Francis Beckett

Francis Beckett (born 12 May 1945) is an English author, journalist, biographer, playwright and contemporary historian. He has written biographies of Aneurin Bevan, Clement Attlee, Harold Macmillan, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. He has also written on education for the New Statesman, The Guardian and The Independent and has been the editor of Third Age Matters, the national magazine published by the University of the Third Age. Beckett has been described as "an Old Labour romantic" by Guardian associate editor Michael White. He is the recipient of an Independent Radio Drama Productions Award for the Sons of Catholic Gentlemen and the Ted Wragg Award for lifetime achievement in education journalism.