Lecturer and freelance author Fran Sandham was an editor at Rough Guides for several years, and worked in bookselling and in the voluntary sector before that. He has travelled in over fifty countries. He now lives in London and Wirral, and divides his time between writing, public speaking and travel. He has written for many newspapers, magazines and travel publications, including the Sunday Times, NBC's Today, the Daily Telegraph, the Observer, the Financial Times, the Holland Herald, Open Skies, Adventure Travel, Traveller magazine, Travel Africa and Country Walking.