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Who Is Terry Franks?
Yes, that's me - in one of my worse moments! I'm 59(ish), married with a grown-up son and daughter, and I live in Worcester Park, Surrey. My daughter married in 1999 (to a very likeable computer programmer - computing must run in the family!) and in 2000 my son married a lovely Swedish girl from Boden in northern Sweden. At present my daughter is a manager with English Heritage and my son is doing his PhD at Churchill College, Cambridge.
Some of you will know me already, probably because I was your tutor when you first started learning about computers. The fact that you're reading this seems to suggest that you really got in to it!
I first got interested in computing in about 1979 or 1980. My first computer was a home-built one, and I can still remember the thrill of switching it on for the first time and finding that it actually worked. After that I got involved in computing at work, introducing the first personal computer to the department I was working in. At the time I was the only one with any knowledge (or interest) in personal computers so I became more and more involved with PCs. Eventually computers took over much of my time and I started training other people to use them and helping them to use their machines more effectively.
By the time I was 50 my employers decided that no more training or assistance was needed and I was made redundant (they were very nice about it though). With a only a small pension I needed more work and that's when I started teaching in Colleges - first at the Malden Centre in New Malden and later, for a while, also at The Richmond Adult & Community College.
So there it is - my history in a very small nutshell. I still love working with computers and I hope that this comes through in my teaching. I like to think that having learnt to use computers in a 'non-academic' way, I can help other to learn computing without assuming too much prior knowledge. I believe that I can understand the difficulties they have. I also try to teach my students to apply their new-found skills in a practical rather than a textbook way. Any ex-students out there who want to get in touch with me are welcome to e-mail me at terry.franks@technologist.com.
Since this is my personal page, I'm going to take the opportunity to share with you some of my wife's paintings and prints. She has been painting for more years than she cares to remember and has tried all sorts of media. Here are some of my favourites among those which we've managed to retain!
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