Mike Cripps

The start of my academic career was a disaster.   I failed the 11 plus; an examination designed to separate the academics from everyone else.   And in the school I went to, they put me in the class one up from the bottom.   But I had a passion, I loved finding things out.   I would collect fossils,  and birds eggs (that would get you a criminal record these days), dig up wild flowers (so would that), trap wild birds (and that), perform dangerous chemical reactions in the back garden (could have got me killed), and look at the stars (quite safe).  I was lucky that my  headmaster and biology teacher inspired me and supported my wild ideas.   And slowly, even though I couldn't write neatly, spell or do maths well, I got better academically.    Not so fast that I didn't have to repeat my A levels though.

I had a blast doing a degree in Zoology at the University of Hull, worked a bit in radio broadcasting and then in environmental education.   Eventually I found myself back in the classroom and enjoyed it so much that I stayed.   At my first school I specialised in teaching biology and agriculture; setting up a school farm.   Then at my second school I retrained myself to be a physics teacher.   Now I teacher all the sciences.   

I had intended to keep practical astronomy for my retirement - some decades away I hope!   But six or seven years ago, three keen students wanted to do some extra science and thought astronomy would be fun.   Thanks to Jonathan, John and Duncan, I have spent an amazing few years learning  about  the Universe we live in and working out ways of letting other people learn about it too. 

I was born exactly 10 year before people first walked on the Moon.    I never thought that one day I would be working side-by-side with scientists from the European Space Agency, NASA and other research institutions around the World.   It has been a great privilege and I hope Graham and I have managed to create something which will enable you to share the experience of working with a great group of people.   OK, so we want you to learn some science and maths.   But  we also want you to enjoy doing it.