Suzannah Rebecca Gabriella Lipscomb[2][3]FRHistSFHEAFSA (born 7 December 1978)[4] is a British historian and professor emerita at the
University of Roehampton,[5] a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Higher Education Academy and the Society of Antiquaries,[6] and has for many years contributed a regular column to History Today.[7] 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.[8] She is also a royal historian for NBC.[9]
Her research focuses on the sixteenth century, in both English and French history, and covers religious, gender, political, social, and psychological history.[1] She has also written and talked about British and European witch trials.
While completing her thesis, she worked as a curator at
Hampton Court Palace, 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's accession to the throne.[19] The programme won the 2011
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-sponsored KTP Award for Humanities for the Creative Economy.[21] She is a consultant to
Historic Royal Palaces, and is an external member of their research strategy board.[22]
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.[26][27]
In 2012, Lipscomb was awarded the Nancy Lyman Roelker Prize[28] 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).[29]
In September 2017, she joined the Faculty of Humanities at the
University of Roehampton as a reader in Early Modern History,[31][32] and was appointed as a professor of history at the University of Roehampton in January 2019.[33] She is currently professor emerita in their School of Humanities and Social Sciences.[34]
In 2021, Lipscomb was awarded a Special Commendation by the
Social History Society for her book, The Voices of Nîmes: Women, Sex, and Marriage in Reformation Languedoc.[35]
At their ballot on 17th February 2022, Lipscomb was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.[36]
Media career
Lipscomb speaking in 2013
She contributed to five episodes of The Secret Life Of: for the
Yesterday TV channel.[37] The series was designed to give "tabloid treatment of historical icons",[38] and includes an episode where Lipscomb and co-host
Lucy Worsley "revel in these raunchy titbits" about
Henry VIII's love life.[39] Lipscomb also contributed to Time Team, Series 20, for
Channel 4.[40]
Lipscomb co-presented I Never Knew That About Britain, for
ITV (2014). The series was described by The Independent's critic, Ellen E. Jones, as "too busy adorning the obvious with bunting to uncover anything truly fascinating".[44]
She wrote and presented a two-part documentary titled Henry and Anne: The Lovers Who Changed History[45] for
Channel 5. The Daily Telegraph critic,
Jake Wallis Simons, called it "dumbed-down tommyrot".[46][47] However, the Radio Times stated that "Dr Suzannah Lipscomb can manage the story of
Henry VIII and
Anne Boleyn perfectly well all by herself [without 'ropey reconstructions']."[48] In January 2019, the programme was re-presented on
Channel 5 as Queen for a Thousand Days.[49]
Lipscomb wrote and presented Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home for
BBC Four,[50] as well as the follow-up shows New Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home,[51]Hidden Killers of the Edwardian Home,[52][53] and Hidden Killers of the Tudor Home.[54] Writing for the Daily Telegraph, Australian critic
Clive James gave Hidden Killers of the Edwardian Home a positive review, "principally because Ms Lipscomb was almost as fascinating as her subject".[52] In May 2016, she wrote and presented Hidden Killers of the Post-War Home, again for
BBC Four.[55]
In October 2015, Lipscomb wrote and presented Witch Hunt: A Century of Murder, a two-part documentary for
Channel 5.[56][57] On 27 October 2015, Lipscomb joined
Matthew Sweet,
Marina Warner, Larushka Ivan-zadeh, Claire Nally, and Catherine Spooner, to talk about witchcraft and witch-hunting, in history, film, and politics on the
BBC Radio programme Free Thinking.[58]
In May 2017, in collaboration with
Dan Jones, Lipscomb co-wrote and co-presented a three-part docu-drama, Elizabeth I, for
Channel 5.[71] For three consecutive evenings in May and June 2017, Lipscomb, alongside Dan Jones and engineer
Rob Bell, presented The Great Fire for Channel 5, a series in which the three presenters walked the actual route the
Great Fire of London took across the city.[72][73][74] In June and July 2017, Lipscomb was the week's guest on the
BBC Radio 3 programme titled Essential Classics, where she selected her favourite
classical pieces of music for presenter
Rob Cowan.[75]
Between 2017 and 2019, Lipscomb was a regular contributor to "Dictionary Corner" on Countdown with
Susie Dent.[76][77][78] 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.[79]
In March and April 2018, she appeared on Channel 5's Secrets of the National Trust with
Alan Titchmarsh.[80] 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, where she learnt about
Castle Ward's starring role in the TV adaptation of Game of Thrones, and made swords with the show's armourer.
In March 2018, Lipscomb began a series of podcasts for
Historic England entitled Irreplaceable: A History of England in 100 Places.[81] The podcast, presented by Lipscomb and journalist
Emma Barnett, was awarded silver (second) in the "Best Branded Content" category of the
British Podcast Awards on 19 May 2018.[82][83] Lipscomb presented The Tsar and Empress: Secret Letters on Australia's SBS TV Channel in April 2018,[84] and on the Yesterday channel in May 2018.[85]
Over four weeks in March 2019, Lipscomb, with
Dan Jones and engineer Rob Bell, presented London: 2000 Years of History, for
Channel 5 (UK).[86]
Lipscomb was a judge of the biography and memoirs section for the
Costa Book Awards, and the Costa Book of the Year competition in 2019.[87] In 2020, she was Head Judge of all sections of the
Costa Book Awards, and the Costa Book of the Year.[88]
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."[89] Other reviewers on Chartable describe this podcast as "Addictive", "Splendid presentation and intriguing material", and "Fascinating and refreshing".[90]
In July and August 2021, Lipscomb presented Walking Tudor Britain[91] for
5Select,[91] 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,[92] 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[93] after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
On 30th January 2023 for
More Four Lipscomb presented The Royals: A History of Scandals,[94] 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.
In 2023 Lipscomb presented the first series of Step Into The Past, a podcast in collaboration with the National Trust, the first episode of which was about Lipscomb's own family.[95]
Lipscomb is chair of judges of the inaugural Women's Prize for Non-Fiction 2024, the longlist for which was announced on 15 February 2024.[96]
Political life
In May 2016, Lipscomb was one of 300 prominent historians, including
Simon Schama and
Niall Ferguson, who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian, telling voters that if they chose to leave the
European Union (EU) on 23 June, they would be condemning Britain to irrelevance.[97][98]
In January 2022, Lipscomb was one of over 310 writers and publishers, including
Bernardine 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, entitled Freedom to Protest.[99]
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."[100]
Lipscomb is currently married and raises a child with her husband, the actor Tom Hutch. They also have a dog.[101]
Lipscomb, Suzannah (2013). Betteridge, Thomas (ed.). Henry VIII and the court : art, politics and performance. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.
ISBN978-1-4094-1185-7.[107]
The King is Dead: The Last Will and Testament of Henry VIII. Head of Zeus. London. November 2015.
ISBN978-1-78408-191-1[108]