John May was born in Llwynypia, Rhondda. After graduating in History at University College, Cardiff, and gaining a teaching qualification at the University of London, he spent twenty-five years as a lecturer in further education before becoming a full-time writer. He is author of some sixteen school and college textbooks and has scripted a large number of schools broadcasts for BBC radio. Between 1987 and 1990 he was editor of the Welsh news digest Wales Monthly Monitor. He is also author of A Chronicle of Welsh Events (1994).

• Physical characteristics and features of Wales; the population of Wales; government and politics; law courts, the police, penal institutions; Welsh language; National and Urdd eisteddfodau; religion in Wales; education in Wales; health services in Wales; the media in Wales; transport in Wales, the Welsh economy; the armed forces and Wales; the arts in Wales; Welsh disasters, battles, disturbances and executions; Wales and the Welsh in Europe and the world; Wales and the Welsh in Britain, Wales and the Welsh.