Having the industrial backdrop of Los Angeles 2019 from Blade Runner (actually ICI Wilton near Middlesbrough) during his formative years obviously made an impression on Peter. From an early age he had a fascination with technology; and when most of his peers were following football teams, Peter was instead more interested in William Gibson and the Science-Fiction genre.
This interest continued into Peter’s teenage years, and with a disdain for lurking on street corners, Peter was far more partial to learning how to program his home computer (Ye Olde ZX Spectrum).
With Peter’s innate understanding of technology, and possession of an active imagination, his only recourse was to study for a career in Engineering Design. Peter enrolled at the local technical college, where one of his first technical drawings was the Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars trilogy.
After completing his college course, Peter moved to Sheffield in 1995 and continued his studies at university. It was also at this time Peter began training in Shaolin Kung Fu with the Hoan Lung Shaolin school.
Graduating in 2000 with an Honours Degree in Computer Aided Engineering and Design, Peter chose to remain in Sheffield, and began his career as an Engineering Designer. One of Peter’s greatest advantages is that his professional engineering career covered a broad range of disciplines, from aerospace to architectural, and taught him how to communicate technical information in a form which can be understood by the layman.
It was in 2006 that Peter’s first article was published, which chronicled his experiences travelling to the Burning Man Festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. The following year, Peter joined the Pennyblackmusic online music magazine.
Having written a daily blog for Dominion Online and a series of articles for the Huffington Post, Peter now writes feature articles for the BBC, The Guardian, Computer Weekly, Alphr and Prima Baby & Pregnancy.
Peter lives in rural Derbyshire with his wife and three children, as well as an assortment of hens. His hobbies include gaming, dragging his family to science-fiction conventions and feigning deafness so he can keep his nose in a book at dinner time.