About the Author
In October 1994, I started my PhD at Southampton University in the
Department of Electronics & Computer Science. I am researching
distributed business process support systems, currently looking at the
building of systems supporting mathematical process definitions, defined in
languages such as CSP (Communicating Sequential Processes) defined by C.A.R.
Hoare. I am based in the Mountbatten Building, named after Lord Louis
Mountbatten, cousin of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
First Degree
I graduated in July 1994, also from Southampton University, with a First in
Computer Systems Intergration. During my time as an undergraduate I took a
year out with International Computers Limited (ICL), working in a research
group for the Retail Systems division in Bracknell, in the UK. Immediately
after my graduation, I started work on ArcWeb. It's first major public
showing was at Acorn World 94 (although a small number of people had earlier
versions) and it has been featured on the Comms page of Acorn User and on
the BBC television program Blue Peter.
Life Story
To complete the life story, I attended St. Olave's Grammar School, which is
in Orpington, Kent which I represented at both rugby and atheletics. The
school hit the headlines when it was revealed that Labour Party shadow
cabinet member Harriet Harman had decided to send her son to the school.
(For those unfamiliar with British politics, the Labour party is committed to
abolishing grammar schools and selective schools - of which St. Olave's is an
example of both).
Before that I was at Biggin Hill Junior School, and before that, at Biggin
Hill Infant School.
Biggin Hill
As you probably gathered, my parental home is in Biggin Hill, which is most
well-known for its rôle in the Second World War as a key airfield in
the defence of London. Although the RAF recently moved its Officer Training
School elsewhere, the airport still hosts an annual International Air Fair in
May or June. If you have visited the Air Fair since 1983 and approached by
car or coach from the Westerham direction, then you will have driven past my
house, as our quiet little road can be opened up as an access road to the
airport.
Stewart Brodie, BSc (Hons)