Tom Kirkwood, was Britain's first Professor of Biological Gerontology at the University of Manchester and is now Professor of Medicine and head of the Department of Gerontology at the University of Newcastle. Educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, he began research on ageing in 1974, first at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control and subsequently at the National Institute for Medical Research.

He has published more than 160 scientific papers on a wide range of subjects connected to human ageing and is internationally renowned for his "disposable soma" theory of ageing, which now shapes and inspires much of the research in this field.

His book, Time of Our Lives, was published in 1999 by Weidenfield and Nicolson, and by Phoenix Paperbacks.

BOOK OF THE REITH LECTURES 2001
The Reith Lectures 2001 are being published in book form under the title: The End of Age by Profile Books.