My teaching career began in 1984 in Selby, North Yorkshire, where I taught French and German in a comprehensive school for five years. At the end of the eighties I moved to Madrid and a career in ELT. Most of my time there has been spent working with International House, as teacher, teacher-trainer and most recently as Cambridge Examinations Co-ordinator. In the mid 1990s I spent 18 months in Vilnius, Lithuania, where I held the post of Director of Studies at Soros International House.

In 1996 I came back to International House Madrid to teach and started writing for Macmillan three years later. With the invaluable support of my wife, Azucena, I produced Ready for FCE (2001) and Ready for CAE (2004). Publication of these two books coincided with the birth of my two lovely daughters, Lara (2001) and Elisa (2004), who help to keep me firmly in touch with reality when I’m writing. I am currently working on the Advanced coursebook for the Straightforward  series, which will be out at the end of 2007. There are no plans, however, to have any more children …