Ian Cognito

Cognito was born Paul Barbieri in Barnet, London in 1958 to an Italian father, Aldo Barbieri, a fish and chip shop owner, and a mother of Irish descent, Lillian (nee Sadd), who was a bookkeeper. Raised in Walthamstow,, he worked on building sites and later was employed at British Airways before reading economics at the University of Bath.