Neil is a social historian specialising in how the First and Second World Wars impacted on British society. He has lectured on the subject all over Britain for 20 years and has written over 30 books on a variety of social history themes including: The Tommy's Handbook (History Press 2014), Animals in the First World War (Shire 2014) and Women in the First World War (2010) and has featured in a number of TV and radio documentaries as guest expert, most recently on BBC Who Do You Think You Are? with Mary Berry.