His father, Professor Jeremy Greenwood, is also a historian, lecturer and researcher who has written a number of books, often on arcane subjects, including Fuller's Earth in Surrey 1500–1900: an Economic History (1983), The New Forest and the Navy: Timber Supplies to Portsmouth Dockyard, 1660–1790 (2004), The Posts of Sussex – the Chichester branch, 1250–1840 (1973), and Essays towards a History of Reigate (1988), a work which formed the basis of Jeremy Greenwood's doctoral thesis.

He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Christ Church, Oxford before studying for an MBA at Imperial College, London.

After leaving Imperial College, Greenwood began buying British Rail lost property – umbrellas, mobile phones, coats, and prams – and selling them at car boot sales around London.

The trouble was I ended up with five garages full with 25,000 books, so I started buying more selectively, and dealing in rare and antiquarian titles.

"[7] In November 2010, one of Greenwood's first edition Harry Potter books was stolen from a gallery in Woodstock, a theft which caught the public imagination and was widely reported.

Greenwood diversified into taxidermy, classic cars, prints, maps, paintings and art, most notably works by Banksy.

Over the years I kept seeing his name in books on the Victorian army, by historians like Trevor Royle and Saul David, and he seemed by far the most brilliant general of his age, yet no one had looked at his career thoroughly for a century or more.

"[9] While researching Campbell, Greenwood discovered a series of letters from Peninsular War officer, Lt Peter Le Mesurier, spanning almost the whole of the conflict.

Greenwood cited Corelli Barnett and Christopher Hibbert as stylistic influences, as historians who sought to bridge the gap between academia and popular history.

"I get very tired with the old artificial distinction between academic books which have to be dull as ditchwater, and popular history which in striving to be exciting, fails to be accurate.

Following a three-week trial, Danaher was found guilty at Oxford Crown Court and sentenced to life imprisonment of 34 years.