Fact is often better than fiction, as John Preston has proven in his writing of three gripping books based on real life events. His latest, Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell, is the jaw–dropping story of the notorious business tycoon. John is joined in conversation by fellow journalist Luke Harding to discuss Maxwell’s extraordinary rise and scandalous fall. Born an orthodox Jew, he escaped the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, fought for Great Britain in World War 2, and was awarded the Military Cross. He then became a Labour MP and a media mogul owning several publishing companies and newspapers before he became mired in scandal. You couldn’t make it up!  

John Preston is a former Arts Editor of The Evening Standard and The Sunday Telegraph. For ten years he was The Sunday Telegraph’s television critic and one of its chief feature writers. His most recent book, A Very English Scandal, was published to great acclaim in 2016 and turned into a BAFTA-winning BBC drama series. His 2007 historical novel The Dig has been adapted into a new major motion picture starring Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan, and Lily James and directed by Simon Stone. It is now available to stream globally on Netflix. 

Luke Harding (chair) is an award-winning foreign correspondent with The Guardian and a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Between 2007 and 2011 he was The Guardian‘s Moscow bureau chief; the Kremlin expelled him from the country in the first case of its kind since the Cold War. He is the author of Collusion, A Very Expensive Poison, The Snowden Files, and Mafia State, as well as the co-author of WikiLeaks and The Liar (nominated for the Orwell Prize). Two of Harding’s books have been made into films: The Fifth Estate and Snowden.