About the Author

Christopher Hibbert was born in Leicestershire in 1924 and educated at Radley and Oriel College, Oxford. He served as an infantry officer during the war, was twice wounded and was awarded the Military Cross in 1945. Described by Professor J. H. Plumb as 'a writer of the highest ability' and in the New Statesman as 'a pearl of biographers', he is, in the words of The Times Educational Supplement, 'perhaps the most gifted popular historian we have'.

Christopher Hibbert is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is married with two sons and a daughter and lives in Henley-on-Thames.