About Ian Mortimer

Short version:

Dr Ian Mortimer is best known as the Sunday Times-bestselling author of the four Time Traveller's Guides - to Medieval England, Elizabethan England, Restoration Britain and Regency Britain - as well as four critically acclaimed medieval biographies, a prize-winning novel and several other titles. In total, his books have sold more than 1.4 million copies and been translated into sixteen languages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. His work on the social history of medicine won the Alexander Prize in 2004 and was published by the Royal Historical Society in 2009. He has been described by The Times as 'the most remarkable medieval historian of our time'. He lives on the edge of Dartmoor, in Devon.

Long version:

Dr Ian Mortimer was born in Petts Wood in the London Borough of Bromley in 1967, and now lives on the northeast edge of Dartmoor, in Devon. He is the author of thirteen history books, two volumes of historical documents, four novels, three other books, and about thirty peer-reviewed articles on the history of England between the tenth and twentieth centuries. In total, his books have sold more than 1.4 million copies and been translated into sixteen languages. He has been described by The Times as 'the most remarkable medieval historian of our time', principally on account of his series of late-medieval historical biographies. He is best known, however, as the author of the four Time Traveller's Guides - to Medieval England (2008), Elizabethan England (2012), Restoration Britain (2017) and Regency Britain (2020).

He does not specialise in any particular time period but in developing new perspectives on the past. This entails being both innovative and sensitive with regard to literary form ('the art of history') and pushing the boundaries of historical methodology ('how we know what we think we know'). As well as a historian, with three degrees from the University of Exeter (BA, PhD and DLitt), he is a qualified archivist with a fourth degree, an MA in archive studies, from UCL. His PhD - on the subject of 'Medical assistance to the dying in provincial southern England, c. 1570-1720' - was published by the Royal Historical Society. Between 1991 and 2003 he worked for a succession of archive and historical research organisations, including Devon Record Office, the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts and the universities of Exeter and Reading. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He was awarded the Alexander Prize by the Royal Historical Society in 2004 for his work on the social history of medicine in the seventeenth century.

He also writes in other genres. His most recent novel, The Outcasts of Time, won the 2018 Winston Graham Prize for Historical Fiction. His first three novels, the Clarenceux Trilogy, set in the 1560s, appeared under his middle names, James Forrester. About twenty of his poems were published by literary magaines in the 1990s. He won the University of Exeter's competition for a poem for the Millennium in 2000. He has also published a colection of his poems written 1995-2013, a CD of some of his songs and a memoir about the meaning of running, entitled Why Running Matters.

Past public roles include appointments as a Member of the Lord Chancellor's Forum on Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research (2011-2017); Chairman of the Friends of Devon's Archives (2015-18; Committee member 2001-7; 2015-19); and Member of the Fabric Advisory Committee of Exeter Cathedral (2011-16). He is currently the president of the Moretonhampstead History Society and vice president of the Mortimer History Society. He has twice served as a Secretary-of-State-appointed Member of Dartmoor National Park Authority, in 2003-7 (representing local parishes) and 2009-17 (representing the national interest).

His private life is centred on the medieval, Tudor and Edwardian house in Moretonhampstead that he shares with his wife, Sophie. They have three grown-up children, two sons and a daughter. Ian's hobbies include visiting old pubs, exploring historical sites and museums, studying local history and archaeology, playing guitars, walking in the country, running and developing his record collection. Further information about him is available in an autobiographical note, written in 2008, what's new?' and interviews.