David Vincent is Professor of Social History at the Open University, where he was previously a Pro-Vice-Chancellor. His publications include: Literacy and Popular Culture, England 1750-1914 (CUP, 1989); The Culture of Secrecy: Britain 1832-1998 (OUP, 1998); The Rise of Mass Literacy. Reading and Writing in Modern Europe (Polity Press, 2000). He is currently writing on the history of privacy.