Will Hodgkinson was born in Newcastle and brought up in Richmond, Surrey. He is the author of Guitar Man (2006), Song Man (2007) and The Ballad Of Britain (2009), and presented the Sky Arts television series Songbook. He has written for the Guardian, Mojo and Vogue and is currently the chief rock & pop critic for The Times. He lives in Peckham, southeast London with his wife and two children.