Michael Sheridan read history at Jesus College, Cambridge, and became a foreign correspondent in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He first reported from Hong Kong and China in June 1989 and later served as Far East correspondent for The Sunday Times (London) for twenty years, covering the rise of China, the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 and the city's fight for democracy. Earlier he worked for Reuters, ITN and The Independent, reporting on war in the Middle East, global diplomacy and European politics, with postings in Rome, Beirut and Jerusalem. His work has also appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, The Spectator, The Tablet, Vanity Fair, The Australian and the Hong Kong Economic Journal. He is author of a 1994 book Romans: Their Lives and Times.