Patrick Thursfield did not begin his life’s true vocation until well into his sixties, with the translation from the Hungarian of Miklós Bánffy’s epic prizewinning trilogy The Writing on the Wall. Before that he had been a journalist for The Times and at the Westminster Press Group before settling in Morocco.

Thursfield was born in 1923. He was educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford, and during the war served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.