Paul Thompson was born in Altrincham, Cheshire in 1960. Educated at St. Bede's College in Manchester, the London College of Music and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he has taught in the Department of Music at Southeast Missouri State University for more than three decades. Previously he taught at the Lady Eleanor Holles and Forest Schools in London, England, Colgate University in New York and Murray State University in Kentucky. With a life-long interest in British military history, he has recently had articles dealing with aspects of the Napoleonic Wars published in the Waterloo Association Journal, the Napoleon Series and the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research.