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David Starkey

"He is shaping up to be the media's favourite commentator on the Royal Family (move over Lord St John of Fawsley), regularly asked for his opinions on the constitutional ramifications of Di's latest hairstyle."

Gregory Woods and Colin Richardson Gay Times , May 1995, issue 200, pages 102-3.

His success with his media work and associated books made him wealthy and allowed him to fund further work through the company Jutland. The computerisation of the inventory of possessions of Henry VIII is funded equally between himself and the Society of Antiquarians.

He gave up his teaching at the London School of Economics in 1998 to concentrate on his other work.

Web site:http://www.davidstarkey.com

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Writing

• This Land of Englandwith David Souden, 1985.

• The Reign of Henry VIII: Personalities and Politics, 1985.
  1991, second edition.

• Revolution Reassessed: Revisions in the History of Tudor Government and Administrationas editor with Christopher Coleman, 1986.

• The English Court from the Wars of the Roses to the Civil War, as editor, 1987.

• Rivals in Power: the Lives and Letters of the Great Tudor Dynasties, as editor, 1990.

• Henry VIII: a European Court in England, 1991.

• The Inventory of Henry VIII Volume 1: The Transcript, as editor with Philip Ward, 1998, published by Harvey Miller Publishers, 544 pages, ISBN 1872501893 (hardcover).
  Synopsis“Henry VIII had extravagant ideas of image and authority and loved his possessions. He owned over 2000 pieces of tapestry and 2028 items of gold and silver plate. This work is not only a catalogue, but also a source of information for the study of Tudor society. In its listings the inventory provides information about Henry's personal and declining health problems, for example his bandages for ulcers are listed. The original inventory is in two parts: one in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries and the other in the Harley Collection of the British Library. Volume one is a transcription of the inventory itself. The second and third volumes include explanatory essays by experts together with illustrations. In addition, the authors provide evaluations of the objects in monetary and social terms.”

• The Stuart Courts, as editor with Eveline Cruikshanks, 2000, published by Sutton Publishing, 303 pages, ISBN 0750922648 (hardcover).
  Synopsis:“This collection of essays covers the full cultural, as well as administrative aspects, of the Stuart courts and deals with Scotland as well as the Vice-Regal court in Ireland.”

• Elizabeth: Apprenticeship, 2000.

• Elizabeth, 2000, published by Chatto and Windus, 352 pages, ISBN 0701169397 (hardcover).
  Synopsis:“An abused child, yet confident of her destiny, passionately sexual yet, she said, a virgin, famed as England's most successful ruler yet actually doing little, Elizabeth I is full of contradictions. This biography, published to accompany a Channel 4 series presented by the author, aims to turn the paradox into a person. Starting with Elizabeth's own speeches and writings, the author lays emphasis on two things: her faith made her see religion as a purely personal relationship between the individual conscience and God, yet her sophisticated education led her to a smoke-and-mirrors view of politics, in which clever image-making and speech-writing could solve or postpone real problems. The result was a surprisingly contemporary approach to some very modern questions, like civil strife in Scotland and Ireland and the risk of England's absorption into a European super-state. This approach to the enigma of the Queen's character is presented in a retelling of her reign; her love for Robert Dudley, the tragi-comedy of her favourites and suitors, her struggles with Mary Queen of Scots and Philip II of Spain and the final, humiliating debacle of her relationship with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.”

• Henry VIII and His Court, 2001, published by the National Portrait Gallery, 64 pages, ISBN 1855142791 (hardcover).
  Synopsis:“One of history's most notorious monarchs, Henry VIII ruled his court with fearsome command. Infamous for his six marriages and break from the Catholic Church, Henry collected many enemies during his reign. Illustrated with contemporary portraits throughout, this book provides an insight into the personalitites who made up the mighty Tudor court, including such historically significant figures as Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cromwell, and Cardinal Wolsey, together with the ill-fated Anne Boleyn and Sir Thomas More.”

• Six Wives, 2001, published by Chatto and Windus, 192 pages, ISBN 0701172983 (hardcover).
  Synopsis:“Take a look at the wives of Henry VIII: Catherine of Aragon, pious Catholic princess and mother of Mary Tudor; Anne Boleyn, the pretty Lutheran with whom Henry was madly in love; Jane Seymour, whose submissiveness was in such contrast to Anne's vampish style and who gave Henry his longed-for son; Anne of Cleves, who was declared so plain by the now grossly overweight Henry; Catherine Howard, the 'flirty child' whose adulteries made a fool of the ageing king; and Catherine Parr, a shrewd Protestant bluestocking who eventually outlived him. In this study of Henry VII's six queens, Starkey draws on the letters, artefacts and documents of the period, concentrating on the rituals of diplomacy, marriage, pregnancy and private religion, to give a richly textured picture of daily life at the Tudor court from the woman's point of view.”

• Henry VIII, 2002, published by Sinclair Stevenson, 416 pages, ISBN 1856194388 (hardcover).

• The Private Life of Henry VIII, 2003, published by Cassell, ISBN 0304354090 (hardcover).

• History of the British Monarchy, 2004, published by Chatto, ISBN 1856195163 (hardcover).
  
  
  
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  Media Work

  
  
  The Moral Maze, as a BBC Radio 4 and BBC 2 television panelist.
  

• Talk Radio presenter, 1995-1998.
  

• This Land of England, 1985, as Channel 4 television three-part series writer and presenter.
  

• Henry VIII, 1998, as Channel 4 television three-part series writer and presenter.
  

• Elizabeth I, 2000, as Channel 4 television four-part series writer and presenter.

• The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 2001, as Channel 4 television four-part series writer and presenter.
  

  • How to fall in love: start reading the paperby Thomas Sutcliffe inThe Independent on Sunday: Etc., 16th. September, 2001, page 13. “He is not a phrase-maker, like Simon Schama - preferring to rely, with what you might charitably interpret as a conservative respect for tradition, on dog-eared cliches. Catherine of Aragon, we learnt at one climactic moment, 'won the battle but lost the war'. Fortunately the history - cruelly intimate and touching - does not need much intellectual embroidery. Dr Starkey's hand-me down homespun turns out to suit it perfectly well.”
    
    
    
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    Press cuttings

    
    
    

    • Bloody good yarns make a tidy profit for History plcby Sarah Baxter inThe Sunday Times: News Review, 2nd. September, 2001, page 6. “He is more than just a media don who is able to churn out articles and make personal appearances to boost his earnings. In fact he is not even a don any more, having given up his post at the London School of Economics three years ago. 'If I were still an academic, I would be spending 12 hours a day filling in 44 forms trying to get back a few shillings for photocopying expenses,' he says. It s because history is enjoying such a huge revival outside the confines of universities that Starkey has been able to build his empire.”

    • The apoplectic academicA profile by D. J. Taylor inThe Independent on Sunday, 9th. September, 2001, page 21. “Suddenly Tudor government, previously thought to be one of the duller nooks of early modern history, is not just fashionable, but sexy. As, by and large, is Starkey himself. Openly gay, stupendously cross (his early radio performances had him splashed across the tabloids), unrepentantly right-wing, he represents the coming together of several highly respectable archetypes not often found in the same personality. We have had plenty of waspish Tory academics before, but rarely those who turned incandescent on the airwaves or lived with their male partners in north London bliss. Or, for that matter, turned in viewing figures ahead of Ali G.”

    • Court on cameraby Harry Ritchie inThe Guardian: G2, 10th. September, 2001, pages 16-17. “An allededly Tory intellectual who, last time around, couldn't bring himself to vote for the Conservative Party to which he belongs, a donnish figure whose privileged trappings and fruitily RP diction belie his working-class roots (he arrived at Cambridge in the mid-60s as a scholarship boy from Kendal Grammar School), Starkey's latest contradiction is a professional one - as a historian who is both populist and elitist. His is a court-centred view of English history, firmly focused on monarchs and royal households, which has found surprising success on the telly.”

    • Starkey: the truthby Pendennis inThe Observer, 16th. September, 2001, page 11. “ 'I just don't recognise the person you hear about,' confides Starkey's admirer, a former colleague at the London School of Economics. 'David is kind and thoughtful and terribly solicitous. He always wants to know how you're getting along and how your family is. He's a generous host and a great listener. He's been turned into a sort of media monster; I don't know whether he likes the image or not. But the simple truth is that in private he's a sweetie. A poppet."