Robert Harris

After Cambridge, he joined the BBC, working on news and current affairs programmes including Panorama and Newsnight. He subsequently wrote columns for the Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph and became political editor of the Observer, but always wanted to be a writer than a journalist.

He wrote a number of non-fiction works (including A Higher Form of Killing, a factual work on chemical and biological warfare, written in collaboration with Jeremy Paxman), before turning his hand to fiction in 1992 with the publication of the acclaimed bestseller, Fatherland. His second novel, Enigma, was equally successful, as was the follow-up, Archangel. In 2003, Harris turned his attention towards Ancient Rome with his international bestseller, Pompeii. His latest work, Imperium is the first part of a trilogy, about the life of Rome's greatest orator, Cicero.

On the show, Robert Harris discusses his latest work, Imperium, a fictional study of ancient Roman the time of Cicero. He says that in spite of being set during the 1st century BC, the parallels are much more modern. The politics of the time were nasty and bloody and all in all, bear a not dissimilar outlook to the modern politics of New Labour. In his book, Harris sought to bring alive this colourful, exotic world, as well as the similarities with modern political life: "Imperium is about when people start taking their liberties for granted". And Cicero is a great subject: He died 60 years before the birth of Christ, left behind over 800 letters, and was served by Marcus Tullius Tiro. Harris approached the book from Tiro's perspective; "I wanted to re-imagine Tiro's memoir of his dead master" he says, but was at pains to steer clear of any Russell Crowe/ Frankie Howerd echoes - "One of my main aims s to get away from the really obvious clichés of ancient Rome", though he notes that it's a fun read too: "I don't want anyone to think it's a primer!".

Imperium is priced £17.99, as is available from all good bookshops now.