Alex Wade covers diverse areas as a freelance journalist. He has written columns for The Independent on Sunday, www.timesonline.co.uk and Flush magazine on boxing, legal life and poker. As well as running the Surf Nation blog at www.timesonline.co.uk/surfnation, he contributes regularly to The Times, The Sunday Times, The Independent, The Independent on Sunday and The Guardian, and among other national newspapers has also written for The FT Magazine, The Telegraph and The Sun. He has written for Huck magazine, Wavelength, The Surfer's Path, Coast, Flush, Boxing News, Arena, Cornwall Today and The Racing Post, and contributes features on legal and regulatory developments in the betting and gaming sector for www.gamblingcompliance.com.

Alex's principal interests as a writer are surfing, boxing, poker, law and travel, as well as general features, football match reports (for The Game, the acclaimed supplement of The Times) and book reviews (for The Times Books section).

Many years ago, when he was a media lawyer, Alex worked for leading libel firm Carter-Ruck before becoming now-Express Group proprietor Richard Desmond's first Head of Legal Affairs. Subsequently Alex's unreconstructed tendencies got the better of him. His life went off the rails but boxing played a large part in his rehabilitation. This story is chronicled in Wrecking Machine, a Sunday Times sports book of the week ("superb", "irresistible") but also one that saw Metro's book reviewer characterise it as "drivel" written by "a sexist womaniser who likes a drink or six". Best to buy it and make your own mind up.

For the past six years, amid his various failings, Alex has worked as a writer. He has also enjoyed stints as a licensed bookmaker and a sports rights consultant, selling the rights to key properties such as the FA Premier League in territories as diverse as Albania, Georgia and Azerbaijan. He has made a number of media appearances including Sky News, Talksport, BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service, BBC Radio London, BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Radio Five Live.

Alex has travelled extensively. He has written about New York, Albania and Kazakhstan; Barbados, Ireland and Andalucia; Captain Cook country, Mexico and Francis Ford Coppola's retreats in Belize and Guatemala. Despite a restless life he thinks he's found paradise in West Penwith, Cornwall, where he lives with his wife Karen, an accomplished abstract artist, and two sons.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the events in Wrecking Machine Alex continues to work as a night lawyer for The Times. In recent years he has also enjoyed working for the legal departments of The Sun and The News of the World. More recently, Alex was the lawyer behind the scenes for Frank Skinner and David Baddiel's acclaimed FIFA World Cup 2006 podcasts for The Times.

Alex counts surfing, boxing, poker and maintaining a watchful eye on the ironical aspects of the legal profession as his hobbies. He was proud to serve on the committee of Walcot Amateur Boxing Club in Swindon and is pleased to note that Wrecking Machine is, apparently, the most popular book in at least one of Her Majesty's institutions.

Alex Wade's literary agent is David Milner of David Milner & Associates.