Who is he?

From humble beginnings Richard has sort to expand his horizons

With dreams of a Michelin star, he began working and training as a Chef. This ambition evaporated whilst making 30L of cheese sauce at 3am in an aviation food factory. He then cantered through various office jobs, stopping only to sell of BG on behalf of Sid. Having persuaded a Council to give him a desk, he was promoted after purchasing a new suit. Finding that the pieces of silver in his pocket weighed heavy and in the fear that his non-payment of Poll Tax would be detrimental to his career as a Collections Officer, he left.

He wasted his Council salary only on the obligatory liquid lunch, served daily from 12.30 to 2.30. Instead he invested in 3 years of night school study to become proficient in British Sign Language. A course at Bristol followed, when he had the good fortune to commute from Birmingham and work to pay the expense. In the early years Richard was adept at dodging the political daggers and playing with the right crowd. He even enjoyed a stint interpreting the local TV news, but gave this up after being asked for his autograph by an old lady in Tescos.

When the goal post stood still long enough to take a shot, in 1998 Richard achieved CACDP Qualified British Sign Language / English Interpreter status. He has been fortunate to work in a multitude of settings with a wide variety of people. One of his many highlights include a near miss with the bottom of Kylie Minouge at a festival and tripping over David Blunketts dog whilst on stage at a conference.

Always swimming against the tide, Richard established one of the first commercial BSL/English agencies. He identified that there was no last minute or emergency provision available in the UK and decided to put that right. The company has since expanded, diversified and since incorporation in 2001, he has been the Managing Director.

Despite a landlocked upbringing, Richard found an affinity with water. In 2000 he purchased and renovated a 28' canal boat, which sometime after the six month estimate, was completed in 2006. After experiencing the delights of the Solent on a warm Sunday afternoon, Richard became more interested in sailing. Naturally, this culminated in undertaking an exam whilst the snow fell and the ice formed on the deck. After enduring a 6 month sailing course, in 2005 he passed his RYA Yachtmaster Ocean (Commercial) and gained a multitude of other nice badges.

In search of warmer climes, in 2006 Richard purchased a 35' sailing yacht in the Mediterranean. This ongoing renovation project has seen 2000 nm under her keel, explored coves which RIBs fear and has had an encounter with a deluded French man who tried to cut her anchor chain.

Richard is attempting Spanish and he enjoys confusing locals at every opportunity. As a result he has sampled a wide variety of dishes and is popular at the local language school. His habitual confusion between Mujer and Mejor is said to be highly entertaining and produces varying degrees of 'pregnancy'.

In between his professional role, his management duties, his captainship (all of which he tells us he takes very seriously) he likes to write. Given his strength of estimating the time it will take to accomplish personal goals, Richard expects his first book will be published in 2008. Thus make a date to visit your local bookstore around 2018.