Consultant Dr John Haywood is an honorary research Fellow at Lancaster University and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain (FRHistS). He has written and contributed to many history books including The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations. Author Charles Phillips is an established writer of popular history and the author of The Complete Illustrated Guide to Castles, Palaces and Stately Houses of Britain and Ireland as well as Lost Empires: Ancient Aztec & Maya, The Mythology of the Aztec & Maya and The Everyday Life of the Aztec & Maya. He is a contributor to Cassell's Dictionary of Modern Britain and Ancient Civilizations; and illustrated histories published by Dorling Kindersley, Guinness and Marshall Editions. He has a keen interest in British history and the story of the Royal Family and was a key writer of Time Life's Myth and Mankind series, which blends mythology with the art and history of ancient cultures. Charles is a graduate of Oxford University and holds an MA from the University of Westminster, London.