I'm David Alston

David Alston was born in Cape Town in 1936 and educated at Western Province Preparatory School and St Andrew’s College Grahamstown (now Makhanda).
He obtained a BA LLB from the University of Cape Town in 1959, and after a year’s articles forsook the legal profession for an 18-month sabbatical overseas where he worked for what was then The Northern Assurance Company in London.
Returning to South Africa in 1963, he married Ann Apthorp in Cape Town and relocated to Johannesburg, where he joined Anglo-American and worked in the Insurance and Secretarial Departments.
In 1969, he moved to the Association of Building Societies as Managing Director, followed by eight years with The Insurance Brokers Association as Executive Director.
From 1988 to 2006, together with Ann, he published and edited his own financial services magazine – COVER – after which he continued with freelance journalism, editing and proofreading for various NGOs – as well as writing the stories which appear in this book.
David and Ann have a daughter, Justine, a son, Gavin, married to Lil, and four granddaughters.
His hobbies include writing, music, steam trains, birding and wildlife, cinema and theatre, reading, hiking and yoga.
He lives in Hermanus.