John Major entered Parliament as recently as 1979, but 11 years later became Prime Minister at an age - 47 - unprecedented in the 20th century. He rose rapidly via the posts of Chief Secretary of the Treasury, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, yet his unobtrusive style is not that of a maverick. This biography, written with its subject's co-operation, profiles Major's personal and political life from its modest beginnings in Cheam, Surrey, as the son of a music-hall artist. It includes photographs from the family albums. The author has been the political correspondent of Harpers and Queen, contested four elections as a Liberal candidate and written a novel, The Banker's Daughter.