CHRISTIE DAVIES is a graduate of Cambridge University; MA (double first in Economics), PhD (Social and Political Science). He was for seventeen years full Professor at the University of Reading, UK, and has been a visiting scholar or lecturer in India, Poland, and the United States. His most recent books are Jokes and Targets (2011), The Strange Death of Moral Britain (2004) and The Mirth of Nations (2002). He has been a radio producer and appeared on radio and TV in many countries and has published a large number of articles in the press, in magazines and online in UK, the US, Europe and Asia, as well as a collection of humorous magical- science fiction short stories.