Annie Ravenhill-Johnson (neé Curtis) comes from a working-class family of Channel Island refugees who left Jersey two days before the arrival of the German occupying forces and who returned to Jersey in 1945 as soon as the island was liberated. She was not able to pursue her grammar school education beyond the age of 16, due to family pressures, and was required to find paid work as a secretary and clerk. When she embarked upon an Open University degree in 1989, aged 47, her day job was at a slate mine in North Wales. She eventually managed to complete her studies as a full-time BA (Hons) art history student at Warwick University (1993–96). Her undergraduate dissertation was awarded the Association of Art Historians' annual prize for the best BA or MA thesis from a British university. She gained a distinction for her MA taken at Birmingham City University whilst she worked full-time as a clerk for Lunn Poly. Annie completed a PhD (part-time) at the age of 62 on the metamorphoses of Vulcan/Hephaistos in Renaissance and Baroque art. Annie chose Vulcan because he was a working-class god, labouring away in the soot of the forge whilst the rest of the gods were having a jolly good time. She has acquired a well-deserved reputation in academic circles for her knowledge of British banner and certificate history and has published in the Journal of the Social History Curators' Group.