r. f. (robert frederick) tapsell was an english author born in 1936, in croydon, surrey (now south london). tapsell wrote three historical novels and was the editor (compiler) of a single non-fiction book on royal family dynasties. during his national service in the british royal air force (raf) he was trained as a russian language interpreter. later, tapsell worked in military intelligence, specializing in eastern europe. after demobilization he worked in an insurance company and as a shipping clerk, while preparing himself for college. in 1960 he began studying at the school of slavonic and east european studies at london university, graduating with a bachelor of arts (hons) in history in 1963. in 1964 he married shirley joan fussell at walton, stafford, england. he also traveled extensively in western europe, the balkans, egypt and iraq, and described himself as a "jack of many foreign languages, master of none". tapsell then moved into academic administration, working at several british universities, including the university of east anglia in norwich, england, before emigrating to australia in 1974. he returned to the united kingdom in 1982, where he died in april, 1984. he was survived by his widow and two sons.