K.W. Mitchinson was born at Alton in 1951. Raised in Crawley New Town, he was educated in the comprehensive system and at Leeds University where he read History. Having taken a Masters Degree he moved to Lancashire in 1975. He is employed as a teacher by a local Education Authority. A regular walker and cyclist of the Western Front for nearly thirty years, he has published several books on social and military aspects of the Great War.