I was born in the mid-1950s at Rochdale on the edge of Manchester. As a teenager I had to opt to follow either the sciences or the arts. I ended up a biologist working in agricultural research, firstly in Africa, and then at the oldest agricultural research station in the world, Rothamsted Research. I currently teach at the University of Hertfordshire but have an abiding interest in reconciling the division between art and science. I recently published a book entitled, "William Blake, the Single Vision and Newton's Sleep: A History of Science, Poetry and Progress"