Richard Major, who was born in the South Seas, has degrees in history, literature and theology, and gained a doctorate at Magdalen College, Oxford, with a thesis on Reformation literary theory.

He has since taught at universities in England, Italy, America, Australia, India, Slovenia and, most recently, Hungary. For some years he worked in New York as a journalist and commentator.

He lives with his diplomat wife and two children; they’re in the process of moving from Africa to Jerusalem.