Chris Hare was born in Worthing in 1962. He has been researching local history since he was seventeen. He has both a B.A. and an M.A. in History and has lectured at both the University of Sussex and several Sussex colleges. He has published six books on local history topics, including two on general Sussex history, two on Worthing and one each on Washington and Burpham. For five years he worked as an Adult Education Manager, firstly at Newton Abbot in Devon and more recently at Midhurst in West Sussex. He is now working independently, offering guided tours and illustrated lectures on history topics through "Sussex Walks and Talks." He is currently working on a book of oral history for the West Sussex Records Office at Chichester. He is married with two teenage sons.