Born 1953 in Sussex, UK. He graduated in 1975 from Manchester University with a First Class BA Hons degree in Geography where he also took French and German as subsidiary subjects. He taught briefly before joining the Diplomatic Service in 1978.

His first assignment was in the FCO, working on UK - Irish issues. Then followed postings to Vienna (1979-83) and Peking (1983-87) where he worked on the UK’s Hong Kong negotiations team and was subsequently heavily involved in preparing HM The Queen’s 1986 State Visit. He was in London 1987-89 working on defence policy and as Head of the FCO’s France/Benelux Unit before his posting to Canberra (1989-94) where he became Head of the British High Commission’s Political Section. On his return to London, he worked as Director of BBC Monitoring Service Review before leading an FCO Management Consultancy Team. He was then Deputy Head of Mission at Oslo (1997-2001) and Deputy Governor of Gibraltar (2002-2005).

Most recently, as Head of the British Office, subsequently the UK’s first ambassador, in Kosovo January 2006 – April 2008, he has been strongly engaged with the status process which culminated in Kosovo’s co-ordinated declaration of independence in February 2008.

He speaks near native Norwegian, good German and French and can read Spanish. He also speaks Albanian and is now learning Croatian.

He enjoys choral music and has always been a keen sportsman.

He is married to Geirid who is Norwegian. They have three sons: Marcus (1982), Alexander (1984) and Freddie (1990).