I am English born, bred and educated (Lambrook, Rugby), but have lived in French-speaking Switzerland since 1971.

I am interested in a myriad of subjects, from antique arms and armour, philology and motor bikes (but too old now...) to genealogy [1] [2], antique British silverware and cooking (historical and modern), but the following often take precedence in my life:

• German renaissance prints (particularly by the brothers Beham and the Hopfer family).

• Renaissance music, particularly early keyboard music, and more particularly the English 'Virginalists': Byrd, Bull, Farnaby, Gibbons, Tomkins, Philips etc. I can put it no better than Colin Tilney: ... the keyboard music written in England from about 1580 to 1625 had no equal anywhere for gravity and brilliance, for learned ease or for sweet melancholy. It is simply one of the imaginative summits of Western art, a brief miracle, challenging in its technical demands and utterly satisfying in its hold on the ear and the mind.

• Early drinking glasses.

• Early diaries and travel journals.