Jeremy Purseglove helped to pioneer a new approach to the way we manage our rivers, having worked as an environmentalist in the water industry for over a decade. Taming the Flood, first published in 1988, is based on his personal experience and on the research he did for a television series, which he also presented. In 1989 he left the water industry to join an engineering consultancy. In this capacity he worked in the UK and throughout the world integrating civil engineering schemes with the environment. He lives in Cambridge.