Nigel Parsons was born in an army camp in the South of England and spent many of his early years living in the remnants of the British empire, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, and Germany, wherever the army sent his father. The family finally moved to England in his late teens but he found it difficult to settle and after school continued to travel, to Iran, Afghanistan (where he rode a horse across a large part of the country) South East Asia and Australia, where he worked as a miner. He took up journalism and worked for several newspapers and radios before meeting a group of Manouche Gypsies in France while working on the wine harvest at the end of the 1970's, and stayed with them for several years, learning their language and customs and becoming godfather to several of their children. He later became a well known broadcaster and was the founding Managing Director of Al Jazeera English as well as the founding CEO of TVC Africa based in Lagos. During this time he lost touch with the Manouche, but recently re-connected with them. He is married with four children and lives in South West London.