I was born in 1969 in the City of Portsmouth, Hampshire - the home of the British  ROYAL NAVY.  Unsurprisingly my family have strong links to the Royal Navy - my grandfather served on HMS Hood (the British battlecruiser sunk by the German battleship Bismarck in 1941; my mother was a Royal Marine WREN (then the women’s branch of the British Royal Navy); my late father served on HMS London (a County-class Destroyer) which was the last ship in Royal Navy to fire a four-gun broadside); and I am related to Vice-Admiral Sir Adrian Johns, KCB, CBE - who until recently was Second Sea Lord and Commander in Chief of Naval Home Command and distantly related to Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Johns, GCB, KCVO, CBE, formerly the Chief of the Air Staff and laterly the Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle (and who taught Admiral HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB, OM, AK, QSO, CD, PC, ADC(P) (b.1948) to fly).  

I am a keen supporter of -

The Royal British Legion

Help for Heroes

The Gurkha Justice Campaign

The South of England Agricultural Society
- being a Vice-President since 1995

The Order of St. John
- having been appointed an Officer of The Most Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem (O.St.J) in 2000.

The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation

Countryside Alliance

Breast Cancer Care

Police Unity Memorial Band