Kate Williams | |
---|---|
Born | [1] | November 30, 1974
Nationality | British |
Partner | Marcus Gipps |
Children | 1 |
Academic background | |
Education | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | History |
Institutions | University of Reading |
Kate Williams (born November 30,1974) is a British historian,author,and television presenter. She is a professor of public engagement with history at the University of Reading.
Williams grew up in Stourbridge. [2] Her father,Gwyn,was a solicitor and her mother,Margaret,was a teacher. [3] Her paternal grandparents were from the Conwy Valley. [4] She was educated at Edgbaston High School for Girls,Birmingham. She studied for her BA and DPhil at Somerville College,Oxford,where she started as a college scholar and received the Violet Vaughan Morgan University Scholarship. She has MAs from Queen Mary,University of London and Royal Holloway,University of London. [5] She began researching Emma Hamilton while studying for her doctorate.
Williams has lectured MA degree studies in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway,University of London. In the summer of 2015,Williams took up a role as Professor of Public Engagement with History at the University of Reading.
Williams writes articles on history for British newspapers including The Daily Telegraph , [6] and reviews for BBC History , History Today [7] and the Financial Times . [8]
In 2010,she was a judge for the Biographer's Club Tony Lothian First Biography Prize, [9] the Book Drum Tournament 2010, [10] and the Litro/IGGY International Young Person's Short Story Award. [11]
A short story,"The Weakness of Hearts",was published in issue 104 of Litro literary magazine. [12]
Williams appears frequently on radio and TV as a presenter and expert,specialising in social,constitutional and royal history. She commented extensively on the 2011 Royal Wedding and appears often on BBC Breakfast , Newsnight , The Review Show ,Sky News,BBC News 24,the Today programme , Broadcasting House , Night Waves , Woman's Hour ,Channel Five and various American channels,discussing history and culture and reviewing the news. She covered the Queen's Address to Parliament on BBC One in 2012 and the Queen's Speech for BBC Parliament.
Williams was the social historian on the BBC Two series Restoration Home ,which aired from 2011 to 2013. [13] She presented Timewatch:Young Victoria for BBC Two, [14] acclaimed by The Guardian as "telly history at its best" [15] and The Secret History of Edward VII for Channel Five. [16] She appears often on documentaries,discussing history,literature and culture,including Faulks on Fiction and all three series of The Great British Bake Off ,as well as documentaries on subjects including Queen Victoria,Balmoral,Sherlock Holmes, [17] Jack the Ripper,Nelson's Trafalgar,Elizabeth II and Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home.
She wrote and presented the documentary The Grandfather of Self-Help,about Samuel Smiles,for Radio 4. [18] She is also the presenter of a Radio 4 documentary on the history of the smile,broadcast in June 2012. Williams was the historian in residence in Frank Skinner's 2014 radio show The Rest Is History. Williams was a regular panellist on The Quizeum,which began airing on BBC4 in spring 2015. Williams was the winner of Celebrity Mastermind which screened on 2 January 2016.
She also featured on episodes of Insert Name Here broadcast on 4 and 25 of January 2016 on BBC Two,and again in four episodes of the second series of Insert Name Here commencing with the Christmas Special on 21 December 2016. [19] Williams appeared in the online mini-series Inside Versailles based on the BBC Television series Versailles. She also appeared in an episode of BBC One comedy panel show Would I Lie To You? in 2016. She was in Dictionary Corner on Countdown for five shows starting 6 October 2016. On 13 December 2016 she appeared as a contestant on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip,partnered with Catherine Southon,against Suzannah Lipscomb and David Harper.
Williams and team member Robin Ince were winners of Pointless Celebrities broadcast on 13 January 2018. [20] In 2020 Williams appeared on Richard Osman's House of Games ,broadcast on BBC Two, [21] alongside Chizzy Akudolu,Charlie Higson,and Tom Allen. [22]
In August 2023,Williams appeared in Elizabeth II:Making of a Monarch;a two-part documentary that aired on Channel 4. [23]
Williams was the highest ranked celebrity expert on an episode of the game show The Wheel ,which aired on 21 October 2023. [24]
Williams and her partner,publisher Marcus Gipps,have a teenage son. [3]
Williams has had academic essays published in various journals and books:
Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and prior to his death was also known as Lady Antonia Pinter.
Arthur Bamber Gascoigne was an English television presenter and author. He was the original quizmaster on University Challenge, which initially ran from 1962 to 1987.
Philippa Gregory is an English historical novelist who has been publishing since 1987. The best known of her works is The Other Boleyn Girl (2001), which in 2002 won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association and has been adapted into two films.
Katherine Louise Mosse is a British novelist, non-fiction and short story writer and broadcaster. She is best known for her 2005 novel Labyrinth, which has been translated into more than 37 languages. She co-founded in 1996 the annual award for best UK-published English-language novel by a woman that is now known as the Women's Prize for Fiction.
Tara Claire Palmer-Tomkinson was an English socialite and television personality. She appeared in several television shows, including the reality programme I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. She died from a perforated ulcer on 8 February 2017.
Angela May Rippon is an English broadcaster, former newsreader, writer and journalist.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne.
Catherine Webb is a British author. Under the pseudonym Kate Griffin, she writes fantasy novels for adults. As Claire North, she writes science fiction and novels based upon the work of Homer.
Miranda Katherine Hart Dyke is an English actress, comedian and writer. Following drama training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Hart began writing material for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and making appearances in BBC sitcoms, including Hyperdrive (2006–2007) and Not Going Out (2006–2009).
Georgia Arianna, Lady Colin Campbell, also known as Lady C, is a British Jamaican author, socialite, and television personality who has published seven unauthorised books about the British royal family. They include biographies of Diana, Princess of Wales, of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
The image of Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms and Head of the Commonwealth from 1952 to 2022, was generally favourable throughout her years as a reigning monarch. Conservative in dress, she was well known for her solid-colour overcoats and matching hats, which allowed her to be seen easily in a crowd. She attended many cultural events as part of her public role. Her main leisure interests included horse racing, photography, and dogs, especially her Pembroke Welsh corgis. She ate jam sandwiches every day since childhood. Some of her other favourite foods were fish and chips, chocolate perfection pie, scones with jam and clotted cream, salmon from the River Dee and Morecambe Bay potted shrimp. Her views on political issues and other matters were largely subject to conjecture. She never gave a press interview and was otherwise not known to discuss her personal opinions publicly.
Alison Weir is a British author and public historian. She primarily writes about the history of English royal women and families, in the form of biographies that explore their historical setting. She has also written numerous works of historical fiction.
Elizabeth I of England has inspired artistic and cultural works for over four centuries. The following lists cover various media, enduring works of high art, and recent representations in popular culture, film and fiction. The entries represent portrayals that a reader has a reasonable chance of encountering rather than a complete catalogue.
Mary I of England has been depicted in popular culture a number of times.
Lucy Worsley is an English historian, author, curator, and television presenter. She is joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces but is best known as a presenter of BBC Television and Channel 5 series on historical topics.
Suzannah Rebecca Gabriella Lipscomb is a British historian and professor emerita at the University of Roehampton, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Higher Education Academy and the Society of Antiquaries, and has for many years contributed a regular column to History Today. She has written and edited a number of books, presented numerous historical documentaries on TV and is host of the Not Just the Tudors podcast from History Hit. She is also a royal historian for NBC.
Jennifer Louise Worth RN RM was a British memoirist. She wrote a best-selling trilogy about her work as a nurse and midwife practising in the poverty-stricken East End of London in the 1950s: Call the Midwife (2002), Shadows of the Workhouse (2005) and Farewell to The East End (2009). A television series, Call the Midwife, based on her books, began broadcasting on BBC One in the UK on 15 January 2012 and on PBS in the US on 30 September 2012. After leaving nursing, she re-trained as a musician.
Wolf Hall is a British television series adaptation of two of Hilary Mantel's novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, a fictionalised biography documenting the life of Thomas Cromwell.
Kate Olivia Malone is a British ceramic artist known for her large sculptural vessels and rich, bright glazes. Malone was previously a judge, along with Keith Brymer Jones, on BBC2's The Great Pottery Throw Down (2015–2017), then presented by Sara Cox.
Juno Dawson is an English author of young adult fiction and non-fiction. Dawson's notable works include This Book Is Gay, Mind Your Head, Margot & Me, The Gender Games, Clean, Meat Market, and the series, "Her Majesty's Royal Coven".
{{cite book}}
: |work=
ignored (help)