Alex Bellos was born in Oxford and grew up in Edinburgh and Southampton.

After studying mathematics and philosophy at university he joined the Evening Argus in Brighton as a trainee reporter.

Alex joined the Guardian in 1994 as a reporter and in 1998 moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he spent five years as the paper’s South America correspondent.

Since 2003 he has lived in London, as a freelance writer and broadcaster.

The books Alex has written are:
Futebol, the Brazilian Way of Life (Bloomsbury, 2002)
Pelé, the Autobiography (Simon & Schuster 2006), as ghostwriter
Here’s Looking At Euclid (The Free Press, 2010)

In 2003 Alex presented a five-part series on Brazil for the BBC, called Inside Out Brazil. His short films about the Amazon have been broadcast on the BBC, More 4 and Al Jazeera International.