Tom Payne was born in 1971. He read Classics at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and was deputy literary editor of the Daily Telegraph. He now lives with his wife and four children in Dorset, where he teaches English and Classics at Sherborne School, and Latin at the Gryphon School. His previous books are Fame: from the Bronze Age to Britney, and a verse translation of Ovid's The Art of Love (both in Vintage).