David Boyle was born in London in 1958 and, as well as writing history books, he is a fellow of the New Economics Foundation – which has given him a lifelong fascination with the history of money and business.  His books reflect this: Blondel’s Song was about the vast ransom paid to rescue Richard the Lionheart from prison after his disappearance, Toward the Setting Sun was about the intricate business relationships between Columbus, Cabot and Vespucci and those who ‘discovered’ America.  His latest book (co-authored with Andrew Simms) is an attempt to do for corporations what Lytton Strachey did for Victorians, by providing them with real slightly tongue-in-cheek biographies (Eminent Corporations, 2010)