He grew up in Bristol and lives in south London. He studied history at the London School of Economics and cut his journalistic teeth at the Islington Gazette When not working he enjoys travel to far-flung and occasionally dangerous spots to research his fiction, and just for the heck of it. He has backpacked forty-four countries (and counting), including somewhat hairy environs such as the Congo, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Burundi.. At the BBC he has written for the national website, produced programmes on the World Service and is currently an investigative reporter/producer at BBC London. History – particularly classical history –has been his lifelong passion.