Biography

Trained as a barrister in London before becoming a cosmopolitan correspondent for The New York Times, one whose reporting spanned places such as Paris and Lisbon regarding the politics and insurgencies he encountered in Latin America.

Ridng was called to the bar at Gray's Inn, London. He then chose a career in journalism, moving from London to New York with Reuters and then to Mexico with The Financial Times and The Economist.

Riding lived in Paris with his wife Marlise Simons, who is a reporter for The New York Times.

After five years as The New York Times's bureau chief in Paris, Riding became the newspaper's European Cultural Correspondent. While in this post, he co-authored Essential Shakespeare Handbook and Opera, two illustrated reference books published by Dorling Kindersley.

As the Rio de Janeiro bureau chief, Riding covered the transitions from military regimes to democracies in Brazil and many neighboring countries as well as guerrilla wars and drug trafficking in Peru and Colombia.