I have a degree in Chemistry with special subject pharmacology. I worked in the Organic Chemistry and Pharmacology departments of the University of Pavia, North Italy from 1962-1964 and therefore learned Italian in a scientific environment. I started on technical troanslations during my time in Pavia. I took the Institute of Liguists modules for Italian in translation and interpreting and continued to do technical translations after returning to the UK in 1964.

I worked in creation of scientific databases with the Royal Society of Chemistry from 1970 to 1990 and during this time edited abstracts for the Italian pharmaceutical journal, Il Farmaco. During 1990-2000 I worked as the Italian agent for Chemical Abstracts Service and carried out training in Italian on information systems.

I continue to create abstracts from Italian journals for the database Chemical Business NewsBase for which I was manager from 1980-1990.