Although he was born in England, Peter Winnington spent his working life teaching English literature at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. As a hobby, he edited books and periodicals. This led him to write a biography of Mervyn Peake, which was published in 2000 to coincide with the BBC's screening of Gormenghast, an adaptation of the first two of Peake's novels about Titus Groan. Since then, Peter has been writing biographies, concentrating on the lives of women who have been undeservedly forgotten.