Julian Thompson

Julian Thompson was born in Calcutta, joined the Royal Marines aged 18 and served in many places around the globe for 34 years. His last campaign was commanding the 3rd Commando Brigade in the Falklands War of 1982. He published his first book, No Picnic, about the Falklands in 1985. It was a best seller. After leaving the Royal Marines he decided to become an author, as well as completing a three year fellowship in the War Studies Department at King's College London, and some twenty years advising companies on security matters. He is now a visiting Professor in War Studies at King’s College London. He has published nineteen books of military history, edited one, and contributed to eight others. His latest book, The Royal Navy: a Hundred Years of Warfare in the Modern Age, was published in September 2016. He also broadcasts and writes on defence matters. In 1994/95 he co-scripted some 23 short documentaries for the BBC to mark some key Second World War fiftieth anniversaries, and presented the majority of them. More recent TV work includes participation in the BBC live programme in June 2004 to commemorate the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Normandy Landings, a documentary about a British plot in 1944 to kill Hitler, a documentary about the 1962 Limbang Raid in North Borneo screened by the History Channel in December 2005, and a two-part TV programme for the History Channel on the 1916 Battles of the Somme and Verdun, screened in July 2006.