My principal occupation at Georgetown University, where I'm Professor of English, is to teach students to read poetry - an endeavour that is life-long. My academic career began when I became a postdoctoral research fellow of the British Academy in Oxford in 1991. I went to Glasgow University as a Reader in 1995, became University Lecturer at Oxford in 2000, and a Professor at Georgetown University in 2008.I drifted into the academic world from that of television where, once upon a time, I worked on arts documentaries. I presented and produced my own arts programme, Signals, for BBC Radio Oxford, and have occasionally spoken on radio programmes in the years since.I live in north Virginia with my wife, Catherine Payling, MBE.