Ann but sadly they have all passed away and all three went far too soon.

Where I went to school…

I went to Henry Fawcett Primary School and then on to Kennington Boys Secondary School. I wasn’t much of a scholar and I left without even bothering to sit any exams. However, I did learn whilst at school but only the things which I was interested in at the time. My only regret is not learning and studying history as I believe if you have a good knowledge of history then you can have a conversation with almost everyone you meet.

What I didn’t achieve…

I had quite a varied childhood, I spent most of my young life playing football, it was my passion and although I did take part in trials for Chelsea, I didn’t have the full desire or the pushing parents needed to take this to the limit. Although I didn’t succeed in become a footballer, the sport never left me and I have become an avid and lifelong supporter of Chelsea Football Club.

What I shouldn’t have done….

The one regret that I do have is that at around the age of fifteen I started to steal cars – yes that what I did. However, I am not in the least bit embarrassed to admit this publicly, it’s what I did, I can’t change it, I can’t pretend it didn’t happen. I got caught, I got sent to a detention centre where you took the punishment on the chin, it was hard in there. On the first day I took a hard slap to the head from one of the screws, it knocked little Ian flying, it was just their way of saying “you’ll do as your told in here son” and you did, there was no disobeying orders in there! I’ve gone on to understand why kids growing up commit petty crimes but I haven’t gone through live thinking its okay to steal or commit petty crime, I’m just saying I understand. 

Life Changing Experience…

Life changed for me in 1977 when I met my future wife Sue, we married in March 1978 and went on to have four children Billy, Alison, Lucy and Karen. Between the four of them they have given us ten grandchildren Tommy, Charlie, Max, Libby, George, Jack, Billy, Harry Charlie Jnr and Susie. We also have an ‘adopted’ eleventh grandson in Brody, who is the son of Karen’s husband Ryan.

Our Own House…

In 1981 we bought our first house and moved out to ‘the country’ Chatham in Kent to be precise! At the time we only had two children Billy and Alison, these were exciting times. Lucy and Karen soon followed and they are the only ones in the family who cannot call themselves ‘Londoners’ sorry girls!!

Working Hard To Succeed…

I worked hard building up a property maintenance company and the rewards paid off. We moved house twice during our time in Kent and finally settled on the beautiful St Mary’s Island development which is situated between Chatham and Rochester in Kent. St Mary’s Island really is an Island, it was once part of the Royal Dockyard Chatham and was also once occupied by The Royal Navy. It has to be one of the loveliest places in the UK to live, if you were dropped onto the island blindfolded, you would be forgiven for thinking that you had just been dropped onto a Mediterranean island, weather permitting of course!

Viviendo El Sueno – Living The Dream

In 2016, after fourteen fabulous years living on St Marys Island we eventually emigrated to the Costa Blanca in Spain. We had bought a holiday house in 2013 and spent so much time there that it was inevitable that we would end up moving here full time.

January 2021

Change had to happen, time never stands still and we eventually moved from our little Spanish town house at the end of September 2023 and into a lovely semi-detached villa with its own pool. Our 'new' house is actually older than the previous house, fortunately the previous owners carried out extensive work to modernise it to a good standard, one which meets with my high (OCD inspired) taste!

March 2024