Mark’s love of ancient history meant that, from an early age, his parents were treated to driving many miles up and down the country – and beyond – looking for ruins. Their patience was rewarded when he secured a place at Downing College, Cambridge, where he read degrees in Classics and Management Studies. After a decade working as a front-line officer and supervisor within the Metropolitan Police Service, he became Head of Classics at a school in Harrogate. He is a particular fan of experimental archaeology and rowed on the reconstructed Ancient Athenian trireme ‘Olympias’ during its last sea trials in Greece in 1994.

Since joining the school, his students have been subjected to tasting the notoriously awful ‘Spartan black broth’, recreating a full-scale cross-section of a trireme in the assembly hall complete with ram and oars and also training for an attempt at an Ancient Greek Olympic record in the standing jump.