Simon Heffer was born in 1960. He read English at Cambridge and took a PhD in modern history at that university. His previous books include: Moral Desperado: A Life of Thomas Carlyle , Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell , Power and Place: The Political Consequences of King Edward VII , Nor Shall My Sword: The Reinvention of England , Vaughan Williams , Strictly English , A Short History of Power , Simply English and High Minds: The Victorians and the Birth of Modern Britain. In a thirty-year career in Fleet Street, he has held senior editorial positions on The Daily Telegraph and The