Charles Madge was born in Johannesburg in 1912, and was educated at Cambridge. He published his first collection of poetry The Disappearing Castle in 1937, the year Mass-Observation became a fulltime occupation for him, at first with Humphrey Jennings, then with Tom Harrisson. During the war he did social and economic research under Lord Keynes, and edited Pilot Papers. From 1948 to 1950 he was Social Development Officer for the new town of Stevenage, until his appointment in 1950 as Professor of Social Science at Birmingham University, a position he held until 1970. His many publications include economic and sociological works, as well as several Mass-Observation collections under his editorship. With Mary-Lou Jennings he edited the late Humphrey Jennings’ Pandaemonium (1985). He died in 1996.