John Preston worked as the Arts Editor of the Evening Standard and The Sunday Telegraph. He was The Sunday Telegraph's television critic for ten years and one of its chief feature writers.

He has written several novels set in the recent past, and we are thrilled that he is visiting us to talk about The Dig (2008: Penguin). Many of you will be familiar with this novelised account of the Sutton Hoo archaeological dig which was written after John discovered that his aunt had been one of the key participants. The Dig has been made into a feature film starring Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan, and Lily James, released on Netflix in 2021.

These were some of the reviews on The Dig’s publication:

A delicate evocation of a vanished era - The Sunday Times

Wonderful, evocative. From this simple tale of dirt, Preston has produced the finest gold. He keeps an iron grip on the reader's attention - The Observer

A Very English Scandal, (2017: Penguin) Preston's non-fiction account of the Jeremy Thorpe affair in the 1970s, was also adapted into a television miniseries in 2018.

John Preston’s most recent book is Fall: the Mystery of Robert Maxwell (2020: Penguin) which was Book of the Week on Radio 4 in February 2021.