Guy Martyn Thorold Huchet de la Bédoyère (born November 1957) is a British historian who has published widely on

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

and other subjects and appeared regularly on ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...

'', an

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

television series first broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. One of his male-line ancestors was the cousin of Charles de la Bédoyère (1786–1815),

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's aide-de-camp at Waterloo in 1815.

Family background

Despite his French surname, de la Bédoyère's father's ancestry is mostly English, Anglo-Irish and Scottish, with a large part belonging to the ancient

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

family of Thorold baronets as well as the dukes of Manchester and the earls of Salisbury. His great-great-grandfather was Anthony Wilson Thorold, Bishop of Winchester. One of his male-line ancestors was the cousin of Charles de la Bédoyère (1786–1815),

's aide-de-camp at Waterloo in 1815. His grandfather, Michael de la Bédoyère, was the editor of the ''

Catholic Herald The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly magazine, founded in 1888 and a sister organisation to the non-profit Catholic Herald Institute, based in New York. After 126 years as a weekly newspaper, it became a magazine ...

'' for approximately thirty years. Through his mother's side, de la Bédoyère is a cousin of the actress Jessica Raine, the footballer Richard Gough, and the artist Julie Gough, sharing common descent from David Storrar Gough (1885–1957).

Life

Guy de la Bédoyère was born in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

on 27 November 1957, the eldest of five children. He was educated at the private King's College School, Wimbledon, and Wimbledon College. He took an archaeology and history degree at Collingwood College, Durham, in 1980, part of

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

, with a subsidiary paper in

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Ancient Greek, Greek , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian History of Egypt, history, Egyptian language, language, Ancient Egypt ...

, a degree in modern history at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1985, and an MA in

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

at the Institute of Archaeology, now part of

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, in 1987. From 1981 to 1998 he worked for most of the time as a sound engineer for

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Radio News at Bush House and

Broadcasting House London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...

in London. In 1998 he became a full-time freelance writer and broadcaster. His special interests, apart from the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

and

, include coinage (ancient and modern), and the writings of

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...

and

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diary, diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's Diary, ...

. In 1997 he discovered that the rebel Romano-British emperor called

Carausius Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius (died 293) was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, during the Carausian Revolt, declaring himself emperor in Britain and ...

(AD 286–293) had placed explicit reference to lines from poetry by the poet

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

on his coins, considered a major discovery in the history of the period. Between 2007 and 2016, De la Bédoyère gave up his full-time freelance work as a writer and broadcaster, to teach at Kesteven and Sleaford High School in Sleaford, Lincolnshire. After training on the Graduate Teacher Programme, he specialised in teaching Modern History and Classical Civilisation.

Television appearances

Guy de la Bédoyère made regular appearances on

television series ''

'' as a historian, usually for episodes relating to Roman or military archaeology. In 1999, De la Bédoyère presented a three-part series called ''The Romans in Britain'' for

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

, produced by the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

. In 2002 he presented ''Rebuilding The Past'' which was broadcast on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

in 2003 and was narrated by

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones a ...

. The programme detailed the building of a Roman villa for the first time in 1600 years in Britain – Butser Ancient Farm at Chalton, Hampshire.Butser Ancient Farm
Retrieved 18 February 2014 He left the show before the completion of the project because of a number of issues with the build. He has also taken part in a number of other television programmes including a live archaeology programme from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in 2004 and a live programme from

Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...

in 2006 for Channel 5; a 2006 series on

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

called '' My Famous Family'', which he co-presented with

Bill Oddie William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English actor, artist, birder, comedian, conservationist, musician, songwriter, television presenter and writer. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies. A birder since his childhood in Quinton ...

for UKTV History; and occasional appearances on '' Richard & Judy''.

Works

De la Bédoyère has published books on a diverse range of subjects. These include: *a number of publications on Roman history for

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

; *a book on the archaeology of aviation of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(for which he took a private pilot's licence at Biggin Hill); *an edition of the correspondence between the diarists

and

; *an edition of

's other letters; *''The Home Front'', *''The History of Computers'', *''The First Polio Vaccine'', World Almanac Library, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2006, . *''The Discovery of Penicillin'' in a series of educational science history books He occasionally contributes to magazines, usually those concerned with history, archaeology or heritage. More recently, he has written for the ''

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

'', primarily concerning himself with the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Selected works: * ''Particular Friends: The Correspondence of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn'', Boydell (2nd edition 2005). . * ''The Diary of John Evelyn'', Boydell, Woodbridge, 1995. * ''The Letters of Samuel Pepys'', Boydell, Woodbridge, 2006. . * ''The Finds of Roman Britain'', Batsford, London 1988. . * ''The Buildings of Roman Britain'', Batsford, London 1991, now reprinted by Tempus, Stroud, 2001 as a revised second edition. . * ''A Companion to Roman Britain'', Tempus, Stroud, 1999. . * ''Eagles over Britannia: The Roman Army in Britain'', Tempus, Stroud, 2001. . * ''Roman Towns in Britain'', Tempus, 2003. . * ''Architecture in Roman Britain'', Shire Archaeology no. 66, 2002. . * ''Roman Britain: A New History'', Thames & Hudson, 2006. . * ''Cities of Roman Italy'', Bristol Classical Press, 2010. . * ''Real Lives of Roman Britain'', Yale University Press, 2015. . * ''Praetorian: The Rise and Fall of Rome's Imperial Bodyguard'', Yale University Press, 2017. . * ''Domina: The Women who Made Imperial Rome'', Yale University Press, 2018. . * ''Gladius: Living, Fighting and Dying in the Roman Army'', Little, Brown Book Group, 2020. . * ''Pharaohs of the Sun: How Egypt's Despots and Dreamers Drove the Rise and Fall of Tutankhamun's Dynasty'', Little, Brown Book Group, 2022. . * ''Populus: Living and Dying in Ancient Rome'', University of Chicago Press, 2024. .

References

Sources