Simon joined the Royal Marines in 1988 at 17½, serving across the globe for 18 years, he left the Corps in 2006, and has since been involved in all sorts of adventures from flying Hovercraft on the Amazon to guarding ships against pirates in the Indian Ocean.

Simon began to pen 'Breakfast at Babs' in 2004 under a mosquito net in Iraq immediately after the operation that inspired the book.