The author of 1421: The Year China Discovered America‚ Gavin Menzies was born in 1937 and lived in China for two years before the Second World War. He joined the Royal Navy in 1953 and served in submarines from 1959 to 1970. Since leaving the Royal Navy‚ he has returned to China and the Far East many times and in the course of researching 1421 he has visited 120 countries‚ over 900 museums and libraries and every major sea port of the late Middle Ages. Menzies is married with two daughters and lives in North London.