RICHARD HANLON

I'm Stockport born and Manchester educated. Thanks to my revered music teachers Richard Sinton and Michael Ball I discovered Sibelius at 11 and sang madrigals at 14. I spent two life-changing summers working at Manchester's legendary Gibbs' Bookshop on Mosley St. Punk rock turned my head and I left school and home at 16. I lasted four months at NatWest and endured a series of bleak and brief employments until I went to Leeds University aged 23 to study Psychology. After a brief period in youth work and an enjoyable year at Forsyths on Deansgate I landed at Blackburn College almost by accident in 1995 and ended up in charge of A Level Psychology by default. I took early retirement in 2015 and now work as a private tutor and academic examiner. My musical curiosity has no limits or preferred eras - I consume anything and everything. I've spent the last 26 years in some sort of bliss with my wife Alison despite her antipathy to music (other than Duran Duran, alas). We live in East Lancashire with our teenager under the strict regime of our cat Merran (two older children fled for the sake their sanity many years ago).

My interest in recorded classical music is obsessive and all-consuming; occasional diversions include quizzing, cricket, Orkney, Accrington Stanley FC, the ancient TV series The Human Jungle (starring Herbert Lom), Laphroaig, Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show and my wonderful local pub.