Richard Charles Vinen is a British historian and academic who holds a professorship at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. Vinen is a specialist in 20th-century

European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500 to AD 1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first early ...

, particularly of Britain and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

.Professor Richard Vinen.
King's College London. Retrieved 21 May 2015.

Life

Born in

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 ...

, Vinen lived in the Bournville Estate. His father,

Joe Vinen William Frank Vinen (15 February 1930 – 8 June 2022) was a British physicist specialising in low temperature physics. Career Vinen was born on 15 February 1930, the son of Gilbert Vinen and his wife Olive Maud Vinen, née Roach. After Wat ...

, was a professor of physics. From 1982 to 1989, he attended

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1985, and then completing his

doctoral studies A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

there;"Professor Richard Vinen"
''King's College London''. Retrieved 20 September 2018."Richard Vinen Curriculum Vitae"

Sciences Po , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public university, Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , a ...

(2015). Retrieved 20 September 2018. his PhD was awarded in 1989 for his

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

"The politics of French Business 1936–1945", supervised by Christopher Andrew. Vinen was a Fellow at Trinity from 1988 to 1992, and was a part-time lecturer at

Queen Mary University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

from 1988 to 1991. He eventually moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

where he and his wife lived in a succession of louche locations early in his career. He has written that "the Serious Crime Squad once installed a camera in our bedroom so that they could keep an eye on one of our neighbours." After lecturing at Queen Mary, he joined

in 1991 as a lecturer; he was promoted to a

readership Readership may refer to: * The group of readers of a particular publication or writer: their target audience * The total number of readers of a particular publication (newspaper, magazine, book), as proxy-measured by web/app views or print circulat ...

in 2001, and was appointed Professor of History in 2007. Vinen's book ''National Service: Conscription in Britain, 1945–1963'' (2014) received generally positive reviews. On 13 May 2015, he was presented with a

Wolfson History Prize The Wolfson History Prizes are literary awards given annually in the United Kingdom to promote and encourage standards of excellence in the writing of history for the general public. Prizes are given annually for two or three exceptional works ...

and

Templer Medal The Society for Army Historical Research is a learned society, founded in 1921 to foster "interest in the history and traditions of British and Commonwealth armies, and to encourage research in these fields." It is one of the oldest societies of it ...

for it. He also won the Walter Laqueur Prize in 2012 (recognising the best article in ''

Journal of Contemporary History The ''Journal of Contemporary History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of history in all parts of the world since 1930. It was established in 1966 by Walter Laqueur and George L. Mosse. Originally published by Wei ...

'' of the previous year) for "The Poisoned Madeleine: The Autobiographical Turn in Historical Writing". In 2018, Vinen delivered the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hous ...

's Creighton Lecture on the topic "When was Thatcherism?". In 2020, he was one of three historians invited to give the ''

Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hous ...

'' Lecture; it was entitled "Writing histories of 2020".

Books

*''The Politics of French Business 1936–1945''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. *''Bourgeois Politics in France, 1945–1951''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. *''France, 1934–1970''. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996. *''A History in Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth Century''. London: Little, Brown, & Co., 2000. *''The Unfree French: Life under Occupation''. London: Penguin, 2006. *''Thatcher's Britain''. London: Simon & Schuster, 2009. *''National Service: Conscription in Britain 1945–1963''. London: Allen Lane, 2014. *''The Long '68: Radical Protest and Its Enemies''. London: Allen Lane, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinen, Richard Academics of King's College London Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Academics of Queen Mary University of London People from Birmingham, West Midlands British historians Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge