David Sneath

Born in 1948, I am truly a boom baby who grew up in the shadow of the Second World War. My father was a corporal in the Royal Canadian Dragoons and fought in NW Europe. My mother was an actress who did Panto in the 50's. Curiously, they were married in Buenos Aires, Argentina where their fathers were respectively a chartered accountant and sheep farmer.

Married to Carol, I have 2 children Catherine and Rebecca who were not sure about reading a novel, Jazz Music, by their Dad but encouraged me to write Down Argentina Way. The books are also a legacy to my grandchildren Charlie, Rosa and Anna.

University educated, I became a barrister in 1970 and went on to a judicial career in 1992. Parallel to that I had a career in the Territorial Army Infantry which gave me an interest in military history. The TA gave me the opportunity in 1986 to fly in a two seat training version of the Harrier jump jet in which I narrowly avoided being sick! Other opportunities included many helicopter rides including the Blackhawk when I served with the Americans in 2006 as an operational lawyer in Iraq. In Down Argentina Way, I try to give a more optimistic view of the campaign than the received wisdom in the UK.

Both books touch the only airman in the family, my grandfather's nephew Wilfred Sneath, who served with the Royal Naval Air Service and then for 6 days with the Royal Air Force before being shot down and killed in April 1918.

Today, I support the Mercian Regiment as a trustee of its memorial at Crich and its Nottingham museum where I help to look after the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters collection.

From 2017 to 2018, I served as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire as successor to the bad guy in the Robin Hood legend. It was a most rewarding year in which I interacted with the justice system and the charitable sector as described in a final chapter to Down Argentina Way.

Music, which plays in the background to both books, has also featured in my life and I enjoy playing the flute and singing as well as listening to anything from opera to Abba.