Lucy Worsley | |
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 Worsley in 2019 | |
| Born | 18 December 1973 Reading, Berkshire, England |
| Education |
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| Occupation(s) | Historian, author, curator, television presenterTG |
| Website | lucyworsley.com |
Lucy Worsley OBE (born 18 December 1973) is an English historian, author, curator, and television presenter. [1] [2] 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.
Worsley was born on 18 December 1973 in Reading, Berkshire, to Peter and Enid (née Kay) Worsley. [3] Her father taught Geology at Reading University, while her mother was a consultant in educational policy and practice. Before going to university, Worsley attended The Abbey School, Reading, St Bartholomew's School, Newbury, and West Bridgford School, Nottingham. She studied Ancient and Modern History at New College, Oxford, [3] graduating in 1995 with a BA First-class honours degree. In 2001, she was awarded a DPhil degree from the University of Sussex. [4]
As a child Worsley played piano from the age of four, took lessons for 15 years and passed all of her piano grades. Of her teacher, Miss Beaumont, she later said: "At the time I was terrified of her but in retrospect she gave me a great gift of self-discipline and self-reliance. She made me strive for excellence and work hard. To help somebody to get better and really to challenge them, that's a rare and valuable thing." [5]
Worsley began her career as a historic house curator at Milton Manor, [6] near Abingdon, in the summer of 1995, [7] before working for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. From 1996 to 2002, she was an inspector of historic buildings for English Heritage in the East Midlands region. During that time, she studied the life of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle and wrote the English Heritage guide to his home, Bolsover Castle. In 2001, she was awarded a DPhil degree from the University of Sussex for a thesis on The Architectural Patronage of William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, 1593–1676. [8] The thesis was later developed into Worsley's book Cavalier: A Tale of Chivalry, Passion and Great Houses published in 2007. [9]
During 2002–2003, she was the major projects and research manager for Glasgow Museums [10] [11] before becoming chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity responsible for maintaining the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace State Apartments, the Banqueting House in Whitehall and Kew Palace in Kew Gardens. She oversaw the £12 million refurbishment of the Kensington Palace state apartments and gardens completed in 2012. [12] [13]
In 2005, she was elected a senior research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; she was also appointed visiting professor at Kingston University in west London. [14]
In October 2024 Worsley announced that she would be stepping down from her role at Historic Royal Palaces at the end of the year to focus on her Lady Killers podcast. [15]
In 2011, Worsley presented the four-part television series If Walls Could Talk, exploring the history of British homes, from peasants' cottages to palaces; and the three-part series Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency. In 2012 she co-presented the three-part television series Antiques Uncovered, with antiques and collectibles expert Mark Hill, [16] and (broadcast at the same time) Harlots, Housewives and Heroines, a three-part series on the lives of women after the Civil War and the Restoration of Charles II. [17] Later that year she presented a documentary on Dorothy Hartley's Food in England as part of the BBC Four "Food and Drink" strand.
Her BBC series A Very British Murder (and the accompanying book, also released as The Art of the English Murder) examined the "morbid national obsession" with murder. The series looked at a number of cases from the 19th century, beginning with the Ratcliff Highway murders which gained national attention in 1811, the Red Barn Murder of 1826 and the "Bermondsey Horror" case of Frederick and Maria Manning in 1849. [18]
In 2014, the three-part series The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain explored the contributions of the German-born kings George I and George II. The series explained why the Hanoverian George I came to be chosen as a British monarch, how he was succeeded by his very different son George II and why, without either, the current United Kingdom would likely be a very different place. The series emphasises the positive influence of these kings whilst showing the flaws in each. A Very British Romance, a three-part series for BBC Four, was based on the romantic novels and sought to uncover the forces shaping our very British idea of 'happily ever after' and how our feelings have been affected by social, political and cultural ideas. [19]
In 2016, Worsley presented the three-part documentary Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley in January and Lucy Worsley: Mozart's London Odyssey in June. [20] In September 2016, she was filming an upcoming series A Very British History for BBC Four. [21] In December she presented and appeared in dramatised accounts of the three-part BBC series Six Wives with Lucy Worsley. In 2017, she presented a three-part series entitled British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley, debunking historical views of the Wars of the Roses, the Glorious Revolution and the British occupation of India. [22]
In 2019, Worsley presented American History's Biggest Fibs, looking at the nation's founding story and American Revolution, the American Civil War, and the Cold War.
During February and March 2020, the first series of Royal History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley was shown on BBC Four; the three-part series discovers how the history of The Reformation, The Spanish Armada and Queen Anne and the Union have been manipulated and mythologised. [23]
In November 2020, the second series of Royal History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley aired on BBC2, covering the myths behind The French Revolution, George IV and The Russian Revolution. [24]
In 2022, Lucy Worsley Investigates began running. The one hour programme investigates major events in British History, including The Black Death, The Madness of King George, and The Princes in the Tower. [25]
On 22 June 2023, she presented The Krypton Factor-style quiz show Puzzling, which made its debut on Channel 5 and there are 13 episodes.
Worsley has published a number of books, many guides to houses and the like. Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court (2011) is her most recent work on history. In 2014, BBC Books published her book, A Very British Murder, which was based on the series. [26] In April 2016, Worsley published her debut children's novel, Eliza Rose, about a young noble girl in a Tudor Court. [27] [28] In 2017, Worsley published a biography of Jane Austen titled Jane Austen at Home: A Biography. [29]
Worsley also wrote the young-adult book Lady Mary, [30] a history-based book that details the life of Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon; it follows her as a young Princess Mary during the time of the divorce of Mary's parents.
Worsley lives in Southwark [31] by the River Thames in south London with her husband, architect Mark Hines, [2] whom she married in November 2011. [32] With reference to having children, Worsley once said she has been "educated out of normal reproductive function", [33] but she later said her statement had been "misinterpreted and sounded darker than I'd intended." [34]
As a television presenter, she is known for having a rhotacism, a minor speech impairment [2] which affects her pronunciation of "r". When she made the move from BBC Four to BBC Two for the series Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History, she worked with a speech and language therapist to help with her pronunciation, but to no avail. [35]
In her teens, Worsley represented Berkshire at cross country running and, as a pastime, is still a keen participant in the sport. [36]
| Year | Title | Channel | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Inside the Body of Henry VIII | History Channel | |
| 2010 | King Alfred the Great? | BBC South | 17 May 2010 |
| 2010 | The Curse of the Hope Diamond | Channel 4 | 24 May 2010 |
| 2011 | When God Spoke English | BBC Four | 21 February 2011 Guest interview as Chief Curator of Hampton Court |
| 2011 | If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home | BBC Four | Four-part series (April 2011) |
| 2011 | Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency | BBC Four | Three-part series (August–September 2011) |
| 2012 | Our Food | BBC Two | Four-part series (April 2012). Hosted by Giles Coren, co-presented with James Wong, Alex Langlands & Alys Fowler. [40] |
| 2012 | Antiques Uncovered | BBC Two | May 2012. Three-part series. |
| 2012 | Inside the World of Henry VIII | History Channel | |
| 2012 | Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls | BBC Four | Three-part series (May 2012) |
| 2012 | Food in England: The Lost World of Dorothy Hartley | BBC Four | 6 November 2012 |
| 2013 | Secret Knowledge, Episode 3 | BBC Four | Bolsover Castle; 27 March 2013 [41] |
| 2013 | Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History | BBC Two | Part 1, [42] Part 2, Part 3. [43] |
| 2013 | Tales from the Royal Bedchamber | BBC Four | 5 August 2013 [44] |
| 2013 | A Very British Murder | BBC Four | 23 September 2013. Three-part series. [45] |
| 2014 | The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain | BBC Four | 1 May 2014. Three-part series. |
| 2014 | Masterchef | BBC One | 8 May 2014. Guest judge |
| 2014 | Tales from the Royal Wardrobes | BBC Four | 7 July 2014 |
| 2014 | Dancing Cheek To Cheek: An Intimate History of Dance | BBC Four | 17 November 2014. Co-presented with Len Goodman. |
| 2015 | Britain's Tudor Treasure: A Night at Hampton Court | BBC Two | 7 February 2015. Co-presented with David Starkey. |
| 2015 | Cake Bakers and Trouble Makers: Lucy Worsley's 100 years of the WI | BBC Two | 20 July 2015 |
| 2015 | A Very British Romance | BBC Four | 8 October 2015. Three-part series. |
| 2015 | Dancing Through The Blitz: Blackpool's Big Band Story | BBC Two | 25 July 2015. Co-presented with Len Goodman and Jools Holland. [46] |
| 2015 | When Lucy met Roy: Sir Roy Strong at 80 | BBC Four | 23 August 2015 [47] |
| 2015 | Lucy Worsley's Reins of Power: The Art of Horse Dancing | BBC Four | 15 September 2015 [48] |
| 2015 | The Great History Quiz: The Tudors | BBC Two | 24 December 2015. [49] Quiz team captain. |
| 2016 | Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley | BBC Four | 6, 13 & 20 January 2016 |
| 2016 | The Real Versailles | BBC Two | 30 May 2016 [50] Co-presented with Helen Castor. |
| 2016 | Lucy Worsley: Mozart's London Odyssey | BBC Four | 21 June 2016 [51] |
| 2016 | Six Wives with Lucy Worsley | BBC One | Three-part series December 2016 |
| 2017 | British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley | BBC Four | Three-part series (January–February 2017) [52] |
| 2017 | Jane Austen: Behind Closed Doors | BBC Two | 27 May 2017 |
| 2017 | Lucy Worsley's Nights at the Opera | BBC Two | Two-part series; 14 October 2017, 21 October 2017 |
| 2017 | Lucy Worsley: Elizabeth I's Battle for God's Music | BBC Four | 17 October 2017 |
| 2018 | Lucy Worsley's Fireworks for a Tudor Queen | BBC Four | 7 March 2018 |
| 2018 | Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley | BBC One | 4 June 2018 |
| 2018 | Victoria & Albert: The Royal Wedding | BBC Two | 21 December 2018. [53] |
| 2019 | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley | BBC Four | Three-part series (January 2019) [54] |
| 2019 | Queen Victoria: My Musical Britain | BBC Two | 11 May 2019 [55] |
| 2019 | Lucy Worsley's Christmas Carol Odyssey | BBC Four | 10 December 2019 [56] |
| 2019 | A Merry Tudor Christmas with Lucy Worsley | BBC Two | 20 December 2019 [57] |
| 2019–2020 | Royal History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley | BBC Four | Series 1; 18 and 25 February 3 March 2020. Series 2; 6, 13 & 20 November 2020 [58] |
| 2020–2021 | Lucy Worsley's Royal Myths & Secrets | PBS | Series 1; 21 and 28 June 5 July 2020. Series 2; 29 August 2021, 5, & 12 September 2021 |
| 2020 | Lucy Worsley's Royal Photo Album | BBC Four | The story of the royal photograph 14 May 2020 |
| 2021 | Lucy Worsley's Royal Palace Secrets | BBC Four | January 2021 [59] |
| 2021 | Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley | BBC One | 90-minute documentary; 23 February 2021 [60] |
| 2022 | Rebuilding Notre-Dame | BBC Two | Documentary; 28 April 2022 [61] |
| 2022 | Lucy Worsley Investigates | BBC Two & PBS | Four-part series [62] Second series commissioned. [63] |
| 2022 | Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery Queen | BBC Two | Three-part series [64] |
| 2023 | Puzzling | Channel 5 | Thirteen-part quiz show [65] |
| 2023 | Florence Nightingale: Nursing Pioneer | BBC Four | Narrator [66] |
| 2023 | Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle | BBC Two | Three-part series [67] |
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