Trained as an actor, Nick Hirst spent some time bumming around in UK rock bands including The Breakneck Brothers, Nick Nasty and the Breaknecks, Rosedale Intake and Sarah Stone and Band of Strangers, writing songs and playing guitar. Looking for a sensible job, he worked as a performer and musician with various theatre companies in the UK before making the transition into broadcasting. Originally a freelancer with the BBC, he took the unusual step of moving to Saudi Arabia to work as presenter and producer on the English language TV and radio stations based in Riyadh. After returning to England, he joined the BBC World Service in London writing, producing and presenting programmes on contemporary music. There followed a few years at the popular domestic network, BBC Radio 2, producing some of the biggest names in UK broadcasting including  Terry Wogan, Michael Aspel, Tim Rice, Des Lynam, Steve Wright, Bob Holness, Tommy Vance, Bob Harris, Mike Reid, Nicky Horne and many others. He conceived and wrote a number of specialist documentaries and programme series including 'The A - Z of Rock and Pop', ''The West Coast Sound', 'Pop Into The Movies', 'On Tour With The Bee Gees,' and 'A Singular Sensation - The Story Behind "A Chorus Line" ' to name a few. He has interviewed over 200 artists from world of music and showbiz including such diverse personalities as Ozzy Osbourne, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb (The Bee Gees), Paul McCartney, Lemmy, Chris Rea, Marvin Hamlisch, Cher, Fiona Apple, Melissa Etheridge, Susannah Hoffs (The Bangles), Bill Wyman, Nils Lofgren, Lynryd Skynyrd and Megadeth! He has also compered gigs for Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. Following an eight year stint with the BBC, he managed an international, multi-lingual broadcast service for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office promoting the UK to the world. Subsequently, he took over as Managing Editor of the official website of the English Premier League, premierleague.com. He now spends his time writing, blogging and providing consultancy services for companies seeking English language communication excellence.  As a writer, he has contributed over two hundred magazine and internet articles on subjects as wide ranging as music, football and finance and was script consultant on the documentary film ‘Sugar Blues’ by acclaimed Czech director – Andrea Culkova.  He is currently working on the second instalment of the ‘Rain’ trilogy —‘The Edge of Rain’— featuring Jack Conrad. Inspired by the works of William Shakespeare, WB Yeats, TS Eliot and James Joyce from his time studying English Literature at Kings College Wimbledon in England, Hirst cites as his influences the populist writings of Robert Ludlum, Stieg Larsson, Martin Cruz Smith, John Grisham and Michael Connelley among many others. Above all, however, he considers Charles Dickens the beacon to whom all should aspire. Hirst grew up in ‘Frith Grange’, the house where Dickens was staying with his old friend the painter, William Frith, when he wrote Oliver Twist. To complete the Dickens connection, Hirst was named after the eponymous hero of ‘Nicholas Nickleby’.