I am never at my best in the early morning especially a cold morning in the Yorkshire spring with a piercing March wind sweeping down from the fells finding its way inside my clothing nipping at my nose and ears.
My dad Donald was a vet and had a practice in Yorkshire. Cats and dogs were his bread and butter but his greatest love was large animals.
I studied with a blind teacher from about 5 until I was 16 at two different schools. From the age of 12 until 16 I was in a boarding school-which I believe at that time was compulsory for blind children.