Martin Sixsmith studied at Oxford, Harvard and the Sorbonne. From 1980 to 1997 he was the BBC correspondent in Moscow, Washington, Brussels and Warsaw. From 1997 to 2002 he worked for the Government as Director of Communications and Press Secretary to Harriet Harman, Alistair Darling and Stephen Byers. He is now a writer, presenter and journalist. He has written two novels, Spin and I Heard Lenin Laugh, and is the author of three non-fiction titles - Moscow Coup: The Death of the Soviet System, The Litvinenko File: The True Story of a Death Foretold and The Lost Child of Philomena Lee: A Mother, Her Son and a Fifty Year Search. He lives in London.