Rob was raised in Bradford before heading, at eighteen, to the bright libraries of Norfolk. Music was his main interest at this time. He played drums and sang whilst writing copious amounts of lyrics, some of which tipped over into the vaguely-defined realm of poetry. In 2003 he made the top 500 of the Dublin International Poetry Competition. He is inordinately proud of this.

He studied archaeology in Queen's University, Belfast before returning to Norfolk and starting to write seriously. He received a boost when he moved to the middlest of middle Englands and joined Abingdon Writers', a fantastic group that were quick point out all his writing sins. He was Chair for a spell but abdicated as soon as decency allowed. When not writing he studies the past: archaeology and the historic landscape remain passions.

He worked at the Bodleian Library, where he told tourists that yes, Harry Potter was filmed here, but no, they can't go inside. Now living in Cambridgeshire, he spends non-writing time looking after his two-year old daughter, working in a community centre and as a freelance editor and proofreader.