I was born and educated in East Devon, England, born 1957. I studied History at Lancaster University between 1976-79 when there were no computers or mobile phones. I then took a two year law conversion course, travelled for two years and worked as a lawyer specialising in commercial litigation for 34 years. I was a partner in the London firm of Freshfields and latterly at the London office of US firm Covington and Burling. I retired in 2015, took a part time Masters in History at LSE and am now embarking on a PhD.

My thesis, supervised by Dr Kirsten Schulze, is to investigate the decision making process within the United Nations that led to the resolution in 1947 to partition Palestine. My over arching question is to consider whether the process was at each stage fair, impartial, and thorough. Much has been written about partition but very little, if indeed anything, that looks at this event through the prism of what happened within the UN. As my archival research has not commenced I have many questions but do not have a hypothesis.

Provisional thesis title

Resolution 181. An Analysis of the Decision Making Process within the United Nations that Led to the Resolution in 1947 to Partition Palestine