Martin Stansfeld endured a professional career in public communication in London and in New York as a publicist latterly notably worldwide for Sotheby’s in particular.

He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church College, Oxford and graduated in Modern History.

For his special subject he chose naval history and the theory of war, which became one of his abiding hobbies thereafter. Gifted as a child with a Janes Fighting Ships annual he was inspired to model the entire Imperial Japanese Navy in plasticine and to scale.

Why the IJN? Because their ships looked far sexier than anyone else’s (as seems a choice made by the model ships hobby in more modern time).

His other main historical interests have focussed on the transition of the Age of Late Antiquity into the Dark Age, which involved him as leader in Debrett’s Quest for King Arthur (later published by Doubleday) and with Debrett’s the publication of Debrett’s Texas Peerage as editor of Debrett’s American Society series published by Putnam.

Following that phase in New York he returned to his native lowland Scots roots in Angus to look after inherited rural properties and to redevelop them, after habitat enhancement and subsequent management, for future sale; and in the course of that settling in semi-retirement on the Riviera.

He is married to Monica originally from Ohio, US. His hobbies are art and antique collecting, salmon fishing, and history reading.