During an eclectic career as a writer and journalist, Nigel Packer has been a music reviewer for BBC News Online and Ceefax, a reporting officer at the International Committee of the Red Cross and a contributor to various magazines and newspapers.

He also has an abiding passion for archaeology. As well as gaining a BA from the University of York and an MA from Leiden University, he has taken part in excavations at prehistoric villages in Syria and Britain.

In his spare time, Nigel enjoys listening to, and sometimes playing, music. During the early 1990s, he was guitarist in an indie band called Lobster Squad, but they were never in any great danger of achieving success.