Peter Parker was born in Herefordshire and now lives and gardens in London's East End. He is the author of two books about the First World War, The Old Lie and The Last Veteran, biographies of J. R. Ackerley and Christopher Isherwood, and Housman Country: Into the Heart of England. He has written about plants and gardens for HORTUS and the Daily Telegraph, and is a former Chair of the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley Library Advisory Committee.