Jonathan Croall

Jonathan Croall (born 19 August 1941) is a British author and journalist. Croall was brought up in Battersea in south London: his father was the film and stage actor John Stuart, his mother the actress, teacher and voice coach Barbara Francis. He was educated at St Christopher School, a progressive school in Letchworth, Hertfordshire (1949–1959), and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he studied English literature and modern languages (1960–1963). After teaching English at the Lycée Jean-Baptiste-Say in Paris, he worked as an editor in publishing with Cassell, Penguin, Oxford University Press, and Writers and Readers; later he was managing editor of Bedford Square Press. He subsequently worked as an editor and a journalist in newspapers and magazines. He was successively features editor of the Times Educational Supplement; co-founder and editor of Arts Express magazine; editor of StageWrite, the magazine of the National Theatre; and programme editor at the Old Vic theatre. During this time he wrote about education, the arts, health, history, and the environment for The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Times, New Society and Vole magazine.