When he first came to the UK he worked on building sites, joined the Territorial Army, became a corporal and military instructor, teaching map-reading and field radio.
Before he entered academia he worked with special needs children for three years in a Norwich comprehensive.
'Hung-over'
People who say that military discipline will not work in a schoolroom have misunderstood how it works, he says.
"I had to teach map reading to a hung-over bunch of rough and ready jocks on a Sunday morning. At least half had had a miserable time at school, had no qualifications and were functionally illiterate.