Nigel Hamilton (author) - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Hamilton was born in Alnmouth, Northumberland, but spent his early life in London, where his father, Denis Hamilton, a distinguished World War II battalion commander, became pioneering editor of The Sunday Times, chairman and editor-in-chief of The Times, chairman of Reuters, and Trustee of the British Museum and British Library. Hamilton was educated at Westminster School with his twin brother Adrian, who later became a prominent British journalist for the London Observer, Times and Independent.

He then attended Munich University and Trinity College, Cambridge where he received an honours degree in history and a master's degree. Subsequently he trained under André Deutsch and Diana Athill as a book publisher at André Deutsch Publishers. After leaving Deutsch, he taught at a school in Greenwich where he assisted in reviving the historic borough on the River Thames. Hamilton opened a bookstore and began writing with his mother, Olive Hamilton, the first history of Greenwich in nearly a century, Royal Greenwich. He wrote several more guide books and edited the arts page in a London newspaper.