I started learning Latin aged 12 at my local comprehensive school, using the little orange pamphlets of CLC Book I. I had to choose between Latin and German, and I made my choice based on the fact that, having read the James Herriot books, I wanted to be a vet, and he had had to learn Latin, so therefore I would have to – it hadn’t really occurred to me that James Herriot trained in the 1930s! But I quickly fell in love with Latin, continuing with GCSE and A Level, and then a BA and MPhil at the University of Birmingham. My supervisor suggested becoming a teacher, and the idea just clicked. After my PGCE at King’s College London, I started teaching in September 2000 at Derby Grammar School; after three years there I moved to Solihull School where I have been ever since.