Simon John Thurley (born 29 August 1962) is an English academic and architectural historian. He served as Chief Executive of

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 ...

from April 2002 to May 2015. In April 2021, he became Chair of the

National Lottery Heritage Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

Early life and education

Thurley was born in

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

and grew up in

Godmanchester Godmanchester ( ) is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is separated from Huntingdon, to the north, by the valley of the River Great Ouse. Being on the Roman roads ...

. He feels that it was inevitable he became a historian since "by age seven I was helping out at Roman digs near my home ... and childhood holidays invariably involved ticking off stately homes and cathedrals". He attended the private Kimbolton School in Cambridgeshire (1972–82), before leaving to study for a BA degree in History at Bedford College (1982–85). He passed with a 2:1, and continued his studies at the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

(1985–89). There he gained a distinction for an MA degree in

Art History Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

, and obtained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree with the thesis entitled "English Royal Palaces 1450–1550". In 2010, he was awarded an Honorary LLD degree by the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

Career

Whilst working on his doctoral research, he took up a post as Inspector of Ancient Monuments for English Heritage (1988–90), later becoming Curator of Historic Royal Palaces (1989–97) and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

of the

Museum of London London Museum (known from 1976 to 2024 as the Museum of London) is a museum in London, covering the history of the city from prehistoric to modern times, with a particular focus on social history. The Museum of London was formed in 1976 by ama ...

(1997 to March 2002). He is also a prolific history broadcaster, presenting a history slot on BBC London for three years and – in television – presenting ''Flying Through Time'', Channel Four's 2004 six-part series ''Lost Buildings of Britain'' (

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 ...

), ''The Buildings that Shaped Britain'' ( Channel 5) and a six-part history of London (

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

). He also appeared as an expert in a number of episodes of the long-running Channel 4 archaeological programme ''

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 ...

''. In 2002, at the age of 39, Thurley was appointed Chief Executive of English Heritage; his relative youth at taking this post led him to be dubbed a "boy wonder". Thurley was the highest-paid member of English Heritage's staff: his emoluments in 2009 totalled £163,000, comprising a basic salary of £136,000 and a performance-related award of £27,000, twenty per cent of basic salary.

Personal life

Thurley married Katharine Goodison (born 1963), a lawyer-turned-hat-designer and daughter of Sir

Nicholas Goodison Sir Nicholas Proctor Goodison (16 May 1934 – 6 July 2021) was a British businessman who was chairman of the London Stock Exchange from 1976 to 1986. He was an important supporter of the arts and the President of the Furniture History Soc ...

(former Stock Exchange chairman). They divorced in 2007. His late father, a veterinarian, was born and raised in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, and returned to England in the 1950s some years after India's independence in 1947. Thurley married secondly Anna Keay (born 1974), a fellow historian, in February 2008. She was the Properties Presentation Director for English Heritage from 2002 to 2011, and is now Director of the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British architectural conservation, building conservation charitable organization, charity, founded in 1965 by John Smith (Conservative politician), Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or ...

. They had known each other for about 15 years, but got to know each other better when they worked on a documentary called ''The Buildings That Shaped Britain'' for Channel 5 in 2006. They live in London and a medieval merchant's house in

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, and have two children.

Honours

He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2011 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,Visiting Professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

of the Built Environment at

Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England that does not accept students or award degrees. It was founded in 1597 under the Will (law), will of Sir Thomas Gresham, ...

* Honorary Fellow and Visiting Professor of London Medieval History at

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...

* Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

* Fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), 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 H ...

(F.R.Hist.S.) * Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(FRIBA) * Senior Fellow of 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 Hou ...

* President of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society (2005–2008) * President of the Huntingdonshire History Society * Chairman of the Society for Court Studies * Serves on the Council of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

*Trustee for the

Canal and River Trust The Canal & River Trust (CRT), branded as in Wales, holds the guardianship of 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, together with reservoirs and a wide range of heritage buildings and structures, in England and Wales. Launched on 12 July 2012, the ...

*Founder of the European Heritage Heads Forum (EHHF)

Publications

*''The Royal Palaces of Tudor England: A Social and Architectural History'' (Yale University Press, 1993) *''Royal Lodgings at the Tower of London 1216-1327'' (SAHGB, 1995) *''Hampton Court Palace: The Official Guidebook'' (Historic Royal Palaces, 1996) *''The Lost Palace of Whitehall'' (RIBA, 1998) *''Whitehall Palace Plan of 1670'' (London Topographical Society, 1998) *''Whitehall Palace: An Architectural History of the Royal Apartments 1240–1698'' (Yale University Press, 1999) *''Hampton Court: A Social and Architectural History'' (Yale University Press, 2003) *''Lost Buildings of Britain'' (Viking, 2004) - accompanying the Channel Four TV series *''Whitehall Palace: The Official Illustrated History'' (Merrell, 2008) *''Somerset House: The Palace of England's Queens 1551–1692'' (London Topographical Society, 2009) *''Excavations at Oatlands Palace 1968–73 and 1983–4'' (2010) - with Rob Poulton and Alan Cook *''Men from the Ministry: How Britain Saved its Heritage'' (Yale University Press, 2013) *''Houses of Power: The Places that Shaped the Tudor World'' (Bantam Press, 2017) *''Palaces of Revolution: Life, Death and Art at the Stuart Court'' (William Collins, 2021) *''St James's Palace From Leper Hospital to Royal Court'' (Yale University Press, 2022)

Notes

External links

Simon Thurley – official website

Anna Keay – official website

English Heritage – Executive Board

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurley, Simon Directors of the Museum of London English curators English architectural historians Living people 1962 births Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London People from Godmanchester Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London Alumni of Bedford College, London Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art English chief executives People educated at Kimbolton School Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Academics of Gresham College Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects Provosts of Gresham College