Duncan Campbell-Smith was born in 1950 and educated at King Edward VI GS in Stratford-upon-Avon and Merton College, Oxford. He became a full-time author in 2006, after working as a journalist — with The Financial Times and later The Economist — and in a variety of other jobs that included stints as a banker in the City of London and as a management consultant with McKinsey.
As a historian, he has written on a broad range of subjects. His books include an acclaimed history of the British Post Office (‘Masters of the Post’), a biography of Sir Frank Whittle (‘Jet Man’) and a profile of Standard Chartered Bank (‘Crossing Continents’).
His titles all belong to the ‘creative non-fiction’ genre, presenting readers with a compelling narrative based on scrupulous research. Much of his work strays over period boundaries. Where it incorporates recent subject-matter, his sources generally include recorded interviews as he treads the thin line between journalism and contemporary history.
Books in order of publication:
Struggle For Take Off: The British Airways Story – 1986
Follow the Money – 2008
Masters of the Post: The Authorized History of the Royal Mail – 2012
Jet Man: The Making and Breaking of Frank Whittle, Genius of the Jet Revolution- 2021
Crossing Continents: A History of Standard Chartered Bank – 2021
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