David Starkey

Historian and broadcaster

David Starkey is a British historian and television and radio presenter, who specialises in the Tudor period. Raised in Kendal, Cumbria, Starkey earned a scholarship to Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and graduated with a PhD on the inner court of Henry VIII.

Starkey taught history for two and a half decades at the London School of Economics. It was whilst teaching at the LSE that Starkey began his career in broadcasting, gaining a reputation for caustic and intentionally provocative attitude to argument, epitomised in particular by his role as a ruthless interviewer on BBC Radio 4’s The Moral Maze. Starkey has been heralded for his efforts to popularise history, through a style which aims to mix entertainment with instruction. His television series include Henry VIII of England, Elizabeth I of England, and The Six Wives of Henry VIII. He has also broadcasted and debated on BBC radio and is the author of multiple publications, including the books Monarchy: From the Middle Ages to Modernity (2006) and Henry: Virtuous Prince (2008).

Starkey is the Bye Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and winner of the WH Smith and the Norton Medlicott Medal for Services to history presented by Britain’s Historical Association. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in London in 1994, and was appointed CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2007.