Alan Midleton worked in the sugar industry in Argentina and in antique-clock conservation before becoming keeper of horology at the John Gershom Parkington Memorial Collection of Time Measurement Instruments in Bury St. Edmunds in 1986, a post he held until 2000. English watches and chronometers are among his particular interests, as are church clocks and other large civic timepieces. He is now curator and librarian at the British Horological Institute at Upton near Newark. Alan is a former council member, past chairman, and fellow of the British Horological Institute.