Gerald Howe was born in Bedford in 1954 to a family of farmers and cattle dealers. He went to Bedford Modern School and represented England at rowing. Happily married to Jacqueline since 1976, the couple have two sons, Matthew and Henry, and a black Labrador called Eddie! Gerald has worked at various airports including Heathrow where he looked after the in-flight catering of Quantas, Gulf Air and TWA Airlines. He later became a restauranteur and then a hotelier, and moved to Jersey in the Channel Islands in 1988. Though actively involved in an electronics business in Bedford, in his spare time he sat down at his computer and started to write the Alfie stories...which he hopes will give children a sense of adventure and an interest in reading.