The Early Years:

Mark, my big brother came home from school one day having just learned about Robbie Burns, and of some tradition whereby the first borne son of the Gray family is named Duncan. He announced:

"I want a baby brother called Duncan, or a puppy !"

Mum was never keen on dogs ...

D.O.B. 05/11/67, Robberts Road, Barton Stacey Village, Andover, Hampshire, England. Two weeks premature and in a bad mood, I was born with a condition called 'pyloric stenosis' - it is not uncommon, but requires immediate surgery to correct. The operation went Ok and I was released from hospital. I was re-admitted for emergency surgery when the stitches burst open and my intestines made a bid for freedom. The infection that set in as a result of being turned inside out resulted in Pneumonia and a heap of other mean and nasty things. I astounded doctors by surviving these first couple of months.

My Dad was in the Armed Forces, and in my first year, he was posted to the Netherlands, there we resided until I was 4 or 5. Apparently, I spoke dutch before I spoke English, and used to bring friends home with me to translate for my Mum. On return from Holland we came back to Andover, in fact we ended up living in the same close (which wasn't that unlikely given that they were Army quarters).

Next posting was to Deutchland - Rheindahlen, Nato's Joint Head Quarters on the Rhein. I lived in Germany until just into secondary school - it's a shame I couldn't have finished my 'O' Levels there, as the facilities at the forces school were amazing. From my first year there I was able to study computers, electronics, and a huge range of technical subjects, most of which I had to drop when we returned to Andover and I went back to a normal school. I was faced with no technical subjects until the 4th year when I could take up electronics and computers, so I built myself a computer.
So I entered My Age of Computers.