MA, FSA, FRHisS, graduated in international relations at the London School of Economics. He is currently Head of Map Collections in the British Library, and a Trustee of the Hereford Mappa Mundi. He has written extensively on a wide range of aspects in the history of pre-modern maps, particularly on medieval mappae mundi , English maps in the sixteenth century, the map collections of the British Library, maps at European courts between 1500 and 1800, especially at the courts of King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, and King George III. He is author and editor of a number of books including Tales from the Map Room (London, BBC Books,1993), The Lie of the Land (London, British Library Publications, 2001), and The Map Book (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2005; now available in four languages).