Bettany Mary Hughes (born May 1967) is an English historian, author, and broadcaster, specialising in classical history. Her published books cover classical antiquity and myth, and the history of

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

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

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

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

Early life and education

Hughes grew up in West London. She is the daughter of actors

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

and Erica Hughes, and the sister of the cricketer and journalist Simon Hughes. She was educated at Notting Hill and Ealing High School in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

, and at St Hilda's College, Oxford, where she graduated with a degree in

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

and

modern history The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500, ...

. She has an honorary doctorate from the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

Career

She is a visiting research fellow at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, formerly a tutor for Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education, and an honorary fellow at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

. Hughes has written and presented many documentary films and series on both ancient and modern subjects. In 2009, she was awarded the Naomi Sargant 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, of which she is an honorary fellow. In 2010, she gave the Hellenic Institute's Tenth Annual lecture "Ta Erotika: The Things of Love"; in 2011, Hughes 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 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, 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. Hughes is a Vice President of the

National Churches Trust The National Churches Trust, formerly the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, is a British Charitable organization#United Kingdom, registered charity whose aim is to "promote and support church buildings of historic, architectural and community ...

. She was elected as a

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 ...

(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 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 ...

(OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to history.

Personal life

Hughes is married to Adrian Evans, events director and producer, who was pageant master for the Diamond and Platinum Jubilees; the couple have two daughters Sorrel and May. 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 non-religious people in the UK through a mixture of charitable servic ...

's annual Voltaire Lecture.

Recognition

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

Books

Hughes has written five books: * ''

Helen of Troy Helen (), also known as Helen of Troy, or Helen of Sparta, and in Latin as Helena, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda (mythology), ...

: 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 often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

and

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

'' (2019) * ''The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World'' (2024) ''The Hemlock Cup'' was included in The New York Times Bestseller List. It was chosen as Book of the Year by ''

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 found ...

'', and it was featured as a '' Book of the Week'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. 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 ...

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

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

Radio programmes

* '' Amongst the Medici'' (2006) BBC Radio 4

References

External links

*
Bettany Hughes
Official Web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Bettany 21st-century English historians Historians of antiquity English classical scholars British 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 English women historians British women documentary filmmakers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London