There are many rumours about D.A Lascelles, most of them untrue, many of them started by his students. There are claims he is a member of the Italian mafia, that he was once an Australian soap star and that he starred in Kindergarten Cop. There is apparently a Wikipedia page which claims he may possibly have discovered the cure for cancer. None of these are true, though he did once work for the Cancer Research Campaign as a researcher. His life to date has mainly concerned acquiring far too many qualifications, working in scientific research and somehow ending up as a teacher. He used to live in Birmingham (the one in England , nowhere near Alabama ) but has now moved to Manchester with his wife, Sarah, and dog, Eddie (who makes a cameo in this story).