I was an undergraduate and a postgraduate at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR), University of Southampton, during which time I played in the university orchestra, sang in the chamber choir, was chairman of (and sang with) the Light Opera Society, and studied acoustics. For a year while writing up my PhD (on geo-acoustic inversion in shallow water) I sang with the choir at Lichfield Cathedral. I was then fortunate to be offered a job at Arup Acoustics that would help me fulfil an early ambition: working on the acoustic design of concert halls and opera houses. Since 2003 I have been working on another area of acoustics, photoacoustic imaging, in the Department of Medical Physics at University College London, where I remain researching and teaching in ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging.