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Michael David Wood, (born 23 July 1948) is an English historian and broadcaster. He has presented numerous well-known television documentary series from the late 1970s to the present day. Wood has also written a number of books on English history, including '' In Search of the Dark Ages'', ''The Domesday Quest'', '' The Story of England'', and ''In Search of Shakespeare''. He was appointed Professor of Public History at the
University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...
in 2013.


Early life and education

Wood was born in Moss Side,
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
. He attended Heald Place Primary School in
Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, Fa ...
. When he was eight, his family moved to Paulden Avenue, Wythenshawe where he could see historic Baguley Hall from his bedroom window. He went to Benchill Primary School. At
Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a free grammar school next to Manchester Parish Church, it moved in 1931 to its present site at ...
, he developed an interest in theatre, playing Grusha in the first British amateur production of
Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
's '' The Caucasian Chalk Circle'' and later Hamlet in ''
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depi ...
''. He took A-levels in English, French and History. Wood studied history and English at
Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, ...
, touring the United States for six weeks in his final year, and graduated with a second class Bachelor of Arts degree. Later, he undertook post-graduate research in Anglo-Saxon history at Oriel. Three years into his research for a DPhil, he left to become a journalist with ITV.Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Michael Wood, television historian
''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...
'', 30 August 2007.


Career

In the 1970s Wood worked for the BBC in Manchester. He was first a reporter and then an assistant producer on current affairs programmes before returning to his love of history with his 1979–81 series '' In Search of the Dark Ages'' for
BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...
. He quickly became popular with female viewers for his blond good looks (he was humorously dubbed " the thinking woman's crumpet" by British newspapers), his deep voice and his habit of wearing tight jeans and a sheepskin jacket. Wood's work is also well known in the United States, where it receives much airplay on PBS and on various
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
networks. The series ''Legacy'' (1992) is one of his more frequently broadcast documentaries on US television. Since 1990 Wood has been a director of independent television production company Maya Vision International. In 2006 he joined the British School of Archaeology in Iraq campaign, the aim of which was to train and encourage new Iraqi archaeologists, and he has lectured on the subject. In 2013, Wood joined the University of Manchester as Professor of Public History.


Personal life

His girlfriend for ten years, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, was the late journalist and broadcaster Pattie Coldwell. He currently lives in north London with his wife, television producer Rebecca Ysabel Dobbs, and two daughters, Minakshi and Jyoti.


Honours

Wood was a Fellow of the
Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...
Michael Wood Biography
Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educa ...
(PBS).
until 2007. In 2009 he was awarded an
Honorary An honorary position is one given as an honor, with no duties attached, and without payment. Other uses include: * Honorary Academy Award, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, United States * Honorary Aryan, a status in Nazi Germany ...
Doctorate of Arts The Doctor of Arts (D.A.; occasionally D.Arts or Art.D. from the Latin ''artium doctor'') is a discipline-based terminal doctoral degree that was originally conceived and designed to be an alternative to the traditional research-based Doctor of P ...
by Sunderland University. This was followed by the honorary degree of
Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...
by the
University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_la ...
in 2011 and in 2015 he was awarded the President's Medal by the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
. Having previously been President of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, in 2017 he accepted the position of Honorary Life Vice President, offered in recognition of his work on the documentary series '' Michael Wood's Story of England''. Michael Wood is currently the president of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, an organization founded in 1965 to promote understanding and friendship between the British and the Chinese people. Wood was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 2008. Wood was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(OBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to public history and broadcasting.


Television series

* '' In Search of the Dark Ages'' (1979–81) * '' Great Railway Journeys'' ("Zambezi Express", 1980) * '' Great Little Railways'' (episode 3: "Slow Train to Olympia", 1983) * '' In Search of the Trojan War'' (1985) * ''Domesday: A Search for the Roots of England'' (1986) * '' Greece: The Hidden War'' (1986) * ''Art of the Western World'' (1989) * ''Legacy: A Search for the Origins of Civilisation'' (1992) * ''Lifeboat'' (1993) * ''
In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great ''In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great'' is a BBC documentary television series, first shown in 1998. Written and presented by historian and broadcaster Michael Wood, it retraced the travels of Alexander the Great, from Macedonia to the border ...
'' (1997) * '' Conquistadors'' (2000) * ''In Search of Shakespeare'' (2003) * ''In Search of Myths and Heroes'' (2005) * '' The Story of India'' (2007) * ''Christina: A Medieval Life'' (2008) * ''In Search of Beowulf'' (2009) (a.k.a. ''Michael Wood on Beowulf'') * '' Michael Wood's Story of England'' (2010) * '' The Great British Story: A People's History'' (2012) * '' King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons'' (2013) * ''The Story of China'' (2016)


Documentaries

* ''Darshan: An Indian Journey'' (1989) * ''Traveller's Tales: The Sacred Way'' (1991) * ''Saddam's Killing Fields'' (1993) * '' Secret History: Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail'' (1999) * ''Gilbert White: Nature Man'' (2006) * ''Christina: A Medieval Life'' (2008) * ''Alexander's Greatest Battle'' (2009) * ''Shakespeare's Mother; The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman'' (2015) * ''Ovid: The Poet and the Emperor'' (2017) * ''How China Got Rich'' (2019) * ''Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet'' (2020)


Bibliography

* ''In Search of the Dark Ages'' (BBC Books, 1981) * ''In Search of the Trojan War'' (1985) * ''Domesday: A Search for the Roots of England'' (1988) * ''Legacy: A Search for the Origins of Civilization'' (1992), London: Network Books/BBCbooks/London BCA. * ''The Smile of Murugan: A South Indian Journey'' (1995) * ''In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great'' (1997) * ''In Search of England: Journeys into the English Past'' (1999) * ''Conquistadors'' (2000) * ''In Search of Shakespeare'' (2003) * ''In Search of Myths and Heroes'' (2005) * ''India: An Epic Journey Across the Subcontinent'' (2007) * ''The Story of England'' (2010) * ''The Story of China '' (2020)


References


External links

*
Michael Wood
at the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
* ;Writings
''The Story of the Conquistadors''''In Search of Shakespeare''''In Search of Myths and Heroes''"The Life of an Anglo-Saxon Princess". ''The Guardian'', 2010
;Interview
2012 video interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Michael 1948 births Living people English historians English documentary filmmakers Historians of antiquity Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford People educated at Manchester Grammar School Anglo-Saxon studies scholars Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Fellows of the Royal Historical Society People from Moss Side Recipients of the President's Medal (British Academy) Officers of the Order of the British Empire