He was Senior Producer for BBC Radio 3 for the Midlands Region based in Birmingham between 1984 and 1990 after which he moved to be artistic director of the Lichfield Festival.
His compositions include two oratorios for Easter and for Advent with libretti by the Dr Tom Wright and a choral symphony 'Unfinished Remembering' (2014) to a libretto by Euan Tait commemorating the outbreak of World War 1.
He has written practical guides to all of James MacMillan's and Benjamin Britten's choral music and his volume of English Pastoral Partsongs was published by Oxford University Press.
After Oakham School, Rutland he then attended the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied with the composer Herbert Howells and the organist Richard Popplewell.
He taught music at Uppingham School and Ellesmere College from 1974 until 1984, and was then Senior Producer for BBC Radio 3 in the Midlands until 1990.
He introduced a number of innovations, including staging opera at the festival, and having a Composer-in-Residence, among whom were William Mathias and Robert Saxton.
[5] To commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the 1914-18 War the Birmingham Bach Choir commissioned the poet Euan Tait and Paul Spicer to write a major choral and orchestral work for performance.
As part of the centenary celebrations for Birmingham Bach Choir in 2019, he composed Steal Away, a piece inspired by African American spirituals.