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).
Rob Johnson , a former officer in the British Army with operational experience, is Lecturer in the History of War at Oxford University. His previous books include Outnumbered, Outgunned, Undeterred, and (with Michael Whitby and John France) How to Win on the Battlefield.