Michael McNay worked for the Guardian for some thirty-seven years, during which time he wrote and edited features, was the paper's first arts editor and wrote frequently on fine art and cinema. He was closely involved in the paper's root and branch redesign of the late 1980s, and, to see it through, moved on to laying out and editing the front page for several years. He is now a freelance writter. His books include Hidden Treasures of England and a study of the St Ives painter Patrick Heron.