Career:
I went to school at the Priory Grammar School, Shrewsbury, then did my first degree at Oxford (Brasenose College), starting with Classics and going on to graduate in Psychology and Philosophy. This was followed by postgraduate courses in Teaching English Overseas (Manchester University) and in Phonetics (University College London). I was appointed to the Linguistic Science Department of the University of Reading as a lecturer in 1968 and taught phonetics there until 1978, gaining my PhD while working there. I then moved to the University of Leeds to become Senior Lecturer in Phonetics in the Department of Linguistics & Phonetics. I was Secretary of the International Phonetic Association from 1986 to 1992. Later, I moved to the Department of Psychology at Leeds University, where I was appointed Professor of Cognitive Psychology. I returned to Reading University in 1994 as Professor of Phonetics and Director of the Speech Research Laboratory. I was Head of the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies for four years.
My main interest now is in the phonetics of English, where my publications include English Phonetics and Phonology and the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, both published by Cambridge University Press. A more general book is Phonetics (Oxford University Press). I also have research interests in speech perception and in the computer analysis of speech, and have held a number of research grants for work in automatic speech recognition and in large-scale computer-readable speech databases. On my retirement in September 2003, the University of Reading awarded me the title of Emeritus Professor of Phonetics.
I have also taught in other countries for shorter periods. In 1962 I worked for six months as a language teacher (Assistant d’Anglais, with officer rank) for the French Navy at their communications and radar establishment on the island of Porquerolles, a job which gave me my first experience of teaching English pronunciation. For the academic year 1975-6 I taught (on leave from Reading University) in the Department of English at the University of Sevilla, Spain. I have been an invited speaker in many countries around the world, including Algeria, Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia and USA.
Publications: You can see a list of my publications here.
Life: Born in London in 1943. Married Helen in 1966; two sons (Sam and Matt), four grandchildren. We have moved from Reading and now live about half the year in our house in Norwich and half in our second home in a village in the Languedoc region of the south of France. For outdoor activities, I am keen on walking, running, cycling and sailing. Indoors, I love classical music. I am also an old car enthusiast – you can see pictures of my 1931 Riley and 1974 MG here. We like going to films and classical music concerts. Finally, we have always been keen on travel and camping, and have a camper-van.
I went to school at the Priory Grammar School, Shrewsbury, then did my first degree at Oxford (Brasenose College), starting with Classics and going on to graduate in Psychology and Philosophy. This was followed by postgraduate courses in Teaching English Overseas (Manchester University) and in Phonetics (University College London). I was appointed to the Linguistic Science Department of the University of Reading as a lecturer in 1968 and taught phonetics there until 1978, gaining my PhD while working there. I then moved to the University of Leeds to become Senior Lecturer in Phonetics in the Department of Linguistics & Phonetics. I was Secretary of the International Phonetic Association from 1986 to 1992. Later, I moved to the Department of Psychology at Leeds University, where I was appointed Professor of Cognitive Psychology. I returned to Reading University in 1994 as Professor of Phonetics and Director of the Speech Research Laboratory. I was Head of the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies for four years.
My main interest now is in the phonetics of English, where my publications include English Phonetics and Phonology and the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, both published by Cambridge University Press. A more general book is Phonetics (Oxford University Press). I also have research interests in speech perception and in the computer analysis of speech, and have held a number of research grants for work in automatic speech recognition and in large-scale computer-readable speech databases. On my retirement in September 2003, the University of Reading awarded me the title of Emeritus Professor of Phonetics.
I have also taught in other countries for shorter periods. In 1962 I worked for six months as a language teacher (Assistant d’Anglais, with officer rank) for the French Navy at their communications and radar establishment on the island of Porquerolles, a job which gave me my first experience of teaching English pronunciation. For the academic year 1975-6 I taught (on leave from Reading University) in the Department of English at the University of Sevilla, Spain. I have been an invited speaker in many countries around the world, including Algeria, Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia and USA.
Publications: You can see a list of my publications here.
Life: Born in London in 1943. Married Helen in 1966; two sons (Sam and Matt), four grandchildren. We have moved from Reading and now live about half the year in our house in Norwich and half in our second home in a village in the Languedoc region of the south of France. For outdoor activities, I am keen on walking, running, cycling and sailing. Indoors, I love classical music. I am also an old car enthusiast – you can see pictures of my 1931 Riley and 1974 MG here. We like going to films and classical music concerts. Finally, we have always been keen on travel and camping, and have a camper-van.
