Amanda Hooton moved to Scotland from WA to attend St Andrews university. Having studied Medieval History and English, she used her extensive knowledge of King Arthur and the knights of the round table to secure two weeks' work experience at The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh, and spent two years there before moving to the Daily Telegraph in London. She returned to Australia in 1999, and has been a staff journalist at Good Weekend magazine, with the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, ever since. She has won both a Walkley award for Australian journalism, and a British Press Award.