FAQ

It’s probably about time I put together a bit of a FAQ about me, given the ever-growing number of people who visit this website. I draw a little (certainly at this early stage) from Roger Darlington’s excellent FAQ. I’ll add to it over time, and as things occur to me. But for now I thought it would be fun to put together something that enables me to talk a bit more personally than my educational and professional overview.

Where were you born?

I was born in the Cottage Hospital in Wells, Somerset, on the 19th March 1973 at, I think, 12:20pm. I was “a heavy baby”, which is perhaps a surprise given that people think that that means I’d be a bit heavier than I am now (I’m 6′ 2″, and about average weight for that sort of height). I was generally “lanky” as a kid.

Where were you brought up?

I grew up not that far from Wells, in Priddy, the highest village on the Mendip Hills. Priddy is a remote village and had, and still has I’m pleased to say, a very close-knit community. I went to the local village school, and friends are often shocked to learn that I was in a year of just four. There were around 36 children in the entire school, and we’d take lessons with other years in either the infants school (a porta-cabin next to the main building, that I’m afraid to say, is still there, all be it replaced and improved since my days) or the junior school, so there’d be no more than about 16 children in each school.

I have a younger brother, Peter, with whom I spent a lot of time when we were much younger. I thoroughly enjoyed my childhood, as we were free to run about and do what we liked. Our parents were (and are) well known in the village, and we had the freedom to be able to play pretty much wherever we liked. We knew the rules for returning when we said, how to respect the farmers land, and what was and wasn’t safe to do.

Where do you live now?

I now live in Glasgow, Scotland, close by to Bellahouston Park. Before that, I lived in London for seven years in Lee (in South-East London), Hammersmith (in West London) and in Tufnell Park (in North London). I spent a couple of years in Duesseldorf, Germany, and four years before that at Oxford Brookes University.

I took the decision to move to Scotland because I’d simply become fed up with the “rat race” that was London. People I met most of the time seemed miserable, the daily commute was awful, and I wasn’t benefiting from the facilities and activities that went on in London. Frances, my better half, had always said she wanted to return to Glasgow, so I felt it was more than time enough to give somewhere else a try.

To move so far was difficult. We had jobs and a house, and there seemed no easy way to smoothly transition to the other side of the country. So we took the plunge and resigned our jobs, did up the house in order to sell it, then went travelling for three months. On our return we started afresh up here. The alternative was to try and get at least one of us with a job (and that’s difficult enough when you live in the city!), then sell the house, then move up. The travelling sounded like a lot more fun, so that’s what we did. And it was!

Do you have a family?

I have no children, and my fiancee (Frances) and myself have no plans to change that anytime soon. This might surprise some friends, but I view it as primarily Frances’ decision and she’s not keen on the idea. We therefore like to spend time we have spare, when we can, with the children of our friends, that or down the pub :-)

We do spend a lot of time with Frances’ family of course, and I try to visit my family down in Somerset as often as I can. We’ve been trying to coax my parents up to visit us in Scotland, but that’s harder said than done. My younger brother, Peter, lives in Bristol and we meet up every now and then when we visit. Lots of our family and friends are holding out for us to get that illusive house which as I talk about here is proving much harder to resolve than we’d like!

Do you have any pets?

No, although we do hope to get a cat sometime once we have finally purchased a house! As I grew up, we had a number of pets:

  • Shandy: a rough collie, who was perhaps the softest and most mild mannered dog I’ve ever known. Terrified of cars, and very protective of me and my brother.
  • Bonnie: a welsh-border collie, a dog that really should have been a working dog, she had so much energy. Terribly fond of cow-muck as a “perfume”, to the fury of everybody in the house, for understandable reasons!
  • Thomas: A cat with attitude. Very much “top cat” in the area, he was known to visit other houses who had cats and walk up as if he owned the place, and eat their cat’s food. Frequently in fights, but very much at home on someones lap in front of the fire.
  • Stella and Shandy: My parents newest dogs, they’re rough collies again and rather, er, boisterous - barking at the slightest provocation, but very enthusiastic, and a delight for my parents to take for walks.

Where were you educated?

My full academic history is here, but in a nutshell, after finishing at Priddy Primary School, I went to the local comprehensive (Wells Blue School), where I finished my GCSE’s and A-levels. I then studied for a degree at Oxford Brookes University, studying Computing. I graduated with a B.Sc(Hons), and was fortunate to be awarded the first departmental prize for my undergraduate project. The prize was in memory of the former head of school, Brian Clarke, who had suddenly died during my time there.

What is your philosophy?

I was brought up in the Church of England, and even was confirmed into it at the age of about 12. Over the course of my adult life, however, I had cause to revisit my beliefs. Despite being confirmed, I considered myself Agnostic for much of that. Whilst at University, I shared lodgings for a year with a committed Baptist Christian, a strong athiest, a muslim, and a Catholic. Suffice to say there was a lot of late night discussions, all of which led me to concede various things as any good agnostic would but still prefered evidence.

Despite occasional rethinks, I was always agnostic: I simply couldn’t rule out the possibility that somehow, something “bigger” had to have something to do with the fact that I could sit here and ponder such things. That the world was just too “right” for it to be an accident of nature.

However, it’s been clear to me for a good few years that intelligent design, and relying on superstition and belief were simply unsustainable and unreasonable. There’s simply no evidence supporting a religious point of view. That the majority of religious beliefs follow down from parents demonstrates conclusively to me that it’s nothing more than a very successful Meme.

Most recently, I set about reading the seminal books from Richard Dawkins - The Blind Watchmaker, and The Selfish Gene, which gave my liberal and agnostic disposition the boot it finally needed. Succinct and self-contained, I’ve no doubt whatsoever that we have no need to rely on superstition for reasons for our existence. Some might argue it’s a horribly depressing view of the world, but I’d counter that it’s nothing but: There is such wonder in the natural universe that it’s positively delightful to look at, and strive to understand. That it could lead to things as amazing as conscious thought, the great barrier reef, the diversity of life on this planet and the staggering beauty of the universe, as unveiled by Hubble is cause for celebration.

I balance my atheism with a strong belief in treating everybody else fairly, humanely and justly. In a word, I adopt a Humanist outlook to life. Indeed, I’ve recently joined the British Humanist Association which argues for the rationalist viewpoint. I’m finding it increasingly absurd that an automatic voice is given to religious spokespersons simply because of their beliefs, when rationalist points of view on important matters are not treated as such.

How did you first get into computing?

Some who know me might ask when have I /not/ been into computing! I’ve had a life-long interest in all things IT related, but got my first opportunity at School when the government introduced the BBC Micro into every school. My school friend Alton and myself took it upon ourselves to learn about them, and start programming them.

My first computer was a ZX Spectrum 48K (the “rubber keyed wonder”), and it was a christmas present for my brother and I in, I think, 1982 or 1983. We played games on it almost exclusively for four or five years, until I started developing a more serious interest in things. I started learning about “DTP” and would write family newsletters for people for a bit of pocket money. I even wrote one in Danish which was rather difficult given I don’t speak the language!

We upgraded to a ZX Spectrum 128 +2 (which had a proper keyboard and a built in tape-player) some years later, but it was in 1989 after I had started my A-levels (which included Computing) that I saved up money to buy a PC. I bought an Olivetti computer which had expansion bays such that I could eventually buy a hard disk (a huge thing, that cost £250 for a massive 20Mb!). The computer helped me immensely during my A-levels and into the first year of my degree.

Of course my degree was also Computing. I decided to pursue this as other subjects just didn’t interest me in the same way, and it was no surprise to family or friends that I’d taken this decision. Careers officers were hopeless, I might add, as office IT based jobs were unknown to them at the time. Electronic Engineering might have been an option if I’d been any good at mathematics and Physics, but I wasn’t.

So I studied for, and received, a degree in Computing, and haven’t looked back since. I suppose the thing that I’m most aware of is that IT continues to be fascinating to me, and - when it’s good - it’s just like I’m working on a hobby. When it’s bad, mind (particularly when office politics gets involved) it’s a peculiar form of Chinese water torture.

As such, I’m always looking for interesting work in IT to ensure that I can get as excited as I used to about working in the field. It does get harder as the companies get bigger, but so long as I have an opportunity to “geek out” I’m usually sated.

How did you first get around to starting a Web site?

I registered leyton.org a good year or two before I did anything with it. I wanted to have a “firstname@somethingleytonrelated.somethingorother” and as leyton.com was long gone (they make hats, of all things), leyton.org seemed the next best thing. I was sort of an organisation, and I could give out addresses to family members as well.

Once I got the hosting sorted (I use xcalibre), I put up a bit about me in a rather bland sort of way. It then occured to me, as google moved into supremacy, that I made extensive use of that for occasional problems that would crop up in my technical job. But when I solved a problem under my own steam, I wasn’t putting things back for others to find.

So I started typing up a few solutions to a few problems, and before I knew it it turned into the site you see today.

I’ve written more about the setup at leyton.org here

How did you first get around to starting a weblog?

As I mention above, I wanted to “give something back” to the internet community. There was a natural progression from that to writing a weblog, but I was inspired to actually start writing more regularly after I’d had the pleasure of working with Stefan Smalla and Seyed Razavi at an internet startup during my time as a consultant at Paremus.

Stefan and Seyed were the first webloggers I’d met, and it got me thinking about a more regular “this is my life” postings. So I installed proper weblog software (at the time it was Movable Type), and “ported” my static pages over. Then I just started writing about what interested me.

Before too long I realised that the cardinal rule of weblogs “keep it relevant” was breaking, so I split out my technical interest part to “Techie Musings” from my personal. So there are now two weblogs. I do occasionally think about merging them, but think it works well as it is, apart from a few confusions over links from some of the weblog trackers.

Why are you so keen on reading?

I love books, and I love reading them. I’m told off by my better half, Frances, that I have too many, and that when we finally get a house, I can’t have them all. However, I love keeping books around me for the reference they provide. I may not intend to re-read a book once I’ve read it, but I love having them to hand just in case they come up in conversation, I’m struck by something I recall about it, or want to lend to somebody.

The first book I read was, of my own volition, The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien. I’d read plenty of other books, including almost all of the Famous Five by Enid Blyton. But the Hobbit was the first I wanted to read and actually went and bought without consulting anybody. The reason? I wanted to work out how to finish the computer game on the ZX Spectrum by the same name. In fact, you can play it here!. After that, of course, the Lord of the Rings followed, and I spent a long part of my teenage years engrossed in Fantasy.

Over time I got bored of fantasy (with the exception of Tolkien and Weis & Hickman), and moved into more mainstream books. Whilst I was at University, I developed a thirst for learning more about the world, and developed an interest in “popular science” books, such as The Emperors New Mind by Roger Penrose. I love crime fiction, particularly the Inspector Morse books (I even bumped into Colin Dexter once in the Troat inn just outside of Oxford). Politics also became a favourite, as I swotted up on the recent political history of this country, through the memoirs of journalists and politicians.

Most recently I’ve been devouring anything by Richard Dawkins such as The Blind Watchmaker.

All in all, I love the process of learning and discovery, and books are amongst the best ways of doing that. Probably the best bar lectures and structured learning (at least in most cases). I’ve also managed to fulfil one of my ambitions and get my name in print on a number of occasions, most notably by co-authoring Theory and Practice of Relational Databases.

What sort of music do you like?

All sorts. I’m not the sort of person that gets particularly excited about one particular type of music more than another, I just like variety and innovation. I’m particularly keen on R.E.M and Coldplay at the moment, but my iTunes playlist contains a whole lot more. I was listening to Mozart’s Magic Flute earlier, have Tori Amos playing at the moment, and have even been known to choose to listen to Add (n) to (x). And I do actually own a couple of Aphex Twin albums….

When are you going to get married?

Probably the most frequently asked questions we get from friends and family. Frances and I have been “together” for five years, and known each other for a few more than that. We’ve lived together for most of that, and we’re happy that way right now.

We do want to get married. No doubt about it, but the priority has to be buying a house first, and then - and only then - will we start planning our wedding. We just see the priority to get a roof - our own roof - over our heads before anything else. A wedding costs a lot of money, and sorry to say, we’d rather prioritise our money to the house.

When we do finally get sorted, we’ll get on with the wedding plans. We do have a few other hurdles to overcome, not least that neither of us knows what we want in the wedding itself - but we do have a list of things we don’t want! We also have a bit of a “religion” thing to overcome. As an atheist, I don’t want to be hypocritical and get up in front of family and friends and say things I don’t believe, tradition or not. But at the same time, neither of us wants what we’d consider a bland registry office affair. Our trip to California to see friends get married over there showed us something along the lines of what we’d like, but legislation here in Scotland doesn’t permit something like that (for reasons I cannot fathom).

When are you going to buy a house?

The second most frequent question from family and friends. We’re looking. Boy are we looking. Check out my posts on the subject. We’ve worked out the sort of things we want, but the housing market up here is very strange. Scotland continues to experience house price inflation whilst most of the rest of the country shows deflation.

As of today when I write this answer (28th April 2005) we’ve had three surveys done. The first house was rot ridden and needed £80k work done to it (we knew it needed a lot, but not this much); The second we lost out on by £30k (offers over system and other, more desperate, buyers); The third was nice and fixed price, but had massive problems throughout. At £500 a shot, surveys quickly add up to a lot of money. But we’re still looking, and are optimistic we’ll have somewhere in time for Christmas this year!!!

What do you look like?

Richard LeytonI look like this. It was taken at Stourhead, and is one of the few pictures I have on my computer that I think is half-decent. There’s also one at the authors page of my books website.

What do you actually do for a living?

A question I’ve had quite a few times now! I’ve taken a stab at explaining my job here, in laymans terms. It was much harder to summarise than I thought, but I quite like the cake-baking analogy Frances and I came up with.

How do you spell your surname?

OK, so it’s obvious from the domain name that it’s spelt “LEYTON”. But for the purposes of disambiguation, I figure it’s possibly useful/interesting to say that my surname is often spelt “LAYTON” (Phonetic spelling, if you will) and “LEIGHTON” (Coz we all love silent letters?), but very rarely as it’s supposed to. Family stories, from my grandfather no less - who should know, state that my great grandfather was born with the surname “UNCLE”. He was to be ordained a methodist priest, and the establishment requested he change his surname rather than have the rather strange “FATHER UNCLE”, so he took on the surname of the district of London where he was living, specifically LEYTON. So, there you have it. I wonder how many other people have a surname that’s also a London Underground station? :-)

Leave a Reply

Please be sure to read the comment policy before posting.