Alan Davidson is a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired from the Diplomatic Service--after serving in, amongst other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador--to pursue a fruitful third career (his first was in the Navy in World War II) as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are North Atlantic Seafood and Mediterranean Seafood. He and his American wife Jane live at World's End in Chelsea, London.