| Steve: | Ruth: |
| If I ever write my life story, its title will be ‘You’re not from round here are you?’ With a Cumbrian mother and Lancastrian father, that is the gist of what I was told when I first went to school, and some version has accompanied me ever since, no matter where I live. I think of myself as a Jack-of-all-trades and have decided my motto is ‘Veni Vidi Emendari’, if that makes sense. | Ruth was born and brought up on a farm in Northern Ireland. When she came to college in Preston, she too quickly learnt to alter her accent, so that she could be understood. Surprisingly to many, growing up on a farm is not a great introduction to what has become one of Ruth’s main passions – gardening. |
| Steve Scott – Acting and Writing Interests | |||
 |  |  |  |
| I have been a would-be writer most of my life and have written technical articles, newsletters, short stories, opinion pieces and plays. Many of these remain unpublished and probably unfinished. Most of them only exist in paper form, as technology has moved on and the media they were stored on has become defunct. Lately I have been trying to write a book, which is probably a philosophy book, about ways of improving our reasoning and decision making on a range of topics. I have included some of these bits and pieces below. Though I have been writing bits and bobs all my life, I hadn’t really acted since school and then I went to see a play by a friend’s mum and aunt at the local Methodist Church Hall. I mentioned to him that I might be interested and next thing I knew I was at the front of the stage singing solo in pantomime. As I can’t sing very well (good voice, terrible memory for tunes and tendency to change key) that seems fairly typical of community theatre. Soon I was in a play and then other groups were asking me to do parts, then I started acting in semi-professional, semi-scripted Murder Dinners all over the place, then lead parts and suddenly I was doing five or more productions a year with all that involved in terms of rehearsing, bits of directing and building sets. I was also doing interesting stuff with young friends who had trained in drama, as well as the more standard fare. At some point I started doing training courses and thinking about trying out as a professional and in 2007 I went part-time at work and enrolled to do a Drama BA. As a University lecturer, it was a bit odd doing stuff with kids who were straight out of school, though they were nice, and so I swapped to an MA in Ensemble Theatre. That was challenging and interesting and I really enjoyed the improvisation, with some lovely and talented people, but it wasn’t what I really wanted to do and I took a diploma and ran. As I tried to set myself up as a professional actor, I thought about others I knew who had been there or done that and I realised that I didn’t want to go through audition after audition, just to hang around for ages and walk on and say a few lines, so I took a brief rest and then went back into amateur theatre. A few years later I suddenly realised that I wasn’t really enjoying it any more and so I stopped. I don’t really miss it, though I enjoyed most of it a great deal, and I liked the people involved, who are usually the type that make things happen. I would recommend it to anyone. I had a good time and did most of the things you can do; acting, directing, voice overs, dancing, singing, designing, making, building and painting sets, making flying houses, making stages, repairing and fitting out rehearsal rooms, operating lighting and sound, doing make-up, controlling an audience, improvising, auctioning props off, taking my clothes off and putting other ones on very rapidly, wearing a dress, scaring people by dying on stage or by acting so drunk that they thought I was going to fall off the stage. I’ve made people laugh, shout, sing, boo, hold their breath and point at me on the street. I’ve played Sherlock Holmes, Scrooge, The King (King and I), Rene (Allo Allo), Birdboot (The Real Inspector Hound), Albert Parker (When we are Married), The Tin Man, Ben Gunn, and Salvador Dali. Patrick Stewart watched a group of us improvise. The head of the drama school who taught Euan McGregor yelled at me from the other side of the room to ‘stop acting’, when I was rehearsing an argument as a midwestern American son of a southern American mother in The Glass Menagerie. I’ve been advised, praised and helped by the head of a London drama school, writers and actors for TV and directed by the producer of the TV program Sapphire and Steel. What a great privilege. |
 |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |
Script Writing Professor Pontius Pigge and the Rhubarb Sheds – a comedy detective story. The Bums of Fanny Berry – a murder night script A Needle in a Haystack – a murder night script Ties of Blood – a murder night script Affair of the Heart – a murder night script Dress for the Bigger Man – shortlisted for the Barnados Ten Play Prize Salvador Dali talks Performance – a short comic monologue with some physical theatre elements with the assistance of a silent performer. Worn and Peaceful – mid thirties angst meets elderly glass full to the top Wiki’s Day Out – a short comment on life with Wikipedia through the eyes of some famous artists. My Acting History 2014 An Inspector Calls – Set builder Steptoe and Sons – Set Builder Pinnochio – Evil Coachman, Set Builder, Set Painter, Stage Hand 2013 Beauty and the Beast, Actor (Beast), set carpentry, scenic design Without Fear or Favour, Actor (PC Keith Fountain) 2012 Seasons Greetings, Actor (Uncle Harvey), set carpentry, scenic design Calender Girls, Actor (advert director) Outside Edge, set production and scenic design, stand in Director Kafka’s Dick, Actor (Kafka’s Father), set production and scenic design The Wizard of Oz, Actor (Tin Man), Set Production and Scenic design Girls Night Too, Set Production and Scenic design 2011 Affair of the Heart (murder dinner), Writer, director, detective. Hay Fever, Actor (David Bliss) Last of the Summer Wine The Moonbather, Actor (Howard) The Witches, Actor (Doctor,Father,Chef) 2010 Treasure island – Director, Actor (Ben Gunn) Needle in a Haystack – Writer, Director, Actor (Detective) 2009 The Bums of Fanny Berry – writer, director, actor 2008 Lethal Contact – Fight scene extra, Leviathan Entertainment, Director Peter Hallett Old Dogs – Actor (Ron), Director Shaun O’Reirdan And After – Dante, performer, MA Ensemble Physical Theatre piece, Director John Britten Buddy – Narrator student animation Venture into Violence – Actor (Police Chief), BA Drama showcase piece 2007 The Seagull – Actor (Trigorin), university assessed piece Dad’s Army Sketch – Actor (Private Walker) A Glitch in Time – Actor (Time traveller’s father, Lieutenant, High Priest) A Funny thing Happened on the way to the Forum – Actor (Miles Gloriosus) When we are Married – Actor (Albert Parker) Sleeping Beauty – Actor (King) / Assistant Director 2006 Aladdin – Actor (Ababanaza) Wanted one body – Actor (Blundell) Out of Focus – Producer King and I – Actor(King) Wizard of Slawit (panto version of Wizard of Oz) – Producer, Set Designer, Script editor 2005 Jack and the Beanstalk – Actor(Giant’s Servant) Sherlock’s Home – Actor(Sherlock Holmes), Script Editor Harry Potter Street Theatre – actor, contributor The Hyde Millions (Murder Dinner) Actor (Jonny Hyde) T’Pit (Performance piece built from workshop improvisations) – actor, contributor Secondary Cause of Death, Actor(Count Puschlik – German spy posing as Polish émigré) Christmas Carol (pantomime version) – Actor(Scrooge), Director, Set Designer, Script Editor. 2004 Dick Whittington – Actor(Sea Captain). The Real Inspector Hound – Actor(Birdboot). Allo Allo – Actor(Rene) Murdered to Death – Actor(Drunken Murderer Butler) Treasure Island (pantomime version) – Actor(Ben Gunn) Various Murder Dinners as detective, Czech émigré, Professor, PA Political Fixer) 2003 London Suite – Actor (Brian) Babes in the Wood – Actor(Comedy baddy) Various Murder Dinners 2002 The Sound of Murder –actor (Peter Marriott) Call me Madam – Actor (Dean Aitchison, Local Athletic hero) Pack of Lies – Actor (Bob Jackson) Cinderella – Actor (Comedy Guard) Various Murder Dinners Training Diploma Ensemble Physical Theatre Huddersfield University 2009 Film Extra Training, PHA Manchester Certificate in Higher Education in Drama Huddersfield University 2008 DAW Acting Summer School (2005, 2006) Bristol University Theatre Summer School (2005) |
| My Career before Retiring I failed the Eleven Plus and went to a Secondary Modern school, but luckily a good one that at least gave us decent academic opportunities, even if I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time. As soon as possible I left and went to Art School, where it soon became clear that I wasn’t that good and had little chance of doing anything but being a teacher, which I didn’t fancy. I left and went to Tech College to do Maths, but because I had done Art at school and, as you couldn’t do Art and Physics at the same time, the only course I could get on was a Computer Sandwich course, which I didn’t realise was pretty cutting edge at the time. That was 1968 and till I retired I was still an IT person, despite my best efforts, although latterly there was more teaching and less doing. I have always been a techie’s techie, but despite that have spent most of my life trying to get people on all sides of the IT divide to talk to each other in plain language and to discuss what is really worth doing, how best to do it and how to make sure it does what it is supposed too. Chatting to my brother one day we realised how similar our experiences were, having both ended up doing similar things, by similarly circuitous routes. Despite IT not being my career of choice, it has always been good to me and I like to think I have been good to it. I worked in both public and private sectors and at one point was rated a top level consultant, giving key-note speeches at commercial conferences. Most of all I hope I have helped a lot of people do both IT and business better and stopped people making some very bad decisions. I did some of the earliest computerised phototypsetting, set up text analysis to extract meaning (much like modern search), helped set up some of the earliest GIS systems, was part of the spread of the ubiquitous bar-code, encouraged the spread of the fore-runners of object oriented systems and code re-use, helped McDonnell Douglas set up new comms protocols, helped initiate the spread of pc’s and word processors, was in at the start of the web and e-business and even implemented the notorious Pole Tax. At various times I have also had more than one job, writing articles while working, part-time lecturing, part-time swimming teaching. My work life has not been boring. While I was working I provided consultancy for a range of areas. My skills were both technical and managerial, so I specialised in areas where both were required. Some general headings were – Programme & Project Management, General Business Strategy & Efficiency, Systems Evaluation & Procurement, Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing, E-Business Strategy, Web Page Design. During the nineties, I did a masters degree that involved assessimg science and technology both technically and in terms of its effectiveness and societal impact. I followed that up with a PHd in Artificial Intelligence Qualifications BA Philosophy and Maths MSc Technology and Society MPhil Computing Cert Hed Drama Pg Diploma Ensemble Theatre Various Open University certificates, qualified swimming teacher, qualified swimming judge Selected Publications Invited Paper at The Liberec Informatics Forum ” Change Management in I.T. Projects” Proceedings v Liberecké Informatické Forum Sbornί Konference, Published by Techniká Univerzita v Liberci. ISBN 80-7372-121-X , p(163-175) Steve Scott & Pete Wraith , (2006) “Engaging Citizens: The Bradford Community Statistics Project”. Reeve D. E., Thommason E., Scott S. and Simpson L (2002) Proceedings of the GIS Research UK (GISRUK) Conference 2002, 3-5th April, University of Sheffield “Selecting and Comparing Multiple Cases to Maximise Result Quality after Adaptation in Case-Based Adaptive Scheduling” in Proceedings of EWCBR2000, Springer Verlag, 2000 Assessing Case Value in Case-Based Reasoning with Adaptation”, Proceedings of the World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, IIIS, 1999 Learning Behaviour in a Case-Based Workforce Scheduler”, Proceedings of the 17th UK Planning and Scheduling Special Interest Group, 1998 Case-Bases Incorporating Scheduling Constraint Dimensions – Experiences in Nurse Rostering”, in Advances in Case-Based Reasoning – EWCBR98, Springer Verlag Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, 1998 “To 3D or not to 3D”, Webmaster, Issue 29, March 1998 “Separating Constraint Dimensions in a Scheduling Problem to Reduce Search Space”, Proceedings of ECAI98, Wiley UK, 1998 “Combining Case-Based Reasoning and Constraint Logic Programming Techniques for Packaged Nurse Rostering Systems”, Proceedings of the Third UK Case-Based Reasoning Workshop, 1997 “An Artificial Intelligence Based Framework for Packaged Nurse Rostering Systems”,University of Huddersfield Research Report “A Preliminary Investigation into Ways of Achieving More Flexible and Adaptable, Artificial Intelligence based, Nurse Rostering Systems”, ,1997. “The Justification and Evaluation of Geographical Information Systems in Local Government”, MSc Dissertation, Salford University, 1996 |