Michael Round

Born way back in 1937. I sometimes remain in awe of the sad irony that whilst I enjoyed what was a wonderful Black Country childhood the Second World War raged, and the misery of the holocaust was taking place. I belonged, and belong, to that generation which is identified by the great rise of the meritocracy as youngsters went to universities and colleges and escaped the encompass of the eternal working class - moving from backbone of the nation to the brains of the nation. For me this rise was manifested in over four years in the regular Army, instead of mere National Service, thus earning enough savings to put myself through Teacher Training. My career matched that of the huge expansion of education so that within 10 years I was the headmaster of a large High School. Shortly after that I was appointed a Justice of the Peace. Towards the end of my career I served on the Council of the National Headteachers' Association. Then in my late 50s came a heart attack. That is the bare bones.

I married a remarkable lady, my Barbara, in 1997 and we are still together having massive arguments about trivialities at roughly hourly intervals ever proving my total blameworthiness. No children of our own is countered by the rich experience of taking on 8 or so teenagers, all boys, and putting them in the right direction as best we could.

I have always written. Loads of useless short stories, poems, essays - many published items in professional journals, mainly in the USA. Three novels of no consequence litter my middle age, then in the 90s I wrote two novels set in Ramesside Egypt: 'When Gods Grow Old', and 'The Archives of Kadesh'. I have recently revisited the manuscripts, updated them and they are to be published. The first will be published in September 2011, the second due in 2012. Post the heart attack I finished a novel set in the American West in the 1860-70s which was published in 1999, 'One Promise Kept'. All are available through Amazon, or will be. I also co-authored a little book Benedick - A Cat's Tale, mainly drafted by a deceased friend Anthony Hill.

At the moment I have three further novels on the stocks. In addition there is in preparation a guide book to the EU's principle cities, and a collection of essays and other writings, many prepared for the educational/American market.

I travel a fair amount, and hope to continue to do so - together or separately we have been to Greece, Morocco, Tunisia, Germany, France, Holland, Spain, USA, Thailand and Sri Lanka, and of course my military service put me in Cyprus for over three years.

As I drive through the autumn of my years, and slip at speed into my 75th gear - so many - I still feel I ain't finished yet.