Duncan Sidwell was born in the UK. After graduation he became a teacher of languages and then a languages adviser in the English county of Leicestershire. Later he researched teacher evaluation. He worked as a national inspector of schools, before joining the Open University, a distance teaching university, where he was in charge of German and then of English. At the OU he worked for a time on English language materials for the Central China Radio and TV University. He taught at the CUN in 2005 – 6 and enjoyed it so much that he returned this year. He has published a number of German and French textbooks, and books about language teaching and learning. His book on western culture is at present being prepared for publication by the FLTRP.