Norman

Age: 66

Norman is a true Scot and lives on the northeast coast of Scotland. Now retired, Norman joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 17 in which he worked as a radio operator and travelled the world. He describes one of his proudest moments as when he fell overboard three miles off the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific and swam to shore, only to be picked up by an Inter-Island Cruiser near Papua New Guinea. Norman met his wife, Iris, on shore-leave and they married at the age of 21 and have been together for 44 years – his love for her and their three children is rivalled only by his feelings for his schnauzer, Lucy and for his caravan. Norman plays the clarinet and makes clocks and pottery in his own kiln which he’s installed in a studio at home. He works in slab pottery and creates small sculptures from clay.

Norman’s father and brother were bakers, but he didn’t want that lifestyle for himself. However, he would like to bring back traditional Scottish recipes and has contacted some of his father’s old apprentices to revive some of the more traditional Scottish bakes that he fears are being lost. Despite being fiercely Scottish he takes his Caravan to Perpignan in France and some of his baking is inspired by French patisserie. Norman cultivates his own yeast starters to make his bread and uses it to brew his own beer and wine.