Peter Longstaff was born without arms as a result of his mother being prescribed the drug Thalidomide during pregnancy, but Peter has never considered himself as being disabled. This is due to the refusal of his family to single him out as being different and led to the unusual choice of farming as a career. Inspired by his uncle, a pig farmer in Norfolk, Peter successfully ran his own pig farm for twenty years. Wearing boots inhibited the necessity of using his feet to drive the tractor and carry out other tasks on the farm so Peter spent every winter with his bare feet freezing cold and muddy, but he loved the outdoor life and his business flourished. However, at the end of the 1990's cheap imports of foreign bacon led to the near collapse of the British pig industry and with Peter's business no longer viable he was forced to sell up.