WALSH, Michael
For almost all his (full-time) working life Michael Walsh was a member of the academic staff of Heythrop College, University of London. This is a Jesuit foundation, and for twenty years he was a member of the Society of Jesus.
Now married with two daughters, he lives in North London. Given his background, his expertise is in Catholicism, particularly in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, but he also frequently writes and broadcasts on contemporary religious issues on both British, Canadian and US television channels, and on BBC radio – as well as other radio stations in North America and South Africa. He has a particular expertise in the history of the papacy, and has just completed a revision of J.N.D. Kelly’s Oxford Dictionary of Popes for OUP. His best-known book, however, is The Secret World of Opus Dei, which has been translated into a large number of languages (including Korean!)… 
It gained the dubious accolade of being cited by Dan Brown on his website as one of the chief sources for The Da Vinci Code. In all he has written, edited or translated getting on for thirty books: three of the reference works he has edited have won prizes (well, prize, it was the same one each time) in the USA. He has also been a member of prize juries in the UK.