Robert Choulerton was born in 1937 in Rawalpindi, India (now Pakistan), to Joe, a soldier serving with the British Army, and his wife Violet. When the family returned to England, Robert was all of six months old.He started school in Rhyl, where the family was based during the War. When Joe was demobilised in 1946, the family moved to Wiltshire.Robert attended Corsham Council School, and Chippenham Grammar School.In 1953, he joined the Royal Navy as an Artificer Apprentice- serving for 24 years. In 1961 he was commissioned, after training at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He served in a Mine-Hunter flotilla In UK and Scandinavian waters, an Aircraft-Carrier in the Far East and a Frigate on the West Indies station. In 1969 he trained for the Submarine Service, and on promotion served in two Polaris nuclear submarines, running deterrent patrols.During his service, he read for a BA(Hons) degree with the Open University. He retired from the Royal Navy in 1977, in the rank of Lieutenant Commander.After a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at Bath University, he taught English at Wellsway Comprehensive School, Keynsham. In 1984/5 he took secondment to read for an MA at the University of Exeter.Taking early retirement in 1990, he worked as Secretary of Lansdown Tennis and Squash Club, Bath.He now lives in Lea Bailey, near Ross-on-Wye. His late wife died in 2013. He has a son and daughter from a previous marriage, and four grandchildren.
