I was born in the mid-1950s at Rochdale on the edge of suburban Manchester and I am an alumnus of Oulder Hill School. As a teenager I had to opt to follow either the sciences or the arts. After graduating from The Hatfield Polytechnic, having studied soil and plant microbiology, I ended up an applied biologist working in agricultural research, firstly in Malawi, Africa, and then 25 years as a staff scientist at the oldest agricultural research station in the world, Rothamsted Research investigating novel strategies to replace synthetic pesticides. Following a sabbatical in the Department of Biochemistry at Oxford, in 2012 I joined the University of Hertfordshire (UH) and was an Associate Professor Research in applied nematology until my retirement last year. I still currently teach aspects of crop protection at UH as a visiting lecturer. I have an abiding interest in philosophy of science and understanding the divisions between art, science and religion. I recently published a book, written during Covid-19, entitled, "William Blake, the Single Vision and Newton's Sleep: A History of Science, Poetry and Progress"; I am currently working on another book on the nature of knowledge. The talks I offer on Speakernet put my professional career as an applied biologist working in the area of crop protection and environmental sustainability into its broader scientific context.