I was born in Nairobi in 1959, the eldest child of Frank and Lily Mendonça. I have 3 siblings: Melanie, Freddie and Marina. My father was an English teacher and Deputy Headmaster of Eastleigh Secondary School and my mother taught Mathematics at Ngara Secondary School. I was a student at Eastleigh Secondary School from 1971 to 1974, and the following year our family moved to England.

I met my wife Elizabeth at Lancaster University. She is a primary school teacher. We have 3 children: Alexander, 18 [who is about to go to Imperial College to study Mechanical Engineering], Louis 15 [who will be taking his GCSE exams this year] and baby of the family is Lily who is 13. We live in Haslemere in Surrey.

I qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in London in 1984. I have my own business - my company [Peal Partnership] advises companies on financial matters and helps to resolve financial problems e.g. raising finance, improving profitability, resolving issues companies have with HM Revenue & Customs and banks, and turnaround situations. We also provide part-time Finance Director services to small and medium sized enterprises.

I have fond memories of Eastleigh - I particularly enjoyed playing basketball, hockey, football and table-tennis – there were never enough hours in the day to do these justice!

- As of May 2012