V G Kiernan was born in 1913, near Manchester, and studied classical languages and History at the Manchester Grammar School. In 1931, he entered the department of History at Cambridge. He passed both parts of the Tripos exam with first class and distinction, and was awarded a three year research grant. He wrote a thesis on British relations with China in the late 19th century, and was given a Fellowship of Trinity College. He spent some years in India (before the partition), teaching at the Aitchison College in Lahore. After two more years at the Cambridge, he joined Edinburgh University as a lecturer in History. He retired in 1977, as Professor Emeritus, and continued to write books and articles and was awarded an Iqbal medal from the Pakistani government. His books include The Lords of Human Kind: Black Man, Yellow Man, and White Man in an Age of Empire (Little, Brown); British Diplomacy in China: 1880-1885 (Octagon Books) and The Revolution of 1854 in Spanish History (Oxford University Press)