Suzannah Rebecca Gabriella Lipscomb (born 7 December 1978)
, Library of Congress Name Authority File is a British historian and professor emerita at the

University of Roehampton The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...

, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Higher Education Academy and the Society of Antiquaries, and has for many years contributed a regular column to ''

History Today ''History Today'' is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and pub ...

''. She has written and edited a number of books, presented numerous historical documentaries on TV and is host of the Not Just the Tudors podcast from History Hit. She is also a royal historian for NBC. Her research focuses on the sixteenth century, in both English and French history, and covers religious, gender, political, social, and psychological history. She has also written and talked about British and European witch trials. Lipscomb was previously a member of the board of governors of

Epsom College Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a boys' school to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orp ...

. She worked as a curator for Historic Royal Palaces at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chi ...

; as a lecturer at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

; as a senior lecturer and convenor for history at the New College of the Humanities; and, as a reader at the

, where she became a professor when she was appointed to a personal chair as a professor of history in January 2019. In December 2020, Lipscomb was appointed a trustee of the Mary Rose Trust.

Early life and education

Lipscomb grew up in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

near

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

, which she credits for sowing “the seeds of a lifelong fascination with the Tudors.” She was educated at

Nonsuch High School for Girls Nonsuch High School is an all-girls' grammar school with an academy status, located in Cheam, in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, on the border of the London Borough of Sutton, and standing in of grounds on the edge of N ...

, and Lincoln and

Balliol Balliol may refer to: * House of Balliol, Lords of Baliol and their fief * Balliol College, Oxford ** Balliol rhyme, a doggerel verse form with a distinctive meter, associated with Balliol College * John Balliol (King John of Scotland) (1249–1314 ...

colleges of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. In 2009, she was awarded her Doctorate of Philosophy from Oxford, with a thesis entitled ''Maids, Wives, and Mistresses: Disciplined Women in Reformation

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

''.

Academic career

While completing her thesis, she worked as a curator at

, where she was responsible for organising a series of exhibitions held throughout the spring and summer of 2009 to mark the 500th anniversary of

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

's accession to the throne.Little, Reg (28 May 2009)
"New face of Tudor history"
. '' Oxford Times''. Retrieved 20 May 2014. The programme won the 2011

Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts ...

(AHRC)-sponsored KTP Award for Humanities for the Creative Economy. She is a consultant to Historic Royal Palaces, and is an external member of their research strategy board. In 2010, Lipscomb became a lecturer in history at the

. In 2011, Lipscomb was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society 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 ...

. From September 2011, she was head of the Faculty of History at the New College of the Humanities, and stepped down in September 2016 to concentrate on research and teaching for a further year. In 2012, Lipscomb was awarded the '' Nancy Lyman Roelker Prize'' by the Sixteenth Century Society for her journal article "Crossing Boundaries: Women's Gossip, Insults, and Violence in Sixteenth-Century France", in ''French History'' (Vol 25, No. 4). In October 2018, Lipscomb was elected a Fellow of the

Higher Education Academy Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. It advocates evidence-based teaching methods and awards fellowships as professional recogniti ...

. In September 2017, she joined the Faculty of Humanities at the

as a reader in Early Modern History, and was appointed as a professor of history at the University of Roehampton in January 2019. She is currently professor emerita in their School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Lipscomb previously served as a governor at

, and was appointed as a Trustee to the Mary Rose Trust in December 2020. In 2021, Lipscomb was awarded a Special Commendation by the

Social History Society ''Cultural and Social History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering cultural and social history published by Routledge five times a year on behalf of the Social History Society. It was established in 2004. Abstracting and indexing The j ...

for her book, ''The Voices of Nîmes: Women, Sex, and Marriage in Reformation Languedoc''. At their ballot on 17th February 2022, Lipscomb was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Media career

She contributed to five episodes of ''The Secret Life Of:'' for the Yesterday TV channel. The series was designed to give "tabloid treatment of historical icons", and includes an episode where Lipscomb and co-host

Lucy Worsley Dr Lucy Worsley (born 18 December 1973) is a British historian, author, curator, and television presenter. She is joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces but is best known as a presenter of BBC Television series on historical topics. Earl ...

"revel in these raunchy titbits" about

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

's love life. Lipscomb also contributed to ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'', Series 20, for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. With

Joe Crowley Joseph Crowley (born March 16, 1962) is an American politician and consultant who served as U.S. Representative from New York's 14th congressional district from 1999 to 2019. He was defeated by Democratic primary challenger Alexandria Ocasio-C ...

, she presented ''Bloody Tales of Europe'' and ''Bloody Tales of the Tower'' for the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney General ...

. In May 2013, Lipscomb appeared in ''The Last Days of Anne Boleyn'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

, which featured other historians and historical novelists, including David Starkey,

Philippa Gregory Philippa Gregory (born 9 January 1954) is an English historical novelist who has been publishing since 1987. The best known of her works is '' The Other Boleyn Girl'' (2001), which in 2002 won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Rom ...

, and

Hilary Mantel Dame Hilary Mary Mantel ( ; born Thompson; 6 July 1952 – 22 September 2022) was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, '' Every Day Is Mother's Day'', was relea ...

. Lipscomb co-presented '' I Never Knew That About Britain'', for ITV (2014). The series was described by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

''s critic, Ellen E. Jones, as "too busy adorning the obvious with bunting to uncover anything truly fascinating". She wrote and presented a two-part documentary titled ''Henry and Anne: The Lovers Who Changed History'' for Channel 5. The ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' critic, Jake Wallis Simons, called it "dumbed-down tommyrot". However, the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves ...

'' stated that "Dr Suzannah Lipscomb can manage the story of

and

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key f ...

perfectly well all by herself ithout 'ropey reconstructions'" In January 2019, the program was re-presented on Channel 5 as ''Queen for a Thousand Days''. Lipscomb wrote and presented ''Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home'' for

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

, as well as the follow-up shows ''New Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home'', ''Hidden Killers of the Edwardian Home'', James, Clive (17 April 2014)
"Keeping up appearances" (review)
. ''

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 f ...

''. Retrieved 20 May 2014. and ''Hidden Killers of the Tudor Home''. Writing for the ''

,'' Australian critic

Clive James Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019. In May 2016, she wrote and presented ''Hidden Killers of the Post-War Home'', again for

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

. In October 2015, Lipscomb wrote and presented ''Witch Hunt: A Century of Murder'', a two-part documentary for Channel 5. On 27 October 2015, Lipscomb joined

Matthew Sweet Sidney Matthew Sweet (born October 6, 1964) is an American alternative rock/power pop singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the 1980s before gaining commercial success in the 1990 ...

Marina Warner Dame Marina Sarah Warner, (born 9 November 1946) is an English historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth. She has written for many publicat ...

, Larushka Ivan-zadeh, Claire Nally, and Catherine Spooner, to talk about witchcraft and witch-hunting, in history, film, and politics on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

programme '' Free Thinking''. In January 2016 and January 2017, she appeared in two episodes of the

comedy

panel game A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

show '' Insert Name Here''. Between November 2017 and January 2018, she again participated in a further four episodes of the same programme. She participated on the programme additional times in January 2018 and December 2019. In April 2016, she co-wrote and co-presented, with Dan Jones, '' Henry VIII and His Six Wives'', which was shown on Channel 5. On 13 December 2016, she appeared as a contestant on Series 6 of ''

Celebrity Antiques Road Trip ''Antiques Road Trip'' (also known as ''Celebrity Antiques Road Trip'') is a BBC television series produced by STV Studios. It was first shown on BBC Two from 2010 to 2012, and has been shown on BBC One since 2013. This show is not to be conf ...

'', partnered with David Harper, against Kate Williams and Catherine Southon. In January 2017, Lipscomb spoke about how

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univer ...

had inspired her life 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's ...

's ''

Great Lives ''Great Lives'' is a BBC Radio 4 biography series, produced in Bristol. It has been presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and currently (since April 2006) Matthew Parris. A distinguished guest is asked to nominate the pe ...

'' series, together with Malcolm Guite. That same month, Lipscomb appeared on BBC Radio 4's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' programme to discuss the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

's expected apology for the violence that followed the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. In May 2017, in collaboration with Dan Jones, Lipscomb co-wrote and co-presented a three-part docu-drama, ''Elizabeth I'', for Channel 5. For three consecutive evenings in May and June 2017, Lipscomb, alongside Dan Jones and engineer

Rob Bell Robert Holmes Bell Jr. (born August 23, 1970) is an American author, speaker and former pastor. Bell founded Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, and pastored it until 2012. Under his leadership, Mars Hill was one of the fastest ...

, presented ''The Great Fire'' for Channel 5, a series in which the three presenters walked the actual route the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past th ...

took across the city. In June and July 2017, Lipscomb was the week's guest on the

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also featuring. The sta ...

programme titled ''Essential Classics,'' where she selected her favourite classical pieces of music for presenter Rob Cowan. Between 2017 and 2019, Lipscomb was a regular contributor to "Dictionary Corner" on ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and ev ...

'' with

Susie Dent Susie Dent (born 1964) is an English lexicographer, etymologist, and media personality. She has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show ''Countdown'' since 1992. She also appears on ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'', a pos ...

. On 13 January 2018, Lipscomb appeared as a contestant on an academic version of '' Pointless Celebrities,'' partnered with performance poet John Cooper Clarke, where they reached the head-to-head round. In March and April 2018, she appeared on Channel 5's '' Secrets of the National Trust'' with

Alan Titchmarsh Alan Fred Titchmarsh HonFSE (born 2 May 1949) is an English gardener, broadcaster, TV presenter, poet, and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a gardening journalist, he established himself as a media personality through a ...

. On 6 March 2018, in Series 2, Episode 2, she visited Cliveden Conservation to meet the stonemasons restoring Stowe's statues. On 3 April 2018, in Episode 6, she visited

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...

, where she learnt about

Castle Ward A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

's starring role in the TV adaptation of ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of '' A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the fir ...

,'' and made swords with the show's armourer. In March 2018, Lipscomb began a series of podcasts for

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

entitled ''Irreplaceable: A History of England in 100 Places''. The podcast, presented by Lipscomb and journalist Emma Barnett, was awarded silver (second) in the "Best Branded Content" category of the

British Podcast Awards The British Podcast Awards is an annual awards ceremony intended to celebrate outstanding content within the British podcast scene. The British Podcast Awards is owned and operated by Haymarket Media Group, which also owns several media businesses ...

on 19 May 2018. Lipscomb presented ''The Tsar and Empress: Secret Letters'' on Australia's SBS TV Channel in April 2018, and on the Yesterday channel in May 2018. Over four weeks in March 2019, Lipscomb, with Dan Jones and engineer Rob Bell, presented ''London: 2000 Years of History'', for

Channel 5 (UK) Channel 5 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel launched in 1997. It is the fifth national terrestrial channel in the United Kingdom and is owned by Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American ...

. Lipscomb was a judge of the biography and memoirs section for the

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, the ...

, and the Costa Book of the Year competition in 2019. In 2020, she was Head Judge of all sections of the

, and the Costa Book of the Year. On 29 April 2021, Lipscomb began presenting her own podcast under the History Hit Umbrella, entitled ''Not Just The Tudors.'' After the initial four episodes, new episodes of ''Not Just The Tudors'' became available twice weekly. One reviewer on Podbay gives it five stars and says, "The blend of scholarship and public history is perfect", another five-star reviewer states, "It is informative yet pithy, humorous yet serious. Also impressive is the huge range of topics it addresses! I’m always amazed." Other reviewers on Chartable describe this podcast as "Addictive", "Splendid presentation and intriguing material", and "Fascinating and refreshing". In July and August 2021, Lipscomb presented ''Walking Tudor Britain'' for

5Select 5Select (stylised as 5SELECT) is a British free-to-air television channel which features documentaries, arts, dramas, comedies and Channel 5 original content. It is owned by Paramount Global and operated by Paramount Networks UK & Australia. H ...

, in which the historian walked across different parts of Britain to uncover exciting hidden secrets of Tudor history. In November 2021, Lipscomb was a guest on Damian Barr's ''The Big Scottish Book Club'', where she gave a reading from her latest book, ''What is History, Now?'', followed by a discussion about how to recover the lost lives of women. In September 2022 Lipscomb was a major contributor to ''The Age of Elizabeth'' after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. On 30th January 2023 for More Four Lipscomb presented The Royals: A History of Scandals, a four-part series written by her and featuring in the first episode Wealth and Opulence, followed by Suspicious Deaths; Sex & Infidelity, and Scandalous Marriages over the following three weeks.

Political life

In May 2016, Lipscomb was one of 300 prominent historians, including

Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He fi ...

and

Niall Ferguson Niall Campbell Ferguson FRSE (; born 18 April 1964)Biography
Niall Ferguson

, who were signatories to a letter to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

,'' telling voters that if they chose to leave the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

(EU) on 23 June, they would be condemning Britain to irrelevance. In January 2022, Lipscomb was one of over 310 writers and publishers, including Bernadine Evaristo and Robert Macfarlane, who asked the House of Lords to vote down the government's Police, Crime, Sentencing and Court Bill in a letter to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

,'' entitled Freedom to Protest.

Personal life

Reflecting on her days at Nonsuch High School For Girls in 2022, she said "It was completely part of the culture that there was an older girl that you had a crush on and that was for everybody, no matter. Though many people ended up not identifying themselves as being gay."Not Just the Tudors podcast by History Hit; Episode - Sister Queens: Mary II and Anne 29:56-30:14
accessed 20 June 2022

Bibliography

*''Henry VIII: 500 Facts.'' Brett Dolman, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lee Prosser, David Souden, and Lucy Worsley. Historic Royal Palaces. 2009. . *''1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII.'' Lion. 2009. . *''A Visitor's Companion to Tudor England.'' Ebury, Random House. 2012. . Published in the United States as ''A Journey Through Tudor England'', by Pegasus Books. July 2013. . * *''The King is Dead: The Last Will and Testament of Henry VIII.'' Head of Zeus. London. November 2015. * *''The Voices of Nîmes: Women, Sex, and Marriage in Reformation Languedoc.'' Oxford University Press, Oxford, February 2019. *

Introduction

Foreword

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lipscomb, Suzannah 1978 births Living people Academics of the University of East Anglia Academics of the University of Roehampton Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford BBC television presenters British women historians English historians English television presenters Fellows of the Higher Education Academy Fellows of the Royal Historical Society People educated at Epsom College People from Sutton, London