About

This is the personal website of Peter Rootham-Smith (Peter is fine.) Welcome! That's not a picture of me of course but instead our late beloved cat Tabitha. Much more photogenic than I am.

I drive a Kia, and my favourite colour is blue. My interest include TV, computer games, Go, and software.

I'm married to Virginia who has made some cakes. We like eating out. Virginia likes yoghurt and rhubarb, I prefer peanut butter. We have one cat Jasper now, sadly we lost Tabitha in 2018 and Amelia in 2022. We belong at Girton Baptist Church.

There's a diary on this website of notable events, assorted links, and how to contact me.

I like books. To look at a page in a book is like falling into a river - a river which can bear one along for many a full stop and semicolon. By magic the letters and spaces become worlds and people which are as real and familiar as the world containing what is read and the reader.

Music speaks deeply because it doesn't use words. I listen to music in the car, and when working on the computer mostly nowadays. Virginia and I go to the occasional concert.

I like sampling the world's cuisine. Virginia and I dine out once a week usually, often on a Friday as we both don't work that day. It ensures we get some quality time together, and someone else does the cooking and washing up!

I like going to the cinema and seeing films. This is still something magical to me - the lights go down, the curtains draw apart, and another world appears.

For relaxation I play Go, one of the few things I've shown any sign of aptitude for.

Computer games are a big interest of mine, an intersection of complex software and art and puzzle and story. Yes, I would call computer games as Art even if not everyone would. I really got hooked after a work colleague lent me the first Monkey Island game. For what I like the most see favourites, what one likes is very subjective.

So I not only play but I also write the occasional review, interview, and article for websites. Some of what I've written in the past make me cringe now!

I maintain a website Pagoda which is a database of links for different Adventure and casual games. Originally meant to help me find where to buy games, I haven't got out of the habit of maintaining it.

To add to my guilt I also try to write games. Everyone needs a hobby to stay sane.