I was an editor in British book publishing for more than 30 years before becoming a writer myself. After gaining a degree in English Language and Literature at Durham University, I worked for a series of of publishers in London, including Hutchinson, Michael Joseph, Chronicle Communications, Reader's Digest, and Ryland Peters and Small. I edited works of both fiction and non-fiction, including major works of reference including Chronicle of Britain and Ireland and The Illustrated Guide to Britain's Coast. I have written a biography of William Armstrong, the great Victorian inventor and industrialist who created Cragside in Northumberland, the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity. It is called William Armstrong, Magician of the North and is now in its fourth edition. My other books include La Vie est Belle, a celebration of French interior style; Coastal Living; and Amazing and Extraordinary Facts about Jane Austen.

I'm a new Wiki editor, and have joined as part of the IET/University of Leeds/Gateways to WW1 Wikithon on women engineers after WW1. My new book, which is about early women engineers in Britain, is being crowdfunded by the publishers Unbound. It is called Magnificent Women and their Revolutionary Machines. Find out more here.