A countryman and a scholar

Simon Denny has had a career as interesting and varied as some of the terrain he has enjoyed shooting on. His childhood was spent in Essex before he went to Sandhurst and joined the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. After leaving the Army he became head of corporate management development for the supermarket chain Tesco.

That would, perhaps, be enough for most people but not Simon, who moved into academia. He became executive dean: research, impact and enterprise at the University of Northampton. It was in this latter role that Simon was engaged in work of direct relevance to the Sporting Guncommunity of readers. This included work on the positive effect shooting has on well-being and, with his colleague Tracey Latham-Green, on the beneficial impacts a co-ordinated moorland management programme has for these environments and the communities they sustain.

Here Simon discusses his sporting experiences and some salient issues surrounding shooting and conservation.

How long have you been shooting?

I first fired a proper gun (a Lee Enfield No 5 Mk I .303) in 1973, when I was in the Cadets.