Who am I?
a brief biography

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Basic Stuff

I’m a Peter Gaunt (there are others, to whom I send my heartfelt sympathy) and live somewhere near Crouch End in North London. This is estate agent speak; in fact it’s really Stroud Green. I’m not married and have no children that I know of. No one else could possibly put up with me for more than a few days at a time. I can’t sometimes either.

Conception, Birth, Physical Bits & Psychology

Going bald

Going bald

I was conceived, probably in Winsford, mid-Cheshire, in April 1950 and born near Chester in January 1951 (which, to save you the bother of working it out, makes me ). I had no say in either event which I reckon is a little unfair since they have affected me quite a lot. I was quite young at the time though. My beard is a bit younger than me. I’ve not had a haircut since 1969. How do you go about having a haircut these days anyway? I hate Tories. I take size 9 shoes. I am going bald and in protest am thinking of dyeing my hair bright green. Then I’ll look like an untidy tree.

Education, Job, Bubblegum & PCs

Me aged about 6

Me aged about 6

I went to school in Winsford and then to the University of Sussex where I did a degree in biology. Not a very good one as I spent far too much time on the beach.

I work at a school in Bethnal Green in the East End of London as a lab technician. I used to also act as a sort of part time IT technician too but I don’t do that any longer (Hi Steve & Co.). The latter largely involved putting Windows back together again on lots of stand-alone PCs and taking CD-ROM drives apart to remove sweet wrappers. I never could work out how to remove bubble gum from CD drives so that they still worked afterwards.

I use an Acorn Risc PC and a Mac at home ’cos I don’t want to have to put up with a PC there. It’s bad enough having to use them at work.

Not the Day Job, Bonnevilles & Comms

Aside from the day job I’ve written occasional articles for Acorn computer mags and a few commercial comms programs, Modem Master for the BBC Micro of blessed memory and ArcComm for the Acorn RISC OS machines. I’ve been interested in comms since 1983 when my motorbike (a 750cc Triumph Bonneville) got nicked for the second time. I used the insurance money to buy a BBC Micro and a bicycle. Very shortly after that I bought a 1200/75 baud acoustic coupler and acquired a Prestel account. Various other modems and things followed until I got an account with Demon Internet around June 1993.

Me and my iBook

Me and my iBook

I’ve now got myself a broadband, always-on connection to the Internet via a cable modem. Very nice it is too! Problem is that I tend to vanish into cyberspace for hours on end because I no longer have to fret about the cost of staying online. Marvellous but I really ought to get out more.

I’ve also bought myself a rather lovely Apple iBook laptop, one of the newer ones which doesn’t look like a toilet seat. I’ve got both this and my beloved Risc PC hooked up to the Internet via a router. It’s a novel experience being able to use both machines on the net at the same time.

Pussy Cats

I used to have a load of stuff here about the cat which lives with me. There was getting to be too much of it. I was beginning to wonder just whose biography this was. His or mine?

It seems a pity though to not acknowledge the cat’s existence on the planet though so I’ve now moved his stuff to his own page. With any luck he’ll start writing it himself too so that I don’t have to bother.

Interests

Me at Christmas 2001

Christmas 2001

Aside from computing my main interests are cycling and drilling holes in the walls of my flat. An anthropologist studying me as a sort of one person culture might also conclude that I have a interest in cleaning out cat litter trays although I would deny this. I don’t have a car and travel everywhere by foot, bicycle, train or bus. I’m one of those peculiar people who’d like to get rid of all the cars in towns and cities. My favourite song is probably The Beatles’ I am the Walrus. The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks is also a favourite but for very different reasons.

Why am I writing this?

I can’t think why I’m writing this. What interest it could possibly hold for anyone else completely escapes me…

Pete

P.S. If for some peculiar reason you should want to look at more pictures of me and your stomach is up to it feel free to look here. There’s also one or two in this bit too. Be warned: it’s not a pretty sight.

Last changed: 7 November 2005

Text © Peter Gaunt, 1996–2005
Bald photo  © Peter Gaunt, 2005
Xmas photo  © Peter Gaunt & Sok, 2001
My life  © Fate, 1950

And you know who’s the 2000 man
And your kids they just don’t understand you at all
2000 Man (Jagger/Richards, 1967)

Notes

1969

For the benefit of younger readers I should explain that 1969 was during the Olden Days, just after the Flood, before Tony Blair (and even before Margaret Thatcher), the Beatles were still together and the Rolling Stones could still make great music.

Bad Wolf