My professional life began as a teacher of mathematics and in due course I became Head of Department then Director of Studies before being appointed Deputy Head at Queen's College, Taunton.

During this period I led various schoolboy expeditions (Arctic Norway, Skye, Jura, the Pyrenees and the French Alps) culminating in my Fellowship, when I led the Glenalmond Peru Expedition to the Andes in 1981. Our group had various objectives including ornithology, archaeology, monitoring acclimatisation and, of course, mountaineering. I led a small group of our schoolboy expeditioners up a previously unclimbed peak (Quipucamayoc at 15,100ft) named after the Inca official (camayoc) who kept knotted ropes (quipu), which recorded important information in the absence of a written language. Our descent was delayed when the abseil rope became knotted. A subsequent school expedition went to Ladakh to climb and trek in the Himalayas.

Eventually I became Rector (Headmaster) of The Glasgow Academy in 1995. I retired from that position in 2005 before spending almost two years in Shenzhen, People's Republic of China, teaching statistics to Chinese pupils.

Adventure has always been a part of my life, particularly during my Fellowship.