Bettany Mary Hughes (born May 1967) is an English historian, author and broadcaster, specialising in

classical history Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

. Her published books cover classical antiquity and myth, and the history of

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. She is active in efforts to encourage the teaching of the

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

in UK state schools. Hughes was appointed OBE in 2019.

Early life and education

Hughes was raised in

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North London ...

. She is the daughter of the actor Peter Hughes, and the sister of the cricketer and journalist

Simon Hughes Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader ...

. She was educated at

Notting Hill and Ealing High School Notting Hill and Ealing High School is an independent school for girls aged 4 – 18 in Ealing, London. Founded in 1873, it is one of the 26 schools that make up the Girls' Day School Trust. It has a Junior Department of 310 girls (ages 4–11) ...

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

, and at

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon Saint, Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a hall for women; it ...

, where she graduated with a degree in

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...

and

modern history The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is applie ...

. She has an honorary doctorate from the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

Career

She is a visiting research fellow 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 ...

, formerly a tutor for Cambridge University's

Institute of Continuing Education The University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) is a department of the University of Cambridge dedicated to providing continuing education programmes which allow students to obtain University of Cambridge qualifications at un ...

, and an honorary fellow at

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

. Hughes has written and presented many documentary films and series on both ancient and modern subjects. In 2009, she was awarded the

Naomi Sargant Naomi Ellen Sargant, Baroness McIntosh of Haringey (10 December 1933 – 23 July 2006) was a British academic specialising in adult education and a television executive. Early life The daughter of Thomas Sargant, first secretary of JUSTICE, and C ...

Special Award for excellence in educational broadcasting, and in 2012 she was awarded the Norton Medlicott Award for services to history by the

Historical Association The Historical Association is a membership organisation of historians and scholars founded in 1906 and based in London. Its goals are to support "the study and enjoyment of history at all levels by creating an environment that promotes lifelong lea ...

, of which she is an honorary fellow. In 2010 she gave the Hellenic Institute's Tenth Annual lecture "Ta Erotika: The Things of Love", and in 2011 gave the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

's Huw Wheldon Memorial Lecture, in which she argued that history on television is thriving and enjoying a new golden age. In 2011 she chaired the

Orange Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

, the UK's only annual book award for fiction written by women. Hughes is a patron of The Iris Project, a charity that promotes the teaching of Latin and Greek in UK state schools. She is an honorary patron of

Classics For All Classics For All is a UK-based charity that aims to raise funds to support the study of Latin, Ancient History, Classical Civilization and Ancient Greek in state schools. Charitable objectives The objectives of the charity are 'to advance educa ...

, a national campaign to get classical languages and the study of ancient civilisations back into state schools. She is an advisor to the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation which aims to foster large-scale collaborative projects between East and West. In 2014, she was made a Distinguished Friend of the University of Oxford. She was elected as a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

(FSA) on 3 March 2017. She 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

2019 Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...

for services to history.

Personal life

Hughes is married to Adrian Evans; the couple have two children. Hughes is a vegetarian. In 2016, she delivered the

British Humanist Association Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...

's annual Voltaire Lecture.

Recognition

She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013.

Books

Hughes has written four books: * ''

Helen of Troy Helen of Troy, Helen, Helena, (Ancient Greek: Ἑλένη ''Helénē'', ) also known as beautiful Helen, Helen of Argos, or Helen of Sparta, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believe ...

: Goddess, Princess, Whore'' (2005) * '' The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life'' (2010) * ''Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities'' (2017) * ''

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

and

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols include ...

'' (2019) ''The Hemlock Cup'' was included in

The New York Times Bestseller List ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

. It was chosen as Book of the Year by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', and it was featured as a ''

Book of the Week ''Book of the Week'' is a BBC Radio 4 series that is broadcast daily on week days. Each week, extracts from the selected book, usually a non-fiction work, are read over five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning (9:45a ...

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. It was shortlisted for a Writer's Guild Award. ''Istanbul'' was reviewed by ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

'' and was shortlisted for the

Runciman Award The Runciman Award is an annual literary award offered by the Anglo-Hellenic League for a work published in English dealing wholly or in part with Greece or Hellenism. The award is named in honour of the late Sir Steven Runciman and is currentl ...

in 2018. ''Venus and Aphrodite'' was shortlisted in 2021 for the

Other writings

* "Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore" – European Cultural Centre of Delphi, XIII International Meeting On Ancient Drama 2007, The Women in Ancient Drama, Symposium Proceedings *"'Terrible, Excruciating, Wrong-Headed And Ineffectual': The Perils and Pleasures of Presenting Antiquity to a Television Audience" – Dunstan Lowe, Kim Shahabudin (ed.), ''Classics for All: Reworking Antiquity in Mass Culture''. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009,

Credits

Television programmes

References

External links

Bettany Hughes
Official Web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Bettany 21st-century English historians Historians of antiquity English classical scholars Women classical scholars English documentary filmmakers English television presenters Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford 1967 births Living people People from Ealing People educated at Notting Hill & Ealing High School BBC 100 Women British women historians Women documentary filmmakers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London