Jonathan Mark Hamilton Priaulx Raban (14 June 1942 – 17 January 2023) was a British award-winning travel writer, playwright, critic, and novelist.

Raban, whom he did not actually meet until he was three due to his father's military service in World War II.

[3] According to his distant cousin, Evelyn Waugh,[4] in his autobiography A Little Learning, this branch of the Raban family were first recorded in the early 1500’s as yeoman farmers in Penn, Staffordshire, before they moved to London in the early 1700’s where they went into business and, subsequently, into the professions, Colonial Service, and the British Army.

[2] In 1969 Raban moved to London and became a freelance writer and journalist, specialising in book reviews.

[2] His travel books combined observation of place with current events and personal reflection.

His writing, as The Daily Telegraph put it, mixed "fact, fiction, travelogue, sociology, historical anecdote, reportage, memoir, confessional and literary criticism, and [created] a style entirely his own.

"[5] Old Glory is set during the build-up to Ronald Reagan’s victory in the 1980 presidential election, Coasting as the Falklands War begins, and Passage to Juneau as the failure of Raban’s marriage became apparent.

[7] Raban married three times, first to Bridget (Bridie) Johnson in 1964 whom he met at university; then to Caroline Cuthbert, an art dealer, in 1985; and finally to Jean Lenihan in 1992.