Dr Philippa Gregory was born in Kenya in 1954, and moved to England with her family. She undertook her postgraduate studies on 18th-century literature in the University of Edinburgh and graduated PhD in 1985. Her first novel, Wideacre, was written as she completed her PhD and became an instant worldwide bestseller. The Other Boleyn Girl, a runaway best-seller which stormed the US market, told the story of the little-known sister of Anne Boleyn, and later became a film starring Scarlett Johannson and Natalia Portman.