Andrew Rae

"I have been fortunate to live a varied and deeply formative life. Born in wartime Britain, I survived the Battle of Britain before I was even born. My earliest years were shaped by contrast: the bombed streets of Birmingham during the week and, at weekends, the sanctuary of my grandfather’s farm in Staffordshire. The sounds and scents of that farm remain vivid to me still, the cackling hens, the sweetness of the yard, the great Shire horse, the cool dairy lined with milk churns. That rural world formed my earliest understanding of nature, rhythm and belonging.

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In 1948 my family emigrated to South Africa, where I encountered the vast richness of the African landscape, a country I continue to visit. University life in the 1950s coincided with the gradual entrenchment of apartheid, a system whose injustices profoundly shaped my sense of social responsibility and freedom. At the same time, I was introduced to the intellectual wonder of atomic science, opening a lifelong engagement with the structure of the physical world.

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My academic path later took me to Cambridge, where working alongside Nobel Prize winners deepened my appreciation of modern science and mathematics. I subsequently studied philosophy under Roger Scruton, specialising in the philosophy of science and religion. I went on to teach mathematics and logic for many years at university level, pioneering the use of video and early internet tools to support students who struggled with traditional methods. A publication I co-authored in 1971 with my former assistant Peter Samuels has since received over 250 citations in peer-reviewed scientific literature.

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Alongside academic life, I have remained committed to conservation in Africa and established a charity supporting environmental research and education in Southern Africa.

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All these experiences have added depth to my perception of the world. When I walk down Church Lane from my front door in Wiltshire, I see magic in the weeds and history in the church tower. Poetry has become the means by which I attempt to convey that layered sense of mystery.

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Having abandoned religion in my turbulent youth, I returned to faith later in life. It is now central to my work. Through my poetry, I hope to open eyes to the mystery and quiet grandeur of nature, and to the presence of God within it."