Matthew Teller

For as long as I can remember, I've been a writer. Fortunately, not much of my early stuff survives.

I grew up in suburban south London. A family holiday to Jerusalem in 1980, when I was 11, was my first trip outside the UK. Even today, the smell of cumin takes me straight back there. That was also my first time in the desert - I remember standing on a lonely road, feeling the hottest sun I'd ever felt, seeing the longest views I'd ever seen.

Since then, I've lived and worked in Amman, Cairo, Jerusalem and elsewhere, learnt some Arabic and Hebrew, and travelled widely, over twenty years or more, through most of the Middle East.

I'm the author of the Rough Guides to Jordan, Switzerland, the Italian Lakes and - closer to home - the Cotswolds. I also contribute regularly to the national newspapers, as well as magazines from Wanderlust to BBC Wildlife. My website matthewteller.com has more.