Francis O'Gorman was educated at the University of Oxford and held a chair at the University of Leeds; he was then Saintsbury Professor of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh until his retirement in 2022. He has written or edited twenty-four books, mostly on English Literature 1780-1920. He is currently working on a major new project on the literature of London and writing more about music. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.