I was born in 1976 in the Midlands and grew up on the Isle of Wight, where I first developed an interest in stamp collecting during the mid-1980s.
At sixteen, I joined the Royal Corps of Signals and served for five and a half years. During that time I was based with 24 Airmobile Brigade in Colchester and travelled to several countries including Cyprus, Belgium, Austria, Croatia, Bosnia and Canada. Alongside military duties, I competed in orienteering and represented both my unit and the Corps, at one stage becoming the Royal Signals Junior Orienteering Champion.
Following Army service, I remained in Essex and spent many years self-employed, working in TV aerial and satellite installation, and various web-based projects. In late 2009 I returned to the Isle of Wight for a change of pace and later worked in gardening and grounds maintenance.
In September 2014, a fall from ladders while working resulted in both heel bones being broken. Despite being told that walking properly again was probably going to be a challenge, I eventually returned to running and built up to ultra-running challenges and events.
Between 2016 and 2021 I completed a number of distance races and Fastest Known Time (FKT) attempts, including the Isle of Wight Coast Path and Dorset Coast. During this period I achieved several podium finishes in marathons and ultras, and developed a wider interest in the ultramarathon and endurance challenges world.
The back injury that had originally ended my Army career gradually returned and became increasingly problematic in 2022. In February 2024 I underwent spinal fusion surgery. Recovery from the operation led me to reassess my work and focus more heavily on another long-standing interest: philately.
Although I had collected stamps since childhood, it was during this period that Apollo’s Lots GB Stamps became my primary focus (now Apollo’s Lots Stamps). Today I sell online through my eBay store, which includes British stamps, errors varieties and related material. My Apollo’s Lots Stamps eBay seller profile gives more detail about the shop, feedback and current focus.
I continue to enjoy reading about and following specialist subjects, whether that involves running, the investigation of stamps, or thinking about eBay discovery & selling.
A Few Key Articles
If you’re interested in some of the ideas that connect many of the subjects on this site, these are probably good places to start:
- The Cat Ate Your Keywords Whilst You Chased Shadows On The Wall — a thought experiment about measurements, models and understanding complex systems.
- Stay In Your Lane: Simpler Than You Think, More Complex Than You Imagine — why seemingly unrelated topics often have more connections than we first assume.
- Beyond SEO: Visibility, Discovery and Selling on eBay — observations about findability, recommendations and buyer behaviour on modern marketplaces.
— Dan Williams
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