Paul Chrystal followed university training in classics with a career in publishing, before becoming the owner of the Knaresborough bookshop in North Yorkshire. He is the author of several books on Classics and local history. Joe Dickinson spent most of his life working for Rowntrees of York, one of Britain's great confectionery makers. He is the owner and curator of a vast archive of material relating to Rowntrees, and the author of a pictorial history of York.