Daniel Francis Jeroen van der Vat is a journalist, writer and military historian, with a focus on naval history. Van der Vat grew up in Nazi-German occupied Holland. He went to the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in London, and then was a student at St Cuthbert's Society, Durham University from 1957 to 1960, graduating with a BA in Classics. He has written fourteen books. He then became a graduate trainee on The Journal, Newcastle upon Tyne, later joining the Daily Mail in Manchester and returning to Newcastle as its regional chief reporter. He was recruited by The Sunday Times in 1965 and transferred to The Times in 1967. He was a foreign correspondent for ten years, opening the southern Africa bureau before becoming bureau chief in Germany. He left in 1981 and joined The Guardian in 1982 as chief foreign leader-writer. He still writes obituaries for The Guardian. 

October 28th, 1939 in Alkmaar (Age 84)