David Ronder started his English teaching career in Barcelona in the early 1990s. He has taught business and general English in the UK for many years, recently specialising in ESOL. An Edinburgh history graduate, he has always been interested in the connections between language and history. He devised and ran an innovative course to teach British history to ESOL students at the Institute in North London, which formed the initial basis for Past Simple. He is a published travel journalist, and though he continues to teach, he now works mainly as a freelance editor and Spanish translator. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists. Peter Thompson is head of history at London's leading sixth-form college and has over 20 years' history teaching experience, working mostly with 16-19-year-olds and adults. He taught English as a foreign language whilst living in Berlin, Germany, for three years during the 1990s.