Anthony J. Cumming was born in Sussex, England, in 1953. He entered higher education after a career in local government and the British civil service and gained his MA in naval history at the University of Exeter. He obtained his PhD at the University of Plymouth in 2006, where he is now an honorary research fellow. That year, he also won the University of London’s prestigious Julian Corbett Prize for Research in Modern Naval History for his essay on the ability of the wartime Royal Navy to withstand air attacks. Cumming is interested in all aspects of modern military history and has published scholarly articles in several academic journals. The Royal Navy and the Battle of Britain is his first book. He is married and lives in Devon, England.