FRANK by name. Frank by nature.

1. I was hatched in a small Country town called EARBY in Yorkshire, England. Named so they say in olden time from the saying " 'ere be Water".
2. There is a beautiful Waterfall and Stream running by the town and a beck (another Yorkshire name for a stream) running through the town.
3. I was taken to London in 1940 when I was 6 yrs old. Got bombed out a couple of times and was evacuated to safer places. My Father was in the Royal Navy. After the War my parents got divorced and I went to live in Gillingham, Kent for a while until Dad took me back to Earby, where he got remarried and he bought a new house.
4. I attended Ermysteds Grammer School (founded in 1448) and was there for its' 500th Anniversary in 1948. I was then 14.
5. I left school in the summer of 1949 and got a job until I joined the R.A.F. in 1950.
6. I was discharged on medical grounds in 1952 and started on my real career (Jack of all Trades Master of None).
7. I did everything from delivering towels to Bus Conducting in England.
8. I had got married in 1958 and we had a little girl.
9. In 1962 we emigrated to Australia. I Joined the Australian Army in 1963 and got my discharge after having completed my term of engagement in Nov 1969.
10. On the 1st April 1987 I had my first Stroke. I suffered a Further series of strokes on the 26th April 1987. Which got me back in Hospital. During the night I had another stroke which left me permanently disabled.
11. By Christmas the company I was working for decided that they could not employ me and so they terminated my services. I was left to vegetate.
12. This was just not in my nature. I had always been into making things and doing things. I couldn't write anymore. But I did have a Computer (a fantastic Commodore64) and I decided to try and master it. I did, I taught my self Basic and then Assembler. My children encouraged me and my Son-in-law got me an Amiga 500 and I mastered that.
13. By 1991 my eldest son was into IBMs and he nagged and nagged until he persuaded me to get a 286 then a 386. I got into it in a big way and decided that I needed to know more.
14. I went to Port Adelaide T.A.F.E and made inquiries and I decided to go back to school.
15. In 1993 I studied full time and got my "Certificate in Microcomputer Support". From there I went to Adelaide T.A.F.E. and Studied for "Associate Diploma in Computing".
16. I studied COBOL, C, Pascal, Visual Basic, Information Systems Design and Networking. Unfortunately in Oct 1995 I had another Stroke and was unable to continue my studies.
17. I Still program and I Build all my own Computers. I have graduated to an AMD K6 400Mhz with an 8 gigabyte Hard Drive a 68K CD rom, a 4 speed CDR a 100k Zip drive, a scanner and a desktop video camera and of course a 56k Modem to access the net.
18. I was 65 on the 19th Sept 1999. So I now receive the age pension.

Back to Home Page