Leonard Eric Cottrell (21 May 1913 – 6 October 1974) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. Many of his books were popularisations of the archaeology of ancient Egypt.

Details

Leonard Cottrell was born 21 May 1913 at

Tettenhall Tettenhall is an historic village within the City of Wolverhampton, England. Tettenhall became part of Wolverhampton in 1966, along with Bilston, Wednesfield and parts of Willenhall, Coseley and Sedgley. History Tettenhall's name derives fro ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

to William and Beatrice Cottrell(née Tootell). His father inspired an interest in history at the age of ten. At King Edward's Grammar School,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, Leonard was only interested in history and English, reading widely. In the 1930s, Cottrell toured the English countryside on his motorcycle, visiting prehistoric stone circles, burial mounds of the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, medieval and Renaissance monuments. On those journeys, he was often accompanied by Doris Swain, whom he later married, although the marriage was dissolved in 1962. After gaining experience writing articles on historical subjects for motoring magazines, he wrote his first documentary for the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

(BBC) in 1937. Leonard was rejected by the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

during World War II, for medical reasons, but he joined the BBC in 1942 and they stationed him, in 1944, in the Mediterranean with the

as a war correspondent. His experiences as a war correspondent formed the basis of his book ''All Men are Neighbours'' (1947). He worked at the BBC until 1960, when he resigned and moved to a house overlooking the estuary of the

River Kent The River Kent is a short river in the county of Cumbria in England. It originates in hills surrounding Kentmere, and flows for around 20 miles (32 km) into the north of Morecambe Bay. The upper reaches and the western bank of the estuary ...

in Westmoreland,

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, where he stayed for the rest of his life, writing. Among other achievements, Cottrell was the editor of the ''Concise Encyclopaedia of Archaeology'' (1960). He was married and divorced twice, first to Doris Swain (divorced 1962) and Diana Bonakis (married 1965; divorced 1968). He had no children by either marriage. Leonard Cottrell died on 6 October 1974.

Books

* ''The Lost Pharaohs'' (1950) * ''The Quest for Sumer'' (1952) * ''The Bull of Minos: the discoveries of Schliemann and Evans'' (1953) * ''Life Under The Pharaohs'' (1955) * ''The Mountains of Pharaoh'' (1956) * ''Seeing Roman Britain'' (1956) * ''Lost Cities'' (1957) * ''The Anvil of Civilisation'' (1957) * ''The Great Invasion'' (1958) * ''Wonders of the World'' (1959) * ''Land of the Pharaohs'' (1960) * ''Hannibal: Enemy of Rome'' (1961) *
The Tiger of Chʻin: The Dramatic Emergence of China as a Nation
' (1962) * ''Land of the Two Rivers'' (1962) * ''Realms of Gold: A Journey in Search of the Mycenaeans'' (1963) * ''The Lion Gate: A Journey in Search of the Mycenaeans'' (1963)* ''Digs and diggers: a book of world archaeology'' (1964) * ''The Secrets of Tutankhamen's Tomb'' (1964) * ''The Roman Forts of the Saxon Shore'' (1964) * ''Crete: Island of Mystery'' (1965) * ''The Quest for Sumer'' (1965) * ''The Land of Shinar'' (1965) * ''Egypt'' (1965) * ''A Guide to Roman Britain'' (1966) * ''Great Leaders of Greece and Rome'' (1966) * ''Lady of the Two Lands: Five Queens of Ancient Egypt'' (1967) * ''The Warrior Pharaohs'' (1968) * ''Madame Tussaud'' (1970) * ''The Mystery of Minoan Civilization'' (1971) * ''Reading the Past: The Story of Deciphering Ancient Languages'' (1971) * ''Lost Civilizations'' (1974) * ''All Men are Neighbours'' (1947) * ''One Man's Journey'' (1955)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cottrell, Leonard 1913 births Writers from Wolverhampton 1974 deaths