[1] Reid was for a decade at the turn of the millennium a feature writer for The Palm Beach Post.
[2] Reid completed The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm, William Manchester's long anticipated third volume of his best-selling biography of Winston Churchill after being asked to do so by a Manchester in ill-health and terminal decline just one year before his 2004 death.
[2] On 1 June 2004, Manchester died of stomach cancer, leaving Reid alone to complete the work.
Reid discounted Manchester's thesis about Churchill's mental illness, and favoured the man as he struggled through stressful and depressing times.
The publisher's advance of US$200,000 was insufficient to float the author through nine years of research and writing, and he needed to invest copious amounts in the finished product.