I was born many many years ago in Johannesburg.. well actually in hospital, because my mother wasn't feeling too well at the time. It was exactly on the same day as my birthday, so we still celebrate this coincidence today. Although I was never much of an athlete, I was the only boxer in the family - the rest were all alsations. I can remember those childhood years very well..  the days of Elvis Presley, Harley Davidsons..  the ducktails. What is a ducktail..? Well, a ducktail was normally a member of the species homo partially-erectus... dangerous, aggressive,  violent.

These were dangerous times, and if anybody walked in the street after 8 at night, they were probably walking in their sleep. These wild members of society teamed up in gangs, and would fight each other over all kinds of trivial issues... but mainly territorial transgressions. Oh, but I must admit that it was always a clean fight. They would always use highly polished chrome chains to gently stroke each other's skulls to a pulp, which made them welcome visitors to the local hospital. Because of these "clean" bruises, they did not need huge amounts of antiseptics. They didn't require any anaesthetics either as they were unconscious on arrival. During a brawl they would never ever kick an opponent. .. unless he's down. Noble characters.

And they had style... the hair... combed backwards with large amounts of either Brylcream or Potter & Moore. This had a few advantages though, because where we had to go for a regular haircut, they only went for an occasional oil change. But time moves on, and sadly this species is now extinct. I say sadly because that was the only sign ever of oil in South Africa. Yes..  we have the world's largest deposits of gold and diamonds and a wealth of other minerals..  but alas, we have yet to find oil.

I was very fortunate to be in my late teens with the advent of the great musical revolution.. the Beatles, the Shadows, the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Bob Dylan, Donovan, the Carpenters.. and numerous other top quality musicians. And the greatest movies ever made. After I finished school, I joined Newman Art Publishing Company, working as a typographical artist in the greeting cards industry. From there I went to the Air Force to do my obligatory national service.  When that was done, I switched lanes to advertising where I remained for the next 12 years. For the past 18 years I have been going solo... working from home in my design studio.

Folksinging with my old friend Dave Hattingh. We normally appeared in restaurants.. sometimes in concerts. We've been doing this on and off for the best part of 25 years now, and if we keep on going, one day we might even get it right too..! 

When I was 15 years old, I bought my first musical instrument. I bought a set of drums, which is probably the only thing worse than a violin to sensitive ears. But  soon afterwards I joined a four piece band and we started playing some popular instrumentals of the time.. Mostly Shadows, Ventures.. etc. Remember Atlantis, Shindig, The Boys, Pipelines..?

After about three years, I sold the drums and I bought a trumpet. Soon afterwards I also added a clarinet and started playing in dance bands. But the unfortunate things about wind (and percussion) instruments, is that they are not too stimulating on the neighbours' ears after 11pm at night. And unless you are really a maestro, you need other instruments to accompany you to make it sound decent. So, I had to get something a bit more "independent", mellow and complete... 

That was when I heard Segovia, and that was it. I started playing the accoustic (classical) guitar and I have never looked back. Even though I do not consider myself expert in any fashion, when I need a break..  I pick it up, and in no time I am totally relaxed.

My taste in music is fairly diverse in the sense that it includes classical music.. Liszt, Bach, Vivaldi, Brahms, Rachmaninov,  etc. And the classical Guitar: Segovia, Sabicas, Yepes, John Williams. But I also like Jazz... names like George Gershwin, Benny Goodman, Oscar Peterson, Peter Nero, Henri Mancini, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Milt Jackson, Wes Montgomery. And I also have this thing about Latin American Jazz..  Joao Gilberto, his daughter Astrud (Girl from Ipanima), Sergio Mendez, Luiz Bonfa, Los Indios Tabajaras, Antonio Carlos Jobim. I believe the happiest music in the world is Dixiland. My favourite Dixi group being the Dutch Swing College Band. Well, as long as it's GOOD..  from Beatles, Bach and Bacharach to Mancini, Donovan BeeGees, Carpenters and Santana...

I believe that any pet is entitled to a sensible name, and therefore I have always tried to give them names befitting their status and species. As a child I had a tortoise. This tortoise looked exactly like our neighbour's car ... a Volkswagen. I decided to paint a VW badge on the little guy's behind, and named him after our German neighbour.. Gottlieb. The only difference was that my Gottlieb was faster on uphills and didn't roll over on every second bend.

My little green grass snake was called sissy. Enter my cute little friend Pepe, an African Bushbaby. This is a type of miniature monkey with an enormous tail and huge brown eyes. It has the ability to jump anything up to 7 metres (about 20ft) from standstill position. He was named after our greengrocer, as the two of them looked like identical twins.   er.. no-no...  the Bushbaby didn't look like a greengrocer.. the greengrocer looked like my monkey.

Whilst living in Durban we had a cat, a lovely siamese with the unlikely name of "Mouse". Or should I say, when he arrived, I shook his paw and introduced myself.. "Willie". He looked me straight in the eyes and said: "Moooouuuuuuuse!" Who was I to argue with that?

Until recently we had a boxer called Shiva. Shiva of course being the Indian Goddess of creation and destruction. This guy never heard about the creation part, but in the other department he made up for this. He ate up about R3000 worth of cycads from my precious collection before he was three months old.

The latest addition is a blue Persian with a very impressive name on his pedigree.. I decided to call him Hitchcock. This guy walked in and just...  took over. Not even my computer is sacred to him. His favourite key is the space bar.

And now we have Knersus... a beautiful black and white american pitbull terrier. He's a bit camera shy, but I'll get him... soon.

Now this is one area where I could very easily get sidetracked or carried away, because I have numerous interests... some of them very exciting. To describe them all in detail would be a huge task,  for they are diverse.. and somewhat out of the ordinary. I love to do things with my hands. Lapidary (gemstone faceting), leather crafting, engraving, sculpting and modelling, painting etc. Collecting things has always played a fairly dominant roll in my life. My problem is that I become obsessed and before I know it, I travel all over the place to find missing  pieces.

Some of these hobbies are profitable, where others are nothing but a luxury and a huge expense. Numismatics and philately, collecting cycads, rare seashells and butterflies..  all of these were to some extent spiritually and financially rewarding. The ones that cost a fortune (and believe me, I mean a fortune! ) were also the most addictive ones..  scuba diving and deep sea fishing.

Scuba gear is fairly costly,  although the real expenses only start when you hear that call of the tropical coral islands... Mauritius, Seychelles..  and of course,  once you've been there,  you have to go back. Only deep sea fishing is worse on your bank account.  You start with a rod and reel...  Then you notice with disgust how those guys in the boats just seem to be reeling them in. Hmm..   saw a nice little  "Sleep-O-Rette" cabin cruiser.. I wonder how much.. etc. etc. Before too long, you have the most bizarre collection of rich man's toys imaginable. Boat, 4x4, echo sounder.. oh it's endless. But..  I loved every minute of it. :-)