Leonard Eric Cottrell (21 May 1913 – 6 October 1974) was a

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author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

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. Many of his books were popularisations of the archaeology of ancient Egypt.

Details

Leonard Cottrell was born 21 May 1913 at

Tettenhall Tettenhall is a historic village within the City of Wolverhampton, in the county of the West Midlands, England. Tettenhall became part of Wolverhampton district in 1966, along with Bilston, Wednesfield and parts of Willenhall, Coseley and ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

to William and Beatrice Cottrell (née Tootell). His father inspired an interest in history at the age of ten. At King Edward's Grammar School,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, Leonard was only interested in history and English, reading widely. In the 1930s, Cottrell toured the English countryside on his motorcycle, visiting prehistoric stone circles, burial mounds of the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, medieval and Renaissance monuments. On those journeys, he was often accompanied by Doris Swain, whom he later married, although the marriage was dissolved in 1962. After gaining experience writing articles on historical subjects for motoring magazines, he wrote his first documentary for the

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

(BBC) in 1937. Leonard was rejected by the RAF during World War II, for medical reasons, but he joined the BBC in 1942 and they stationed him, in 1944, in the Mediterranean with the RAF as a war correspondent. In 1946 Cottrell produced a dramatised documentary on the experiences of Harold Osmond Le Druillenec, a

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

schoolmaster who was the only British survivor of

Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

concentration camp. Cottrell's experiences as a war correspondent formed the basis of his book ''All Men are Neighbours'' (1947). He worked at the BBC until 1960, when he resigned and moved to a house overlooking the estuary of the

River Kent The River Kent is a short river in the county of Cumbria in England. It originates in hills surrounding Kentmere, and flows for around 20 miles (32 km) into the north of Morecambe Bay. The upper reaches and the western bank of the estuary ...

in Westmoreland,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, where he stayed for the rest of his life, writing. Among other achievements, Cottrell was the editor of the ''Concise Encyclopaedia of Archaeology'' (1960). He was married and divorced twice, first to Doris Swain (divorced 1962) and Diana Bonakis (married 1965; divorced 1968). He had no children by either marriage. Leonard Cottrell died on 6 October 1974.

Books

* ''The Lost Pharaohs'' (1950) * ''The Quest for Sumer'' (1952) * ''The Bull of Minos: the discoveries of Schliemann and Evans'' (1953) * ''Life Under The Pharaohs'' (1955) * ''The Mountains of Pharaoh'' (1956) * ''Seeing Roman Britain'' (1956) * ''Lost Cities'' (1957) * ''The Anvil of Civilisation'' (1957) * ''The Great Invasion'' (1958) * ''Wonders of the World'' (1959) * ''Land of the Pharaohs'' (1960) * ''Hannibal: Enemy of Rome'' (1961) *
The Tiger of Chʻin: The Dramatic Emergence of China as a Nation
' (1962) * ''Land of the Two Rivers'' (1962) * ''Realms of Gold: A Journey in Search of the Mycenaeans'' (1963) * ''The Lion Gate: A Journey in Search of the Mycenaeans'' (1963)* ''Digs and diggers: a book of world archaeology'' (1964) * ''The Secrets of Tutankhamen's Tomb'' (1964) * ''The Roman Forts of the Saxon Shore'' (1964) * ''Crete: Island of Mystery'' (1965) * ''The Quest for Sumer'' (1965) * ''The Land of Shinar'' (1965) * ''Egypt'' (1965) * ''A Guide to Roman Britain'' (1966) * ''Great Leaders of Greece and Rome'' (1966) * ''Lady of the Two Lands: Five Queens of Ancient Egypt'' (1967) * ''The Warrior Pharaohs'' (1968) * ''Madame Tussaud'' (1970) * ''The Mystery of Minoan Civilization'' (1971) * ''Reading the Past: The Story of Deciphering Ancient Languages'' (1971) * ''Lost Civilizations'' (1974) * ''All Men are Neighbours'' (1947) * ''One Man's Journey'' (1955)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cottrell, Leonard 1913 births Writers from Wolverhampton 1974 deaths