Longworth, Norman 1936–

PERSONAL: Born March 19, 1936, in Bolton, England; son of Fred (an insurance agent) and Louie (a cotton spinner) Longworth; married, 1960; wife's name Margaret (a nurse); children: David, Jeannette. Education: Chester University College, teaching diploma, 1959; University of Southampton, M.Phil., 1976. Religion: "Agnostic." Hobbies and other interests: Golf, tennis, singing, piano, walking the dog, writing poetry.

ADDRESSES: Home—Chemin de las Pharaderes, France. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Geography teacher and department head at schools in Bury and Lancashire, England, 1959–67; International Business Machines (IBM) UK Ltd., manager of schools programs, 1967–83; IBM Europe, manager of external education programs, 1983–90; independent lifelong learning consultant, 1991–. European Lifelong Learning Initiative, president, 1997–99; Sheffield Hallam University, consultant professor of lifelong learning at Centre for the Learning City, 1999–2001; World Initiative on Lifelong Learning, vice president, 2000–; visiting professor at Napier University, University College of Chichester, and University of Stirling.

MEMBER: Royal Society of Arts (fellow), British Computer Society.

WRITINGS:

Lifelong Learning, Kogan Page (London, England), 1996.

Making Lifelong Learning Work: Learning Cities for a Learning Century, Kogan Page (London, England), 1999.

Lifelong Learning in Action: Transforming Education in the 21st Century, Kogan Page (London, England), 2003.

Learning Cities, Learning Regions, Learning Communities: Lifelong Learning and Local Government, Routledge (London, England), 2006.

Author of The Local and Regional Dimension of Lifelong Learning (policy document), European Commission, 2001. Also author of about 150 academic papers.

SIDELIGHTS: Norman Longworth once told CA: "My working background is wide and varied. It includes work as a department head in schools, twenty years in industry in a variety of educational, marketing, and management positions, and several years in university, in both research and management positions. I have directed large international projects, including an IBM/Open University team defining advanced satellite and terrestrial distance education delivery systems for European industry. I have initiated and developed many other European projects, including a pan-European teacher training network, an international environmental education center, and a European university/industry satellite education facility. I have defined, written about, and lectured about learning communities—towns, villages, regions, or cities in which all sectors of the community mobilize and share their resources, including human resources, for the better development of their human potential, as a model for lifelong learning in the twenty-first century.

"My roots are North English, liberal (as opposed to illiberal), non-conformist, local grammar-school, from the people (a euphemism for working class, which isn't now a politically correct term). Though travel and time have blurred the edges and matured the outlook, my philosophical perspectives can still be traced back to the terraced streets of Bolton in which I played my first cover drive at cricket, destined, alas, to be 'six and out' as it disappeared over a backyard wall. To those luckless readers outside of the cricket-playing two-up-two-down world, that reference will be unintelligible, but nevertheless important for understanding how real maturity is fashioned by keeping the ball down and not annoying the neighbors.

"When not working and writing, I play golf, tennis, and dog-walking outdoors, and I overeat, read, and write excruciating poetry indoors. I am, thankfully, not an alcoholic, though the temptations in southern France are such that only unbending willpower stands between me and it. Music is another passion; my tastes are catholic and extend to playing all genres crudely on the piano, the underdeveloped right brain affecting the ability of my left hand to play in synchronization with the other one. I sing euphoniously in the famous Eus choir, perform elephantinely in a Scottish country dancing group, and run a dance band and a choir. I spend much of my life at 30,000 feet, traveling more in hope than expectation from one place to another. My daily ambition, often thwarted by events, is to create a better day tomorrow."