David Starkey

For other people named David Starkey, see David Starkey (disambiguation).

David Starkey

CBE
Starkey when a lecturer at LSE in the early 1980s
Starkey when a lecturer at LSE in the early 1980s
BornDavid Robert Starkey
(1945-01-03) 3 January 1945 (age 79)
Kendal, Westmorland, England
OccupationHistorian, television personality
EducationFitzwilliam College, Cambridge (BA, PhD)
PartnerJames Brown (from 1994; died 2015)
Website
davidstarkey.com

David Robert Starkey CBE (born 3 January 1945) is an English[1] historian, radio and television presenter, with views that he describes as conservative. The only child of Quaker parents, he attended Kendal Grammar School before reading history at Cambridge on a scholarship. There he specialised in Tudor history, writing a thesis on King Henry VIII's household. From Cambridge, he moved to the London School of Economics, where he was a lecturer in history until 1998. He has written several books on the Tudors.

Starkey first appeared on television in 1977. While a regular contributor to the BBC Radio 4 debate programme The Moral Maze, his acerbic tongue earned him the sobriquet of "rudest man in Britain";[2] his frequent appearances on Question Time have been received with criticism and applause. Starkey has presented several historical documentaries. In 2002, he signed a £2 million contract with Channel 4 for 25 hours of programming, and in 2011 was a contributor on the Channel 4 series Jamie's Dream School.

Starkey was widely censured for a comment he made during a podcast interview with Darren Grimes in June 2020 that was said to be racist, for which he later apologised. Immediately afterwards, he resigned as an honorary fellow of his alma mater, Fitzwilliam College, had several honorary doctorates and fellowships revoked, book contracts and memberships of learned societies cancelled, and his Medlicott Medal withdrawn.[3]

  1. ^ Chris, Hastings (17 October 2004). "England is the country that 'dare not speak its name'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sunday Herald was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference WW2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).