He was born in London (1955) and graduated in History at Oxford and completed his academic training at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, where he also studied Fine Arts. He has collaborated on such important publications as The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times and FT Deutschland, in addition to many other magazines, and has authored more than a dozen titles including A Good German: Adam von Trott zu Solz , Prussia: The Perversion of an Idea, Berlin, Frederick the Great: A Life in Deed and Letters and The Last Kaiser: William the Impetuous. A multidisciplinary man, he has given numerous lectures on different subjects, both on his great specialty, the Second World War, and on his other great passion, the world of wine, around which he has written several works of reference (The Wine And Food of Austria, Austria: New Wines from the Old World, Portuguese Table Wines). In addition, he is a notorious painter who follows the familiar pictorial tradition in his sixth consecutive generation.