Joan Bakewell was born in Stockport in 1933 and went on to become a celebrated radio and television broadcaster, co-presenting BBC's Late Night Line Up until 1972 and later Heart of the Matter, for which she won a BAFTA for television journalism. She was awarded a CBE for services to the arts and television in 1999. Joan Bakewell's autobiography, The Centre of the Bed, was published in 2003. Belief, which she edited, was published in 2005 to accompany the Radio 4 series of the same name. Joan Bakewell lives in London.

The View from Here: Life at Seventy was first published in 2006.