David Starkey - Biography and Images

David Robert Starkey CBE – born 3 January 1945 – is a historian and radio and television presenter.

The only child of Quaker parents, he attended Kendal Grammar School before studying at Cambridge through 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”; 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.