Hugh Purcell worked for many years producing history programmes for BBC Radio and Television. Prominent among them were 'The Roads to War', the obituary of Oswald Mosley and the BAFTA-winning 'American Civil War'. His previous books include Fascism, The Spanish Civil War, Revolutionary War and a biography of Tom Wintringham, The Last English Revolutionary. He is Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and an FRSA.