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Work history.
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Brief history
I have had a very varied career, starting out at fourteen as a greengrocer’s assistant while studying Classical Ballet.
Are they linked?
Well yes; lifting sacks of potatoes above my head at that age did start me on the process of gaining the necessary upper body strength to throw Ballerinas about.
At the age of twelve I appeared with the Bolshoi Ballet at Covent Garden and during and after my full training performed with the Royal Ballet and together with my wife Linda for London Festival Ballet .
After active service in the theatre I trained ballet teachers for the Royal Academy of Dancing and also lectured in anatomy.
During my theatrical career I ran my own photographic business specialising in high speed, low light photography for ballet publicity and also taking commissions for Industrial, portraiture and glamour work.
After a twelve year stint in my father-in-laws business I went on to sell Life Insurance and then trained life insurance salespeople on all aspects of selling insurance, including taxation and trusts issues.
It was whilst training insurance sales that I got involved with technology based training or computer based training (CBT) as it was then called. This led onto web development including producing Dreamweaver podcasts for 'Talk Tech with Jack' (no longer active).
Qualifications.
An ex member of 'British MENSA' with an IQ of 160
A member of the "Guild of Accessible Web Designers"
Diploma in e-Learning IITT (Institute of IT Training)
Certificate in e-learning consultancy IITT (Institute of IT Training)
Certificate in e-learning management IITT (Institute of IT Training)
"Accessible Web Design" IWA International Webmasters Association
'LeTTOL' Learning to train on-line Internet and Intranet based training design and implementation (Sheffield University).
Web Technologies Certificate IWA (International Webmasters Association)
On-line trainer having worked for Sheffield College and Lloyds Banking Group
'Dimensional Training' (Leadership Through People Skills) accredited by Psychological Associates Inc.
'Consultancy Skills' accredited by Black Horse Financial Services.
Project Management course accredited by Black Horse Financial Services.
'Transactional Analysis' accredited by Analysis Consultancy Training.
Financial Planning Certificate accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute.
MRAD PDTC (Member of the Royal Academy of Dancing Professional Dancers Teaching Course) accredited by the Royal Academy of Dancing.
Work history.
I am a creative and innovative individual (see innovation page) who's career has included International Ballet Dancer, International Photographer, Ballet Master, anatomy lecturer, trainer, training manager, Web developer and Web Accessibility consultant and Paragliding instructor.
Technology.
Present Learning Media Consultant.
2003 — 2010
- Responsible for the advice on implementation of future learning technologies within Lloyds Banking Group.
- I was responsible for the formulation and documentation of Lloyds Banking Group accessibility standards and training.
- I was also researching into and developing mobile learning on PDA's and mobile phones.
2000 — 2003 Web development team training.
- Web development team training. Training of the University for Lloyds Banking Group web development team in all aspects of course design and production. This includes accessibility design and development, HTML, Flash, JavaScript, ASP, Graphic production and optimisation techniques using Fireworks and Photoshop.
1999 — 2000 Online training designer and programmer.
- Online training designer and programmer for interactive online training courses with Lloyds Banking Group and Abbey Life.
Training.
1999 — Online Trainer.
- Freelance online trainer for Sheffield College.
- Trained Lloyds Banking Group trainers as online mentors.
1998 — 1999 Training Manager.
- Lloyds Banking Group Training Manager for London and South East.
1997 — Advisor on 'Multimedia'.
- Advisor to Lloyds Abbey Life for training CDROM design and implementation.
1992 — 1999 Black Horse Financial Services and Lloyds Course Manager.
- Innovative course designer and trainer, with responsibility for training trainers, managers and sellers in the insurance industry. I introduced 'Accelerated Learning' techniques to Lloyds training courses.
1991 — 1992 Black Horse Financial Services Sales Consultant.
- A very successful sales consultant providing compliant and ethical sales to Lloyds bank customers.
Commerce.
1978 — 1992 EMS Ltd. Company Director.
- Responsible for stock and equipment purchasing. I instigated and ran the machine shop and print shop for vacuum-forming point of sale merchandising.
Arts.
1976 — 1978 Ballet Master MRAD PDTC.
- Training teachers and advanced students of Ballet for the Royal Academy of Dancing MRAD exams. Lecturer in Anatomy for the Royal Academy of Dancing MRAD exams.
1968 — 1979 International Freelance Photographer.
- International creative industrial, commercial and advertising photographer. Freelance Photojournalist.
1962 — 1976 Classical Ballet Dancer MRAD.
- International Ballet Dancer for 14 years. I first performed at Covent Garden at the age of 12 with the Bolshoi Ballet then with the Royal Ballet London Festival ballet and other companies worldwide.