I was born in Nairobi, Kenya and was educated at City Primary, Technical High and Eastleigh Secondary schools in Nairobi. I left ESS in 1960 and went to the UK in 1961. I enrolled at the Northern Polytechnic College where I completed a diploma course in Electronics. I have been in the hotel business for the past 35 years now.

I am married to Jasbir and we live in Kingston, Surrey. We have three children, Rajesh, Kuljit and Ravneet – and five grandchildren.

During my four years at Eastleigh, I was the champion cyclist for Nile House at the annual sports day. I gave my voluntary services for two years to manage the school canteen during mid morning breaks. Two of my favourite teachers were the PE teacher Mr Shant and one of my Form Tutors Mr De Souza. I made a lot of friends, some of whom I still meet on a regular basis.

- As of October 2006