Anthony Sampson

Anthony Sampson was educated at Westminster and Oxford and after a spell as a naval officer he went to Johannesburg and edited the black magazine Drum, becoming a friend of young ANC revolutionaries. He then joined the Observer, but left to write The Anatomy of Britain and became a full time author, writing best-sellers investigating oil companies, arms dealers and bankers. He was editorial adviser to the Brandt Commission, director of the New Statesman, trustee of the Guardian and chairman of the Society of Authors, and he wrote the authorised biography of Nelson Mandela.