Vitali Vitaliev

Writers bio:
Vital Vitaliev was born in 1954 in Ukraine. A repressed Europhile with fluent English, he was working as a journalist in Moscow when he appeared as Clive James's "Moscow Correspondent" on Saturday Night Clive. In 1991, he and his family "defected", moving first to London, then taking up residence and citizenship in Australia. After a few years he returned to London.

He has worked as a journalist in the former Soviet Union, Australia and the UK and writes regularly for The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. To the latter he has recently contributed a regular column, 'Vitali Vitaliev's America'.

He has made several television documentaries for Channel 4, ABC and the BBC, including My Friend Little Ben (1990) and The Train To Freedom for the Channel 4 series, Travels With My Camera (1994). He has appeared a guest on the BBC's Have I Got News for You and has featured regularly in Europe Direct, BBC World's magazine programme on weekday evenings. He has two new travel books out, Vitali’s Ireland and Passport to Enclavia.

Vitali currently lives in London where he is Features Editor of "E & T" magazine.