Les Carlyon was born in Northern Victoria in 1942. He has been editor of the Melbourne Age, editor-in-chief of the Herald and Weekly Times group and visiting lecturer in journalism at RMIT in a career that has established him as one of Australia's most respected journalists. He has received both the Walkley Award (1971) and the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award (1993).Les Carlyon is the author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Gallipoli, as well as his latest work, The Great War.