Ferdi McDermott, the founder of StAR, was born in Southampton, England. He attended King Edward VI School Southampton and the University of Edinburgh, graduating MA (Hons) in Celtic Studies, with subsidiary French and Scandinavian Languages. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (London) and a Fellow of the RSA (London).

He founded in 1995 MENTOR (the British Catholic education journal); in 1996 The Saint Austin Press (a Catholic publishing house), in 1999 St. Cyprian School of English, London; in 2001 the Saint Austin Review; and in 2002 Chavagnes International College, an international Catholic College for boys aged 9-18. He has written and translated articles for various Catholic, educational, and literary publications and now writes the Ball and the Cross column in StAR. His hobbies include languages, choral singing, and renaissance literature. Whilst a university student he was captain of a mixed hockey team, but now describes himself as a ‘resting sportsman’.