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Harry Victor Frederick Winstone FRGS, known as Victor, (born 1926) is an English author and journalist, who specialises in Middle Eastern topics. He has written biographies of several influential figures in the history of this region.

Victor Winstone worked as a reporter and features writer with weekly journals and a financial features agency from 1947 - 50. He was an industrial journal editor and press advisor to Royal Doulton and others during the 1950s and 60s. From 1970 - 1982 he was a freelance writer and magazine editor, chiefly of journals about decorative and applied arts (Pottery Gazette, Tableware International, Home and Table, Ambassador). He also wrote for industrial and commercial publications and was the supervisory editor of the English edition of Automobile World (Zurich).

From 1975 - 1990 he was freelance special features writer for The Guardian, book reviewer for The Daily Telegraph, and was a contributor to Connoisseur, The Times, and various specialist journals.

Winstone’s first biography was published in 1976 to positive reviews: Captain Shakespear: A Portrait. A series of critically well-regarded books followed, mainly biographies of British figures associated with the nineteenth and twentieth century history of the Middle East.

Winstone is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He lives in Bideford, north Devon, England, and is currently researching a book on the Anglo-American War on Terror.

Selected books and articles by H. V. F. Winstone

• Kuwait: Prospect and Reality London: Allen and Unwin (1972) (with Zahra Freeth)
• Captain Shakespear: A Portrait London: Jonathan Cape (1976)
• Gertrude Bell: A Biography London: Jonathan Cape (1976)
• Explorers of Arabia from the Renaissance to the End of the Victorian Era London: Allen and Unwin (1978) (edited by H. V. F. Winstone and Zahra Freeth)
• The Spirit of the East: An Anthology of Prose and Verse Inspired by the People, Places, and Legends of the East London: Quartet (1979) (edited by H. V. F. Winstone and Gerald de Gaury)
• "A Journey to Hail" Saudi Aramco World 31(3) (May/June 1980) (with Zahra Freeth)
• The Road to Kabul: An Anthology London: Quartet (1981) (edited by H. V. F. Winstone and Gerald de Gaury)
• Leachman, OC Desert: The Life of Lieutenant-Colonel Gerard Leachman D.S.O London: Quartet (1982)
• The Illicit Adventure. The Story of Political and Military Intelligence in the Middle East from 1898 to 1926 London: Jonathan Cape (1982)
• Diaries of Parker Pasha (ed.) London: Quartet (1982)
• Royal Copenhagen Porcelain London: Stacey International (1983)
• Uncovering the Ancient World London: Constable (1985)
• Woolley of Ur London: Secker and Warburg (1990)
• Howard Carter and the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun London: Constable (1991)
• Lady Anne Blunt Manchester: Barzan Publishing (2003)

External links

• H. V. F. Winstone’s website