Cedric Watts, after service in the Royal Navy, read English at Cambridge University, taking his BA (Class 1), MA and Ph.D. there. He has taught at Sussex University for many years, and is currently Emeritus Professor of English. His publications include poetry, fiction, and many critical and scholarly books, notably Thomas Hardy: 'Jude the Obscure' (in the Penguin Critical Studies series), Literature and Money, A Preface to Conrad, The Deceptive Text, A Preface to Greene, Cunninghame Graham: A Critical Biography (with Laurence Davies) and Henry V, War Criminal? and Other Shakespeare Puzzles (with John Sutherland). He has edited 34 volumes of material by Shakespeare, Conrad, Cunninghame Graham, Thomas Hardy and others. Edward Said praised Watts as "a man for whom the enjoyment and enrichment of friends and students are the main considerations in what he does".