Welcome to my website
You have happened upon the website of John Chivers. Welcome!
My Blog is my online diary and contains personal musings on everyday life and current events.
The Professional section of this site concerns my professional activities past and present.
The Academic section contains details of my qualifications and additional materials produced during the course of my studies, including two studies written during my third year abroad as part of my university degree and some course work produced as part of my PGCE course work.
My Music section contains some information on the band BAiT, for whom I drummed, sang backing vocals and played mandolin for the band's entire existence between 1996 and 2007.
There is also some information on my favourite type of music, progressive rock, and some information on the main bands of this often misunderstood and vilified genre of rock music.
The Miscellaneous section contains items which do not fit neatly into any of the other categories, as you would expect.
The Family section contains some information on my immediate family and a family tree on the male line back to 1805.
Finally, if you have a few minutes to spare, why not have a look at the Rants page and see if there are any topics which interest you. Go on... have a rant!
About My Family and Me
From humble Yorkshire lad to honorary Midlander, I've been in the making since 1971 and still haven't made it yet.
Born in Bradford in 1971 and raised in the village of Oxenhope in Brontë country, I attended Coventry University between 1990 and 1994, where I studied Modern Languages (German and French as core languages and Russian ab initio), with a third year spent between Potsdam, Germany and Grenoble, France.
I met Emma Paddison in 1993, we married in 1996 and now have two girls, Murron (born 1998) and Philippa (born 2001), and one boy, Tristan (born in 2008).
I live in Nuneaton, Warwickshire and am webmaster for a CAD/CAM software company in Coventry. So much for the Modern Languages degree!
I have played the drums since 1981 and was a member of Coventry originals band BAiT between its birth in 1996 and its demise in 2007. I now play classical guitar and mandolin for my own amusement.