Paul grew up and spent his school years in the West Midlands and then read chemistry (with geology) at Manchester University earning his B.Sc. (1st Class Honours), M.Sc. and PhD and a further 2 years as a Science Council Research Fellow at Sussex University.

After 8 years of academic life Paul moved into industry where he became responsible for global auditing of mined minerals which required extensive travelling especially to the Far East, India, and South America. It was here in industry that Paul began to develop his PowerPoint skills and public speaking. During this time Paul was a key participant in developing global training courses, lectured extensively on the Royal Society of Chemistry’s lecture circuit, worked with local schools and universities to introduce students to ‘science in industry’ and gave talks to a variety of local groups.
Paul has a passion for science along with the ability to make even the most complex ideas simple to understand through his advanced PowerPoint use to create visually dynamic presentations that include images, animations, videos, and audio – with a little humour!

At the age of 55 Paul took early retirement to work as a freelance consultant and after falling in love with cruising as passengers (with his wife) took on the challenge to become a cruise ship speaker. Paul’s passion for chemistry and geology gave him an interest in astronomy and he has written a wide variety of talks predominately focusing on astronomy and space travel, but he has also extended his portfolio talks outside of astronomy to include such diverse topics as the history of tea, coffee, sugar, gin & tonic, makeup to die for (or drop dead gorgeous), Christmas traditions and a focus on Norway as a destination.

Paul has lectured on Princess, Celebrity, Cruise and Maritime, Saga, Fred Olsen, and Viking Ocean cruise lines with the talks being very well received. Currently Paul is a Resident Astronomer (a Founder Member) with Viking Ocean Cruises which, in addition to lectures, requires presenting talks on the night sky in the on-board planetarium and night-time open deck star gazing experiences.

Paul and his wife Maureen now live on the Wirral in the northwest of England.

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ASTRONOMY

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1. Chasing the Northern Lights
Explore the early myths of the Northern Lights the Aurora Borealis and how this wonderful natural light show forms. Enjoy stunning images and video clips of this light show and see how it can affect us in today’s digital age. Travel to other planets to see their Northern Lights displays.

2. How to build a universe
Learn how astronomers developed the theory of how the Universe was born, aka The Big Bang, from Einstein and a Catholic priest to how us and our home planet came about.

3. The Moon - I Feel we are Drifting Apart
Learn about the myths and the origin of our nearest celestial neighbour. Relive the days of Apollo and the iconic Moon landings; marvel at solar and lunar eclipses and see how the Moon affects our daily lives including influencing how long is a day?

4. A Grand Tour of the Solar System
Travel from Mercury to Pluto and their moons with stunning images and video clips from NASA, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Voyager mission, and the New Horizons mission. Marvel at the images of the flyby of Pluto and its moon Charon at the outer edge of our Solar System.

5. A Pale Blue Dot and a Message in a Bottle - the Voyager Story
Roll back time to the 1970s and relive perhaps NASA's most ambitious project post the Moon landings - a voyage to the outer planets. Follow Voyagers 1 & 2 to the outer planets with spectacular images and video clips. Today both crafts have left our Solar System heading into deep space each carrying a Golden Record - a snapshot of planet Earth and the creatures that built the probes. Perhaps, one day, they may be intercepted by aliens?

6. Where is home?
Learn how ancient philosophers and early astronomers finally placed the Sun and planets in their correct places. Explore the rivalry between these early ideas and the impact it had on the lives of some of the early astronomers - particularly Galileo and his run-in with the Church and was he really the first to view the heavens through a telescope? - actually no, he was not.

7. If I Only Had Time
Explore the strange phenomena that we call time; from Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein and learn how early man used the rhythms of nature as their first clocks. See how keeping accurate time was crucial to ocean navigation, the vital role that Greenwich, London played in standardising time and the family who made a living ‘selling time.’

8. The Sun Our Local Star
Explore the origin of our local star - the Sun - and its vital role in sustaining life on Earth. Learn how it produces its vast amount of energy which bathes Earth and humanity in light and warmth which are crucial to agriculture. But will the Sun live forever? Today the Sun is around half way through its life; so what has the future got in store for the Sun and for life on Earth?

9. The Stuff of the Universe
Explore the tiny world of atoms, the stuff of the Universe, which makes everything from us to the Universe itself. Learn how the early Greek philosophers started with only four types of atoms - earth, fire, air, and water which today has escalated to 92 natural atoms. Yes, we and the Universe are made from only 92 types of atoms all made in stars – we really are made of star dust!

10. Life in a Turbulent Universe
Explore the theories of how life on Earth may have begun and the critical parameters required of a planet to support life - the so-called Goldilocks zone effect. Astronomers have now detected over 5,000 exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars), some appear Earth-like, but could they support life? With so many exoplanets do aliens exist? If yes, why have we not heard from them? - the so-called Big Silence.

11. Lifting us to New Worlds - the History of the Rocket
Explore the early history of rockets; from an early Chinese bat-cave, through fireworks, a cream-separating machine and to World War II where the rocket was born. Just a handful of men from widely differing backgrounds all provided the pieces for the jigsaw puzzle of how to build a rocket. Learn about the most well-known modern pioneers of the rocket - Robert Goddard in America, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky & Sergei Korolev in Russia, and Wernher von Braun in Germany and the USA.

12. Cosmonauts Verses Astronauts: The Early Years and the Solo Missions
Learn about the politics and the major players that led first to the nuclear arms race and then to the space race. Relive man's first space flight with Gagarin and Vostok 1, see why Russia initially had the lead in rocket technology ahead of America's Mercury missions with Alan Shepard and John Glenn.

13. Seeing is Believing: The History of the Telescope
Stroll through the history of the telescope from its inventor Hans Lippershey through its first user Thomas Harriot, to Galileo its pioneer in astronomy, its modification by Newton and to the Hubble Space and James Webb telescopes. View the first drawings of the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter's moons through to the stunning images of the Universe taken by the Hubble telescope and now the James Webb telescope.

14. Let there be Light!
Explore the history of light and its role in humans 'seeing the world around them'. But what is light, how is light formed, how fast does it travel, can we use it to see the past? Learn how early philosophers and scientists have provided the answers to these and other questions - from Isaac Newton through James Clerk Maxwell to Albert Einstein. And yes, on looking at the heavens, light is a telescope to the past and encoded in light is the history of the stars

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DESTINATION FOCUSED

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1. Dramatic Norway
Travel through the stunning scenery of Norway. Learn about their glaciers, rivers, mountains, and spectacular fjords and learn how much of their landscape's names are related to their mythology and their Trolls that lurk in the dark forests and fjords.

2. Norway: Facts, Myths & Legends
Learn a little of Norway's history and culture. See how the Sami people have adapted to life in such a harsh environment and in particular their reliance on one particular animal - the reindeer. Delve into their mythology of the Seven Sisters, the Viking sagas with their use of the Sun Stone as an aid to navigation and the gem stones of Norway.

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GENERAL TOPICS

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1. A Storm in a Tea Cup. The Turbulent History of Tea. Part 1: For all the Tea in China
Learn the origins of tea through its discovery in China, its expansion into Europe, its rise through the social classes from royalty to working class families, the origin of afternoon tea, the rise of the major tea companies and the pivotal role that tea played during World War II.

2. A Storm in a Tea Cup. The Boston Tea Party, Clipper Ships, the Opium Wars and Tea from India
Learn how the taxing of tea imports into the American Colonies escalated into the Boston Tea Party making America a coffee drinking nation and how the tea carrying clipper ships such as the Cutty Sark raced each other from China to London bringing the first samples of the new tea of the season. Britain's need for increasing amounts of tea led to the exchange of opium for tea resulting in the Opium Wars and Britain developing tea plantations in India.

3. Full of Beans: The Intriguing History of Coffee
Learn how coffee had its origin in Ethiopia before spreading into the Middle East and used initially by Surfi priests to stay awake during long hours of devotion. Initially thought to be the drink of Satin and not welcomed in Europe it is the only drink blessed by a Pope before spreading throughout Europe. In England it was the drink of intellectuals in coffee houses called Penny Universities many of which became financial institutions. In the USA after the Boston Tea Party the popularity of coffee out-stripped that of tea.

4. Sugar & Spice and all Things Nice: The History of Sugar and its Legacy
Explore the history of sugar and its expansion around the world from its first use in New Guinea around 3000 BC. Such was the demand for sugar that initially Venice was the sugar capital of the world. As requirements escalated, ships from Bristol & Liverpool traded slaves from Africa for sugar on the Caribbean plantations. Bristol and Liverpool gained huge financial success from this trade with sugar refineries established - but there was a heavy health price to pay - obesity and tooth decay.

5. The Bitter-Sweet History of Chocolate
Explore the history of chocolate from its first use in South America to its expansion into Europe, North America and the rise of the major chocolate companies pioneered by men such as John Cadbury, Joseph Fry and Milton Hershey.

6. From Peru to India via Leeds & Mosquitoes. The history of Gin & Tonic
Explore the origin of gin & tonic from the bark of the fever tree in Peru, the invention of sparkling water in a brewery in the UK, the production of gin in the Netherlands and the unique flavour of the juniper berry. Was the British Raj in India really protected from malaria by their G & Ts

7. Makeup to Die For - or Drop Dead Gorgeous
Travel back in time to Ancient Egypt and the invention of makeup. By the Victorian era, whilst the concepts of beauty had evolved, many of the ingredients used would now be considered dangerous. From stibnite (antimony sulphide) and galena (lead sulphide) used by the Egyptians as the eye makeup kohl, cinnabar (mercuric sulphide) for red lips, cerussite white lead (lead carbonate) for the pale complexion of Elizabeth I.

8. Christmas Traditions: Cards, Crackers and Dinner
Journey through the history of Christmas card giving, the Christmas cracker - invented when Tom Smith sat by a crackling log fire - and the iconic Christmas dinner of turkey, Brussels sprouts, Christmas pudding, ginger bread and mulled wine.

9. Christmas Traditions: Christmas Trees, Decorations and Christmas Scents
Learn a little about the history of the "origin" of Christmas. Explore the first use of a tree at Christmas and made popular by Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert. Journey through the rise of the Christmas tree's decorations; lights, tinsel, and baubles and of course the iconic scents that we all associate with the festivities.

10. Christmas Traditions: Father Christmas, Reindeer and Carols
Explore the history and mythology of Father Christmas from the early St. Nicholas through to his modern jolly image in a red suit and black boots (perhaps inspired by Coca Cola) and his iconic reindeers. Finally, look back at the origins of some of the most popular carols.

11. An Empire Built on Soap
Follow how a young grocer from England's northwest built a global empire based on soap - William Hesketh Lever & the story of Unilever. Learn how he invented branded packaging for his products and pioneered the use of art in advertising. As a man who cared about his workers, he built a dedicated village to house them providing sanitation, education, and health care. This together with the world's first medicated soap vastly improved the heath care of the working classes and reduced infant mortality.

Paul has lectured extensively on Celebrity, Princess, Cruise & Maritime, Fred Olsen, Saga and Viking. He is currently a Resident Astronomer with Viking Ocean Cruise lines

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.