Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska once wrote a poem called ‘Writing a Curriculum Vitae’ in which she considered what is left out of those incomplete summaries of our lives: “Omit dogs, cats and birds,” she advised, “mementos, friends, dreams. / State price rather than value, / title rather than content.” Like Szymborska, I am reluctant to simplify the richness of life to a few bald facts but, since it seems to be a requirement for websites such as this one, I reluctantly offer the following misleading precis:
• I am a husband, father and son
• I am a Catholic with catholic reading tastes
• I am an author, home educator, and secondary school teacher.
• I have had eight books published: The Race, a dual narrative children’s novel; Meg and the Great British History Mystery; Between Darkness and Light, a novel about the Chinese Labour Corps in World War I; 50 Books for Life: a concise guide to Catholic literature; Popes, Emperors and Elephants: the first thousand years of Christian culture; Did Jesus Go to School? and other questions about parents, children and education; Out of the Classroom and Into the World: how to transform Catholic education; and A Little Book of British Saints.
• I have degrees in Modern History from Oxford, English from the Open University, and Chinese Studies from SOAS, University of London.
• I also have a postgraduate diploma in Lake District Studies from Lancaster University, a certificate in Natural Sciences from the Open University, and am working on a PhD in Theology and contemporary fiction at the University of Nottingham.
• I have taught the following subjects: Critical Thinking, Drama, English Language, English Literature, History, Government and Politics, Latin, and Theology
• I have had the following jobs: Area Secretary for Aid to the Church in Need; Assistant Warden at a night shelter for homeless men; Director of Curriculum Development; Director of Learning; Head of Drama; Head of Higher Education and Careers; Head of Sixth Form
• I have written for Adoption Today, the Catholic Herald, the Catholic Times, Catholic World Report, The European Conservative, First Things, Humanum Review, Plough, Standpoint, The Scotsman, the Telegraph, the TES, UnHerd, and the Universe
• The more I read the more I realise how little I know.
Roy Peachey's Books 