I had a comfortable and literary upbringing; my father was a quantity surveyor and a college lecturer, and my mother a journalist so there were always plenty of books in the house. The crucial thing for me was that my registration teacher in the local sixth form college in Wrexham, Bryan Martin Davies, was a poet, and encouraged me to write - in Welsh.

The time I spent writing poetry has been an influence on my life ever since. In fact, I spent too much time writing poetry so my A Level grades in other subjects were disappointing and I was unable to do a straight English Literature degree in a Welsh university. Fortunately, CCAT had a straight English degree and was prepared to offer me a place. It was a fantastic course, with great teachers, and I'm hugely grateful for the opportunity it, and Anglia Ruskin, gave me. An English Literature degree was a great grounding in history, culture and human nature. Learning how great writers have defined human experience throughout the centuries makes you realise how words shape our world.

As for memories, I have almost too many fond ones to mention - I loved my time there. The studies, the friendships, those wonderful Cambridgeshire skies. When writing the student union handbook, the union paid for myself and my fellow editor on the college magazine to visit every pub and restaurant in Cambridge to review them. It was an onerous task, but someone had to do it!

When starting on my career, I was lucky that my first 'breaks' into journalism were given to me by my mother, who arranged work experience on local papers for me. I co-edited CCAT's newspaper Front Page and having good work-experience on my CV helped get me the Thomson's traineeship. From there, I spent a total of seven years in newspapers, and then around 20 years with the BBC. These 27 years taught me many lessons, but the most important have been to ask the difficult questions, including of oneself; to aim for objectivity, even though it's unattainable; and that everyone has a story to tell. News is not normality, and what's normal isn't news. History, rather than current commentary, is the best judge of an event's significance and belief is usually stronger than fact. Talent is nothing without determination, and often, determination alone is enough.

My step from journalism to Assistant Private Secretary for Prince Charles was, in fact, very simple; I saw the job advertised and applied. I have long known about His Royal Highness's initiatives in fields such as youth opportunities, the environment, architecture, interfaith and the arts, so this was a chance for me to work in support of causes which I believe are tremendously important.

In terms of personal success, however, there is nothing like publishing your first book and that special moment happened for me in 1997, the same year I achieved my PhD. Winning the Wales Book of the Year in 2002 was also a defining experience for me. Finally, and most recently, being given the Honorary Degree in Literature from Anglia Ruskin in 2010 was a tremendous honour for which I'm immensely grateful.

Dr Grahame Davies
BA (Hons) English Literature 1985
Honorary Doctor of Literature 2010