After a first career as a diplomat and senior civil servant, I became a professional genealogist, historical researcher, and international speaker. My work includes family history, house history, and research for the media, businesses, authors, and collectors. I'm a Director of the Register of Qualified Genealogists and Editor of The Journal of Genealogy and Family History. In 2019 I obtained an MLitt with Distinction in Family and Local History at the University of Dundee, writing my dissertation, The Alexander Family and the City of Bristol, 1798-1926, on Bristol's leading Jewish family in the 19th century. Building upon that work, I'm now researching for a PhD at the University of Bristol, with the working title Paupers, Pariahs, or Paragons? Bristol’s Jewish Community, 1720-1881. As part of my PhD research, I have created a database of over 1,600 members of Bristol's Jewish community during this time period. I'm now adding the information I have collected to Bristol's historic mapping website, Know Your Place, a project for which I have been awarded the 2022 David Hyman Prize by the JHSE.