Monte Cassino, a historic hilltop abbey founded in AD 529 by Benedict of Nursia, dominated the nearby town of Cassino and the entrances to the Liri and Rapido valleys, but had been left unoccupied by the German defenders.
After periods working in journalism including a stint at the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph, he entered television broadcasting and worked for the BBC, Rapido TV, Clive James's Watchmaker Films, Graham Norton's So TV and Visual Voodoo, the entertainment arm of ITN.
The TV series was developed and produced by Rapido TV for Sky TV.
Initially part of Janet Street Porter's DEF II strand, alongside Rapido and Jovanotti's Gimme 5, the show outlasted the 'yoof-TV' strand and became established in BBC 2's early 1990s evening schedule.
Other screen credits include channel 4’s A Stab in the Dark with David Baddiel and Michael Gove, All I Want – A Portrait of Rufus Wainwright, Kitchen Criminals, Masterchef, and voicing over many music documentaries and the long-running BBC2 show Rapido, presented by Antoine de Caunes.