Personal & Fun Stuff
I love messing about in boats. This was near Cape Town in 2006.
I live in a small village just outside Cambridge, England, and am married to Rose Melikan, who teaches in the University.
Rose has a very different area of expertise from mine! She’s an academic historian/lawyer and a novelist. More information at rosemelikan.com.
Our life was ruled for 16 years by an English Cocker Spaniel named Tilly - you can see her here. Sadly, she passed away in mid-2025. But later that year she was succeeded by Betsy, another Cocker, who is now in charge of the house.
Webcams and Coffee Pots
A little afternoon project which ended up having quite a lasting effect on my life was the first webcam, the Trojan Room Coffee pot. I still get asked to give talks about it, and for media and press interviews, but it also influenced my PhD topic and some of my later work. You can find lots of information about it here.
Other fun stuff
In the past I’ve enjoyed doing silly things such as parachuting, bungee-jumping, scuba diving and horse-riding from time to time, but once I began doing startup companies, such adventurous things tended to fall by the wayside. That’s probably just as well, once one gets to my age, one is likely to be falling by the wayside oneself…
So most of our outdoor activities these days involve walking and messing about in one of our small boats.
This is Shingebis, our Tideway 12, pictured in my favourite part of the world: the Lake District in the north-west of England. You can see more of our boating adventures on one of my YouTube playlists here.
I love photography. What I lack in talent I try to make up for in enthusiasm. You can find links to some of my photos here.
I was once on a University Challenge Team, though my teammates deserve most of the credit for the result!
Some thoughts about it on my blog.
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