After reading History at Oxford University, Richard Ballard taught at Eton College, Haileybury College and Westminster School. Since 2003 he has lived in Charente-Maritime in France. He has researched the French Revolution extensively in the region and published a number of articles on the subject. He is the author of 'The Unseen Terror: The French Revolution in the Provinces' (I.B.Tauris, 2010).