Michael Dobbs was born in the same hour as Prince Charles. It doesn't seem to have done him too much harm. In the years since then he has become a doctor of philosophy, a senior adviser to both Margaret Thatcher and John Major, a Deputy Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, a regular presenter of BBC TV's Despatch Box and a columnist for the Mail on Sunday. In his spare time he has written books ranging from the bestselling House of Cards trilogy that became a hugely popular TV series to his recent brilliant series of historical novels about the life of Winston Churchill. He tries to live quietly with his wife and four sons near a pub and a church in Wiltshire.

'Dobbs' writing is highly polished and divertingly sophisticated'

Michael Dobbs was born in the same hour as Prince Charles. It doesn't seem to have done him too much harm. In the years since then he has become a doctor of philosophy, a senior adviser to both Margaret Thatcher and John Major, a Deputy Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, a regular presenter of BBC TV's Despatch Box and a columnist for the Mail on Sunday. In his spare time he has written books ranging from the bestselling House of Cards trilogy that became a hugely popular TV series to his recent brilliant series of historical novels about the life of Winston Churchill. He tries to live quietly with his wife and four sons near a pub and a church in Wiltshire.

'Dobbs' writing is highly polished and divertingly sophisticated'

Michael Dobbs was born in the same hour as Prince Charles. It doesn't seem to have done him too much harm. In the years since then he has become a doctor of philosophy, a senior adviser to both Margaret Thatcher and John Major, a Deputy Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, a regular presenter of BBC TV's Despatch Box and a columnist for the Mail on Sunday. In his spare time he has written books ranging from the bestselling House of Cards trilogy that became a hugely popular TV series to his recent brilliant series of historical novels about the life of Winston Churchill. He tries to live quietly with his wife and four sons near a pub and a church in Wiltshire.

'Dobbs' writing is highly polished and divertingly sophisticated'