When I was a young child, "Alice in Wonderland" was my favourite book. Wonderland's bossy people and its strange, wonderful and alarming surprises exactly reflected my own experience of life. I wanted even then to meet this writer who seemed to understand the world of children so well.

When I grew up and read the biographies of Carroll, I just felt puzzled. So finally I went back to the basic facts about him to see if I could get a glimpse of who he'd really been. After all, he had eaten, bathed, blown his nose, smelt a rose, had feelings and a life of his own. THIS was the man I wanted to find.

I was helped on my way by discovering his personal bank account, unseen since his death. It was an amazing find, and my book "Lewis Carroll in his own Account" was the result. I made a BBC documentary about it, and it paved the way for "The Mystery of Lewis Carroll."

I have written on a wide variety of subjects for an even wider variety of newspapers and magazines, ranging from SMITHSONIAN to THE SUNDAY TIMES.

I live in the Hampstead area of London, England.