Nettleship was born in
Nottingham, the son of Albert Victor Nettleship and Lilian Slack. He studied chemistry at the
University of Leeds in the late 1950s. He joined the
Labour Party at that time, and remained an active member for the rest of his life. After leaving university, he taught in
Birmingham, where he married and had three children; the marriage later ended in divorce and he remarried in the 1980s. In 1970, he began teaching at
Caldicot School in
Monmouthshire,
Wales, moving to become Head of Science at Wyedean School in
Sedbury, Gloucestershire, a few miles away, in 1974. He was first questioned about his links to Rowling's character of Snape by journalists, saying: "I was horrified when I first found out. I knew I was a strict teacher but I didn't think I was that bad." After being initially unhappy about the comparison, Nettleship came to terms with the connection, and wrote a short book, ''Harry Potter's Chepstow'', about Rowling's connections with
Chepstow. He also gave talks on the connections that the Chepstow,
Wye Valley and
Forest of Dean areas had with the
Harry Potter books. Nettleship retired in 1997. As well as being an active member of the Labour Party, he was a member of
Caerwent community council, serving as its chairman in 1991. He was instrumental in setting up Caerwent Historic Trust, becoming its secretary and researching the history of the area. ==References==