Francis Pryor was born in London in 1945. After studying archaeology at Cambridge, he emigrated to Toronto, where he joined the staff of the Royal Ontario Museum. Using the Museum as a base, he began a series of major excavations (1971–78) in England, at Fengate, on the outskirts of Peterborough. Here he revealed an extensive prehistoric landscape, culminating in the discovery in 1982 of Flag Fen, one of the best preserved Bronze Age sites in Europe. His books include his ‘Britain’ series (for HarperCollins): Britain BC, Britain AD, Britain in the Middle Ages and The Birth of Modern Britain; two of which he presented as documentary series for Channel 4. He has appeared frequently on Time Team and has presented a number of programmes for Radio 4. The Lifers’ Club is his first work of fiction.