I've taught at HHS for almost 8 years now, having previously been employed selling CDs and DVDs. That was for Richard Branson's Virgin Megastores/Our Price chains and involved working in Edinburgh, Dunfermline but also down south in Essex and eventually as a regional manager based in Central London. Sadly, downloading made the entertainment industry less than profitable, so after spending my redundancy money travelling the world for a year, I retrained at St Martin's in Carlisle and was very lucky to get a job only 20 miles away from where I grew up, in Kelso. Luckily, I'd already got a degree in Economic History from Aberdeen University, so it just shows you that qualifications do help...eventually!

Highlights of the travelling were the Russian Trans-Siberian railway and camping in the Namib and Kalahari deserts.

Highlights of the music business was getting free tickets/hospitality for REM, shouting at Richard Branson to go away because we were closed and the Essex schoolkids who worked on Saturdays and holidays.

Highlights of HHS: my "Dzerzhinsky" joke (you had to be there...), Munich trip with Mrs Nelson, Lewis, Eilidh and co, kids coming in on their holidays to get help for exams and five a side footie with the teachers. All the Battlefields trips are special in different ways, too.

On the football note, another highlight was seeing the girls win their cup in 2011, up at the Spartans ground.

Advice: READ MORE BOOKS - we've got an amazingly good library in the school, use it for more than the computers.

Favourite Authors: Definitely George Orwell, but also Saki, Ray Bradbury, Philp K Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, Julian Barnes, Franz Kafka, Kingley and Martin Amis

Favourite Music: Obviously Bob Dylan, also Black Keys, Junior Kimbrough, The Beatles, Kate Bush, Tom Waits.

Favourite Magazines: The Word, Private Eye

Favourite Football Teams: Aberdeen, Manchester United