Roy Arthur Adkins (born 1951) and Lesley Adkins (born 1955) are English writers and

archaeologist 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, ...

s. They are members of the Institute for Archaeologists and fellows 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 ...

. They have both written several books. Based in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, near

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

, they devote much of their time to writing. Their first book was ''A Thesaurus of British Archaeology'', better known by its paperback title of ''The Handbook of British Archaeology''. They have written several other books on archaeological and historical themes, from detailed

reference book A reference work is a document, such as a Academic publishing#Scholarly paper, paper, book or periodical literature, periodical (or their electronic publishing, electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information ...

s to popular non-fiction. The latter includes ''The Keys of Egypt'', an account of Champollion's successful deciphering of ancient

Egyptian hieroglyphs Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined Ideogram, ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct char ...

. They have also pursued individual writing projects – Lesley wrote ''Empires of the Plain: Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon'', and Roy wrote ''Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle'' (US title ''Nelson's Trafalgar'').

Biography

Roy was born and raised in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, He was educated at University College, Cardiff, gaining a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in archaeology whilst spending vacations on digs mainly at the Roman town of Usk in

south Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

. After obtaining his degree, he worked as a field archaeologist in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

, and later at a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common ...

site at Beddington near

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

with Lesley. Lesley was born in 1955 in Eastbourne. She obtained degrees in archaeology, ancient history, and Latin at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

, and her

Master of Philosophy A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at leas ...

degree at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

. After graduating she worked as an assistant archaeologist on excavations in Milton Keynes before meeting Roy and moving to

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

. They married in 1978. They both worked as field archaeologists for the Museum of London and later became freelance archaeological consultants, authors, and editors. After 2000 they moved to Devon and began to write full-time.

Work

*''Jack Tar: Life in Nelson's Navy'' *''Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle'' *''The War for All the Oceans: From Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo'' *''Empires of the Plain: Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon'' *''The Keys of Egypt: The Race to Read the Hieroglyphs'' *''The Handbook of British Archaeology'' *''Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome'' *''Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece'' *''The Little Book of Egyptian Hieroglyphs'' *''Dictionary of Roman Religion'' *''Introduction to the Romans'' *''A Field Guide to Somerset Archaeology'' *''Talking Archaeology: A Handbook for Lecturers and Organisers'' *''Abandoned Places'' *''An Introduction to Archaeology'' *''Archaeological Illustration'' *''Under the Sludge. Beddington Roman Villa'' * ''Jane Austen's England'' * ''When There Were Birds''

Reception

A review in '' Navy News'' stated that "Roy and Lesley Adkins possess that rare knack among historians: merging the academic with the narrative and providing a riveting read which also casts light where it is dark."

Popular culture

''Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle'' made an appearance at Christmas in the comedy programme '' Peep Show'' (series 7 episode 5), when Mark (played by David Mitchell) receives a copy of the book as a present from his flatmate Jeremy (played by Robert Webb). "I heard you talking about it", comments Jeremy, to which Mark replies, "That's just tremendously thoughtful Jeremy".

References

External links

Authors' website

Authors' Top 10 Nelson Books

Jack Tar Readers Reviews
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adkins, Roy and Lesley English archaeologists Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Living people Married couples Writing duos Year of birth missing (living people)