I was always drawn to history, as long as it was social history: about how people really lived. That was the most interesting part of the past for me. In addition, I was also strongly drawn to the things which were not easily explained or not well-understood. Here, things like fairy-tales and legends entered into my awareness. And poetry also, for me, was a way of seeking to explain the inexplicable. The phenomenon of the mind became deeper and more mysterious the more I discovered. Essentially, I like the limits of what we think we 'know' and 'understand'. Those limits are, for me, where the most interesting things happen and where the most interesting things are waiting to be explored. But, let's not overlook humor. I love humor and I love what can often be called 'zany' (ugly word) or 'surreal' (not a helpful word, either) humor where it takes off in unexpected directions. The same idea of limits as above, but arrived at differently. I spent a whole lot of time teaching. It happened. Some of it was fun, much of it wasn't, but I was too dumb to strike out in a different direction for far too long. But, here I am now. Andrew Elgin is the pen name of Nigel Percy.