Peter France spent the first 15 years of his working life as a civil servant in the Fiji Islands. After a spell as an academic, he joined the BBC, first in radio where he launched and presented Kaleidoscope, and later in television, where he wrote and presented programmes such as Everyman and Timewatch. His most recent books are The Rape of Egypt and Greek as a Treat. He lives in Devon but spends much of his time on the Greek island of Patmos.