Adrian Tinniswood, OBE FSA, is a true chronicler of the country houses of the UK and Ireland, having published nineteen books on social and architectural history. His many acclaimed titles include The Verneys: a True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-Century England, which was shortlisted for the BBC/Samuel Johnson Prize and The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House Between the Wars', a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. Adrian Tinniswood is currently Professor of British Cultural History at the University of Buckingham. He lives in the west of Ireland with his wife Helen and two cats, Jack and Matilda.