Julian Roup was born and lived in Cape Town for the first 30 years of his life. He started his working life as a biscuit salesman before doing a journalism degree at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.
He moved to England in 1980 and worked in local journalism in Sussex before changing direction once more to work in PR consultancies in London. He later founded his own PR consultancy, which he ran for 10 years.
He is the author of A Fisherman in the Saddle, a book about his twin passions, fishing and horse riding. He currently works for an international fine art auction house in London. He is married with two children and lives in the Kent-Sussex border country known as the Weald.