The coding geek in me desperate to get out, back in 2009 I developed an iPhone app for frequent flyers which monitors their bookings for changes. Later came the iPad version… and they’re both still going strong. Now starting to think about an Android version.

Travelling a lot for work meant I started to think about the benefits of earning miles and status. This quickly became an obsession – how could I get the most miles possible through any means necessary, and use them to best effect on First and Business class flights as many times a year as possible. And then write about it. The problem was, my trip reports were massive! It became too time consuming to keep up, but the reports are still there if you’re bored!

About 5 years ago I was the proud owner of a Saab 900 convertible. OK, so it was no Aston, but it was my first convertible and I loved it. I then decided it would be a great idea to do a few repairs and modifications and tell others how to do them… and to this day it’s probably the most popular site I’ve done, despite not having touched it in years!

Ah yes… We all had to start somewhere, and for my obsessive sites, this was the first. The site no longer exists, but from about 1992 I was obsessed with the Manics. I bought literally everything they ever did (and most of it still resides in my garage). This was back in the early days of t’internet, and so mine was about the only Manics site out there – it even got features on the O-Zone on the BBC!

In 1999 I was at Durham University and was, amongst other things, a failed guitarist. Failed largely because I was a bit rubbish and had no real drive to learn properly. Then a mate casually mentioned “buy yourself a bass and you can be in our band tomorrow”. The next day I had a bass and was in the band. Migrating from 6 strings to 4 was actually less dull than I’d first envisaged, and we played a number of gigs around Durham, including picking up the award for Best Band in Durham 2000! Great days, but, like the band, the site is long since departed.

Following the awesome Cactus Lounge, I decided to give Student Radio a go. Having a techie background I sat on the exec team as the IT bod and, yes, did the website. I also hosted what I thought was an amazing show. I’ve since re-listened to the recordings. I wish I hadn’t! Purple Radio is still going strong, and I’d like to think that’s entirely due to our exceptional leadership.