Rick is a WW2 veteran having served between 1942 and 1948 with the Royal Air Force and with the Glider Pilot Regiment in the European theatre.  He comes of a military family, both his father and grandfather having been cavalrymen with an English Hussar regiment.

Prior to formal military service he was, between 1940 and 1942, a member of anti-invasion forces in Britain. He lived through the Luftwaffe blitz on London and his experiences of these are the subject of one of his closely-followed talks.

Indifferent weather and the threat of enemy action dictated that British aircrews must be trained aboard. Many came to America even before Pearl Harbor - a fact that sometimes surprises audiences. Rick did his pilot training in Oklahoma and now tends to describe himself as part-Brit, part-Okie and part-Texian and believes it doesn't come much better than that. His amusing account of the impact of American life-styles on impressionable British youth throws light on a little-known aspect of Anglo-American co-operation during WW2.

He was bereaved after 47 years of marriage in England. He has two children; Nicola who is an author and lectures in English Literature at Bristol University, and Simon; a freelance journalist and editor of a regional magazine and director of a sales and marketing consultancy, based in rural Warwickshire.

Rick’s professional life was spent in the British music industry. He was involved in manufacturing, in the import and export of musical instruments and equipment, and in sales and marketing. Both he and son Simon were influential in establishing the Yamaha music instrument catalogue in the United Kingdom.

At school and as a young man he was involved with the drama and played with amateur companies which performed at the Fortune Theatre, Drury Lane in London’s Theatreland.

In Dallas he belongs to two aviator groups comprising, mostly, ex-USAF, ex-USN and ex-US marine veterans, and is a docent at the Frontiers of Flight Museum on Lemmon Avenue.

As well as talking about the 1940/41 Blitz on London and other aspects of wartime Britain, he also talks about London as a Londoner and includes tips about using with confidence the London Underground Transport system, the Tube - his boyhood magic carpet. Other themes cover Britain away from the regular tourist trails, also his years in the music industry via a collection of anecdotes, mainly irreverent, about personalities and events.