I was born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire in 1952 and was brought up in Sharslton, a mining Village. I went to London University, Imperial and King´s, and then became a maths teacher, working initially as a volunteer teacher in Migwani, Kenya. I then spent sixteen years in London, specifically Balham and Islington. In 1992, I left Britain for Maktab Teknik Sultan Saiful Rizal in Brunei and then Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. My wife and I currently live in La Nucia, just 5 kilometres from Benidorm on the Costa Blanca.

I have always been interested in the relationship between nature and nurture within nature, birthright and experience. Themes of culture and identity and their relation to economic roles and social experience underpin my writing. What we are born into relates to what we become, but we are rarely in control of our own destiny. What others do, how we approach friends and foes, our interests and intellects and the way we choose to earn a living, all of these shape us into what we become. It may be that culture is the sum of all assumptions that others make on our behalf, whereas identity represents our reactions to them. Just a thought...

I did a PhD on the effects of education in economic development in the Philippines. My aim was to relate educational experience to culture and identity, particularly in the area of the adoption of personal attitudes and values and how they then relate to desired and realised economic roles. It was far too ambitious and occupied nearly a decade of my spare time. But I am very glad I did it and offer the deepest thanks to those who assisted and supervised.

These days I am pretty much retired. I did a few years teaching in Spain at the Costa Blanca International College, but my wife and I have concentrated on our small tourist rental business for several years. I do a lot of cooking and reading, and the garden is always in need of attention. I maintain a passion for music and am currently president of Alfas del Pi Classical Music Society.

But it is writing that interests me. My books aim to take you there, to live the characters' lives, to experience their dilemmas. I don't want to shock or to engage in vacuous fantasy or gratuitous crime. The world we live in is packed with experience, and even the most banal reality is far more interesting than fantastical invention. I hope there are truths in my writing.

During the summer of 2009 I collaborated with Martin Offiah to produce a book on rugby league. 50 Of The Best is Martin's personal selection of fifty of the greatest ever rugby league tries. Martin Offiah's 50 Of The Best thus marks my debut as a ghostwriter.

50 Of The Best describes 50 great rugby league scores. It features several of Martin Offiah's own greatest tries, but also includes many of the game's great names. Some 47 of the scores come from the last thirty years, with just three, Ken Hirst in 1968, Clive Sullivan in 1972 and Stuart Wright in 1979 falling outside this era. There are tries by Shaun Edwards, Ellery Hanley, Sean Long, Danny McGuire, Brian Carney, Wally Lewis, Gene Miles, Chris Joynt, Leon Pryce, Jamie Lyon, Henderson Gill, Mike Gregory, Jonathan Davies and others. Leeds, St Helens, Wigan, Bradford Northern, Wakefield Trinity and Widnes are all featured, alongside international sides such as Great Britain, England and Australia.

Review
His absolute hunger and dedication to score tries was unparalleled. There is no-one in the sport more qualified to produce a book about some of its greatest scores. Shaun Edwards

Product Description
In "50 Of The Best", Martin Offiah presents his personal selection of fifty of rugby league's greatest ever tries. He relives a few of his own - the spectacular, the significant and the memorable! In this fascinating selection, he also celebrates the achievements of other great players, team-mates and foes alike. From David Topliss to Kyle Eastmond, Clive Sullivan to Wally Lewis, he features legends, rookies, a few lucky breaks and some great stories of the game's past and present. Martin Offiah analyses great tries through the prism of speed and strength, tactics and teamwork and individual stealth. For him, those are the skills that combine to make rugby league the fast, skilful and spectacular game he loves. Martin Offiah tells the stories behind these great moments, discusses how rugby league has developed and offers his vision for its future. 'I loved scoring tries. That's what I did. It was my thing and I was pretty good at it, 501 times good at it' - Martin Offiah.