For many years after graduating from the University of York in 1979, I was a teacher of English (in the Sudan, Paris, Madrid, London and Sicily) and a trainer of teachers of English (since 1988, in Italy). I have also written a large number of course materials for learning English, which have been published as traditional books and as web-based materials for the internet age. I have been a full-time writer of teaching materials (mostly now for the web) since 2007.

In 1992 I was nominated Honorary British Consul, and have been helping British nationals in distress here in Sicily since then.  In the New Year’s Honours list of 2017, HM The Queen graciously awarded me the MBE for services to the British community in Sicily.

I first became a celebrant in 2009, training initially for funerals with the British Humanist Association (now Humanists UK) in London. I subsequently translated Jane Wynne Willson’s short book Funerals Without God into Italian, extending the work significantly with materials specific to Italian traditions and usage, and the resulting volume was published, as Funerali senza dio, under both our names in 2010.

I am a member of Humanists UK, the Malta Humanist Association, UAAR (the Italian Union of Atheists and Rational Agnostics, a member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the Italian equivalent to Humanists UK and the MHA) as well as a founder and board member of FederCelebranti, the Italian professional association of celebrants. I have trained over 100 celebrants throughout Italy, for both FederCelebranti and UAAR. Additionally, I was project leader and co-author for the production of the official Italian documentation which defines standards of quality for the work of a celebrant, published by the Italian standards organisation UNI in 2020.

I am happy to prepare and perform ceremonies for any major life event, in English and/or Italian, and have on occasion also delivered ceremonies in French and German: contact me for further details. Approximately half of my ceremonies are in more than one language. I work mainly in Sicily, though I may perhaps be prepared to travel more widely within Italy – or to Malta which is very close to my home base on the slopes of Mt. Etna, where I live with my Sicilian wife and our three children.

Information about me in Italian is available at my Italian web site, RitoLaico.