Ruth Ellen Goodman (born 5 October 1963) is a British freelance historian of the early modern period, specialising in offering advice to museums and heritage attractions. She is a specialist in

British social history English society comprises the group behaviour of the English people, and of collective social interactions, organisation and political attitudes in England. The social history of England evidences many social and societal changes over the histo ...

and after presenting the 2005 television series ''

Tales from the Green Valley ''Tales from the Green Valley'' is a British historical documentary TV series in 12 parts, first shown on BBC Two from 19 August to 4 November 2005. The series, the first in the historic farm series, made for the BBC by independent production co ...

,'' went on to participate in several

BBC historic farm series BBC Two's historical farm series are five documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two from 2005 to 2013. They illustrate the lives of people: farmers, labourers, fishermen, housewives, etc. in a variety of historical contexts. Historians and ...

. She occasionally presents features for ''

The One Show ''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weeknights at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Jermaine Jenas, and Ronan K ...

'', and she co-presented ''

Secrets of the Castle ''Secrets of the Castle'', or ''Secrets of the Castle with Ruth, Peter and Tom'' is a British factual television series that first broadcast on BBC Two from 18 November to 17 December 2014. The series stars archaeologists Peter Ginn and Tom P ...

'' in 2014, and ''

24 Hours in the Past ''24 Hours in the Past'' is a BBC One living history TV series first broadcast in 2015. Six celebrities were immersed in a recreation of impoverished life in Victorian Britain. Each of the four episodes represented 24 hours living and working in ...

'' (2015).

Early life

She was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and went to Westbury primary school and

Fearnhill School Fearnhill School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England. Admissions Fearnhill School (formerly Letchworth Grammar School) is a foundation comprehensive school located in Letchworth Garden City. ...

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

. "School...was rather pedestrian...I became a very poor student, simply going through the motions, and my academic record at both school and university indeed lacks lustre."

Career

Goodman "couldn't get a job after university", so she trained for a job as railway ticket clerk, for

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

, working at Chester railway station, got pregnant, and only lasted a year because she could not go back to work, part-time, after giving birth. Goodman has been a consultant to the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

and the film ''

Shakespeare in Love ''Shakespeare in Love'' is a 1998 romantic period comedy-drama film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard, and produced by Harvey Weinstein. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Col ...

''. She is a member of the Tudor Group, a

re-enactment Reenactment or re-enactment may refer to: Legislation * Consolidation bill, a bill that consolidates several Acts of Parliament into a single Act in the United Kingdom * Repeal with reenactment, where a law is replaced with one more suitable Oth ...

organisation for the Tudor period. As a result of her social history research, she has stopped using detergents in her washing machine, never eats

factory farmed Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming and macro-farms, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while ...

food and sometimes cooks on an open wood fire. Since participating in ''Tales of the Green Valley'' in 2005, she has been a presenter on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #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 ex ...

television educational documentary series ''

Victorian Farm ''Victorian Farm'' is a British historical documentary TV series in six parts, first shown on BBC Two in January 2009, and followed by three Christmas-themed parts in December of the same year. The series, the second in the BBC historic farm ser ...

'', ''

Victorian Pharmacy ''Victorian Pharmacy'' is a historical documentary TV series in four parts, first shown on BBC Two in July 2010. It was made for the BBC by independent production company Lion Television. The series producer was Cassie Braben and the Executive P ...

'', ''

Edwardian Farm ''Edwardian Farm'' is a British historical documentary TV series in twelve parts, first shown on BBC Two from November 2010 to January 2011. As the third series on the BBC historic farm series, following the original, Tales from the Green Valle ...

'', ''

Tudor Monastery Farm ''Tudor Monastery Farm'' is a British factual television series, first broadcast on BBC Two on 13 November 2013. The series, the fifth in the historic farm series, following the original, Tales from the Green Valley, stars archaeologists Pete ...

'', ''

Wartime Farm ''Wartime Farm'' is a British historical documentary TV series in eight parts in which the running of a farm during the Second World War is reenacted, first broadcast on BBC Two on 6 September 2012. The series, the fourth in the historic farm se ...

'', '' Wartime Farm Christmas'', ''

'', and
Full Steam Ahead
'. Goodman participated in the 2011 series of ''

Celebrity Masterchef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 20 ...

''. Since 2015, Goodman has presented segments within the BBC television series ''

Inside the Factory ''Inside the Factory'' is a British television series produced by Voltage TV for the BBC. The first episode was broadcast on BBC Two in May 2015. Each episode explores how a specific product is made inside a factory. The series is presented by ...

''. In 2007, the

Weald and Downland Living Museum The Weald and Downland Living Museum (formerly known as the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum until January 2017) is an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex. The museum is a registered charity. The museum covers , with over 50 historic bu ...

Historic Clothing Project was founded by Hannah Tiplady, Head of Interpretation, consulted by Goodman and historical costumier Barbara Painter. In 2022, Goodman was featured in ''A Farm Through Time'' with brothers Rob and Dave Nicholson, a three-part series shown on Channel 5 that explores how

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

practices have changed over the years. Prior to ''A Farm Through Time'' she had appeared with the brothers on one of their nightly ''...on the Farm'' programmes at Cannon Hall Farm, discussing alcoholic brews from the past.

Personal life

She lives in Buckinghamshire and is married to Tudor reenactor and musician Mark Goodman (who participated in one episode of ''Tudor Monastery Farm''). Their two daughters, Eve and Catherine have made appearances with their mother on television. Goodman was awarded an honorary degree in 2012 by

Bishop Grosseteste University College Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) is one of two public universities in the city of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, England (the other being the University of Lincoln). BGU was established as a teacher training college for the Diocese of Lincol ...

, Lincoln, for her contribution to history education. Goodman, for a period of three months, followed a Tudor body cleansing regime, no one complained or noticed a smell.

Publications

* ''How to be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life'' (2016). * ''How to be a Victorian'' (2014). * ''How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts'' (2018). * ''How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain'' (2018). * ''The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything'' (2020).

References

External links

* *
BBC History Magazine podcast, August 2008
(

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Ruth 1963 births British historians British women historians British television presenters Living people People associated with Bishop Grosseteste University People educated at Fearnhill School People from Aylesbury Vale People from Letchworth Social historians British women television presenters