Nigel Graddon is a retired British Civil Servant. Since 1994 he has lived in seaside communities in South Wales with his wife, retired teacher Val, and son Lewis, now a psychiatric nurse. Nigel's passion for the ancient mysteries, in particular the Western mystical traditions, began in his teens. In 1995, in collaboration with friends in America and Australia, Nigel began researching the life and work of German philologist and Grailseeker Otto Rahn which culminated in the publication by AUP in 2008 of Otto Rahn and the Quest for the Holy Grail: the Amazing Adventures of the Real Indiana Jones.