Matthew Parris was born in Africa in 1949 and grew up in Cyprus, Rhodesia, Jamaica and Britain. He worked for the Foreign Office and Margaret Thatcher before becoming an MP in 1979. For seven years a Conservative MP, he quit to present LWT's Weekend World, after which he became the regular parliamentary sketchwriter for The Times for 13 years.
His books include his autobiography Chance Witness, Read My Lips, Scorn with Added Vitriol, and Inca-Kola, about his travels in Peru. He has also made a number of television documentaries. He is a regular travel writer, reviewer, broadcaster and columnist and divides his time between London, Derbyshire and Spain.