Helen Castor FRSL
Castor in 2015
Born	Helen Ruth Castor ( 1968-08-04 ) 4 August 1968 (age 55) Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , England
Occupation	Author Broadcaster
Education	Gonville and Caius College

Helen Ruth Castor FRSL (born 4 August 1968) is a British historian of the medieval and Tudor period and a BBC broadcaster. She taught history at the University of Cambridge and is the author of books including Blood and Roses (2004) and She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth (2010). Programmes she has presented include BBC Radio 4 's Making History and She-Wolves on BBC Four .

Early life and education [ edit ]

Helen Castor was born in Cambridge and attended The King's High School for Girls , Warwick , from 1979 to 1986, ^[1] and then completed a BA and a PhD at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge . Her doctoral thesis was titled "The Duchy of Lancaster in the Lancastrian polity, 1399-1461". ^[2] She was elected to a Research Fellowship at Jesus College .

She was a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College for eight years, ^[3] and is now a Bye-fellow. ^{[4] [5]}

Career [ edit ]

Castor was Director of Studies in History at Sidney Sussex College for eight years before focusing on writing and media. ^{[4] [5] [1]}

Broadcasting [ edit ]

Castor has worked extensively for the BBC including presenting Radio 4 's Making History and She-Wolves on BBC Four . ^[6] In 2013 she was a member of the winning team on Christmas University Challenge , representing Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge.

Literary review [ edit ]

She has written for the books pages of The Guardian , Sunday Telegraph , Sunday Times , The Times Literary Supplement and The Times Educational Supplement . She was part of the judging panel for the 2022 Booker Prize . ^[7]

Writing [ edit ]

Castor's book Blood and Roses  (2004) is a biography of the 15th-century Paston family , whose letters are the earliest surviving collection of private correspondence in the English language. Blood and Roses  was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction in 2005. ^[8] It was also awarded the Beatrice White Prize for outstanding scholarly work in the field of English literature before 1590, by the English Association in 2006. ^[9]

She-Wolves  (2010) was voted one of the books of the year in the Guardian , Times , Sunday Times , Independent , Financial Times  and BBC History Magazine . ^{[10] [11]} BBC Four televised a three-part series based on the book in 2012, presented by Castor. ^{[12] [13]}

Castor wrote the volume on Elizabeth I for the series Penguin Monarchs, Elizabeth I: A Study in Insecurity , published in 2018. ^[14]

Castor was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2017. ^{[15] [16]}

The Booker Prize [ edit ]

In 2022 Castor was chosen alongside four other 'superb readers' to judge the 2022 Booker Prize competition for best novel of the year. ^[17] The judging panel of Castor, broadcaster Shahidha Bari , novelist and critic M. John Harrison , novelist and poet Alain Mabanckou , and cultural historian, writer, broadcaster and panel chair Neil MacGregor selected The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka . ^[18] The judges admired the "ambition of its scope, and the hilarious audacity of its narrative techniques”. ^[19]

Personal life [ edit ]

Castor lives in London with her son. ^[20] Her sister is the children's author, Harriet Castor Jeffrey. ^[21]

Books [ edit ]

• The King, the Crown, and the Duchy of Lancaster: Public Authority and Private Power, 1399?1461 (2000) Oxford University Press ISBN   0198206224
• Blood and Roses : One Family's Struggle and Triumph During the Tumultuous Wars of the Roses (2004) Faber and Faber ^[22]
• She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth (2010) Faber and Faber ^[22]
• Joan of Arc: A History (2014) Faber and Faber ^[22]
• Elizabeth I (Penguin Monarchs): A Study in Insecurity (2018) Penguin ^[14]

Television [ edit ]

• A Renaissance Education: The Schooling of Thomas More's Daughter (2011) BBC Four
• She-Wolves: England's Early Queens (2012) BBC Four
• Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage and Death (2013) BBC Four
• Joan of Arc: God's Warrior (2015) BBC Two
• The Real Versailles (2016) BBC Two ^[23]
• Women Sex and Society: A Timewatch Guide (2016) BBC Four
• England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey (2018) BBC Four

Radio [ edit ]

• England: Made in the Middle (2016) BBC Radio 4

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• Faber profile
• "Paperback Q&A: Helen Castor on She-Wolves" 11 October 2011 The Guardian
• Profile at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge