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Although Dave Liddle's father was in the army, Dave himself didn't join up straight from leaving school. Dave's first job was as a lifeguard at the East Hull swimming baths before moving to the Woodfood Leisure centre on Holderness Road in the city. Dave says the job is very demanding. As a lifeguard, keeping a vigilant eye on a pool full of swimmers is both mentally and physcially demaning.

At twenty, Dave decided to follow in his father's footsteps and go into the army. He was committed to joining one of the most demanding branches, the Parachute Regiment and was successful. He says the training is extremely hard. It takes six months to qualify with no leave and extremely long days and only the fittest get through. Once trained, soldiers are expected to serve all over the world. His first deployment was in Northern Ireland. His tour was around the time of the cease fire which meant whilst political negotiations were ongoing the troops were confined to barracks to avoid confrontation on the streets. Dave has also served in Afghanistan,
Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Kenya.

Dave (r) and his best man

Dave was married in Kenya and recalls it was quite an event involving native warriors. The wedding was attended by his best man Steve who was also in the regiment and like many ex-paratroopers has gone into other 'protection work since leaving the forces. Dave says ex-paratrooper, Trevor Rees-Jones ,who was Princess Diana's bodyguard when she was involved in a car crash in Paris which resulted in her death, is also a friend of his and explains during his interview what Trevor has revealed to him about what happened.

The loss of life amongst Dave's colleagues is something which has deeply affected him. He himself, left the regiment after six years after an accident which left him badly injured after a jump that went awry. Having benefited himself from SSAFA, an organisation to help ex-military personnel get the help they need, he felt the need to give something himself and supports its work.

Dave's had a number of jobs since leaving the forces, some involving training people in security work but is more office bound now. However, Dave is still physically very active and has been a fan and player of rugby of both codes for years which is why he started refereeing Rugby League matches for both adults and children about six years ago. It is something which he enjoys a great deal and next year he's hoping to become graded, which allows a would-be referee, provided they pass the relevant exams and are judged physically fit enough, to progress to higher level matches.