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Born 1959 in Edinburgh. Father was a doctor and university lecturer in psychiatry and Mother had been psychiatric ward sister. Both were of relatively humble origins. Father had been a prisoner of war. When Francis was about 5 they went to live in Liverpool because Father had been asked to take up the newly created professorship there. They lived in the grounds of the now long-gone lunatic asylum while they looked for somewhere to live. Eventually they ended up living in a big house in the suburbs on the South of the city.

Eventually he gained a degree in Applied Statistics and Computing in 1987 and has earned his living writing software ever since. He is a British Canoe Union qualified level 3 kayak instructor. He is married to a six foot red head; they have two children and live in a big house in Birkenhead. He is committed Buddhist.

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