Max Adams is the author of a number of critically acclaimed books on Dark Age history including The King in the North, In the Land of Giants and The First Kingdom. He has appeared on many TV documentaries about Dark Age history and is Visiting Fellow in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University. He lives in Durham. A former field archaeologist, Colm O'Brien has excavated settlements and conducted studies on kingship sites of early medieval Northumbria. He is a Visiting Fellow in Archaeology at Newcastle University and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. He lives in Tynemouth.