Neal Ascherson

Neal Ascherson studied history at Cambridge, and was described by the late Eric Hobsbawn as "perhaps the most brilliant student I ever had."

After a two-year stint in the Royal Marines he started pursuing a journalism career, working for the Manchester Guardian and The Scotsman before becoming a reporter and foreign correspondent for The Observer.

Ascherson has also lectured and written extensively about Polish and Eastern European affairs. He was described by Radio Prague as "one of Britain's leading experts on central and eastern Europe."

He has won a number of awards including the Orwell Prize for political writing, and has published several books, including the highly-acclaimed Black Sea which recieved the Saltire Award for Literature in 1995 and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for History in 1996.