Born in Penzance, Cornwall, UK. All my schoolmasters smoked pipes; I longed to emulate them, and now I do (Government Snoopers, Thought Police and Health Fascists take note).

Ironically, the legendary tobacco called Penzance is not available in England: Penzance's finest tobacconist has never even heard of it. Something wrong there, surely?

I now live in Durham, where we are lucky to have an excellent and learned tobacconist.