Michael Wood (historian)

Wood was born in Moss Side, Manchester, England.{{Cite news |date=2013-03-12 |title=TV historian Michael Wood to join University of Manchester |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-21749686 |access-date=2024-12-29 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} He attended Heald Place Primary School in Rusholme. When he was eight, his family moved to Paulden Avenue, Wythenshawe, where he could see historic Baguley Hall from his bedroom window. He went to Benchill Primary School. At Manchester Grammar School, he developed an interest in theatre, playing Grusha in the first British amateur production of Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle and later Hamlet in Shakespeare's Hamlet. He took A-levels in English, French and History.

Wood studied History and English at Oriel College, Oxford, touring the United States for six weeks in his final year, and graduated with a second-class Bachelor of Arts degree. Later he undertook postgraduate research in Anglo-Saxon history at Oriel. Three years into his research for a DPhil, he left to become a journalist with ITV.Jonathan Sale, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/passedfailed-an-education-in-the-life-of-michael-wood-television-historian-463468.html "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Michael Wood, television historian"], The Independent, 30 August 2007.

In the 1970s, Wood worked for the BBC in Manchester. He was first a reporter and then an assistant producer on current affairs programmes before returning to his love of history with his 1979–81 series In Search of the Dark Ages for BBC2.[https://www.amazon.com/Search-Dark-Ages-Michael-Wood/dp/0816047022 In Search of the Dark Ages] (Revised Edition, 2001). He quickly became popular with female viewers for his blond good looks (he was humorously dubbed "the thinking woman's crumpet" by British newspapers), his deep voice and his habit of wearing tight jeans and a sheepskin jacket.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/nov/17/highereducation.television|title=The cudgels are out|author=Andrew Davies|newspaper=The Guardian|date=17 November 2003|access-date=2 June 2016}} Wood's work is also well known in the United States, where it is often broadcast on PBS and on various cable television networks. The series Legacy (1992) is one of his more frequently broadcast documentaries on US television.

Since 1990, Wood has been a director of independent television production company Maya Vision International. In 2006, he joined the British School of Archaeology in Iraq campaign, the aim of which was to train and encourage new Iraqi archaeologists, and he has lectured on the subject.{{cite web |url=http://www.archaeologists.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=104 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927230423/http://www.archaeologists.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=104 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 September 2007 |title=Archaeology News : Iraq: Michael Wood lecture at British Museum |access-date=3 April 2007 |work=The Institute of Field Archaeologists article}} In 2013, Wood joined the University of Manchester as Professor of Public History.{{cite web|url=http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=9683|title=People's historian becomes Manchester Professor {{pipe}} The University of Manchester|publisher=manchester.ac.uk|access-date=20 September 2014}}

Wood has stated that while empires were often built on the power of swords, India alone created an empire of spirit.{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTCezHSfbwMC |title=In Search Of The First Civilizations |date=2013-04-30 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-4481-4164-7 |language=en}} He introduces India's history and culture in two sweeping sentences as: "Over the next 3000 years Greeks and Kushans, Turks and Afghans, Mughals and British, Alexander, Tamburlaine and Babur, will all come and fall under India’s spell. And India’s greatest strength, one known only to the oldest civilizations, will be to adapt and change, to use the gifts of history and to accept its wounds, but somehow, magically, to be always India."{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cKubCAAAQBAJ |title=The Story of India |date=2015-05-14 |publisher=Ebury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4481-4146-3 |language=en}}

Wood favours returning artefacts looted during the age of imperialism. He has publicly supported moving the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum back to Attica.{{Cite web |title=Michael Wood on the future of the Parthenon Sculptures |url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/ancient-greece/michael-wood-opinion-future-parthenon-sculptures/ |date=4 January 2022 |access-date=18 September 2023 |website=HistoryExtra |language=en}}

Wood has termed the destruction in Gaza in the Gaza war more thorough than any ancient siege.{{Cite web |title=Michael Wood on Gaza's astonishing cultural heritage {{!}} HistoryExtra |url=https://www.historyextra.com/membership/michael-wood-on-gazas-astonishing-cultural-heritage/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=www.historyextra.com |language=en}}

Writing in 2016 for the BBC History Magazine, Wood seemed to suggest that he favoured adding a statue of African hero/heroine in response to a movement asking to remove Oxford's Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel College.{{Cite web |title=Opinion: Historian Michael Wood On Oxford's Cecil Rhodes Statue {{!}} HistoryExtra |url=https://www.historyextra.com/membership/michael-wood-on-that-cecil-rhodes-statue/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=www.historyextra.com |url-access=subscription}}

In 2018, Wood called the UK Home Office's destruction of landing cards of the Windrush generation an "extraordinary act of vandalism."{{Cite web |title= |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/bbc-history-magazine/20180517/281552291622787?srsltid=AfmBOorjRO_Cku3V96PBlYRoTYcbjf0vK-AGACnTt5oAVcCXEt25Yd4b |access-date=2025-01-20 |via=PressReader}}

In 2024, Wood said that with torrent of fake news and imagined histories, it is critical for historians of all persuasions to create good narratives of the past. But he says that no definitive story of the past is possible or desirable because the past is always changing.{{Cite web |title= |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/bbc-history-magazine/20240314/281633900180107?srsltid=AfmBOopFVWEB1-OtfEWwoh8-5fLwZNSqLuPEI_-Oi6spbNlJ7DubkvCM |access-date=2025-01-21 |via=PressReader}}

Wood has described the use of term 'golden age' as follows.

"All cultures of course have fixed on the idea of a great past, a golden age. But golden ages are imagined pasts. Real history is more complex, never static, always moving. And creating it in a realistic way for each generation is not just the preserve of politicians and thinkers, or the job of historians, but (and this is even more true in the age of the internet) of all of us. For identity is not a fixed thing, and it never was. It is always in the making, and never made."

Wood's girlfriend for ten years, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, was the journalist and broadcaster Pattie Coldwell.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2251587.stm Pattie Coldwell: Courageous crusader], BBC News, 18 October 2002Anthony Hayward, [https://web.archive.org/web/20100925135027/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/pattie-coldwell-614419.html Pattie Coldwell: Obituary], The Independent, 19 October 2002

Wood lives in north London with his wife, television producer Rebecca Ysabel Dobbs, with whom he has two daughters.[http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/51118 My Favourite Things: Michael Wood], Daily Express, 4 July 2008 {{cbignore|bot=medic}}

Wood credits his family history, specifically his relatives' roles in World War II, for triggering interest in the past.{{Cite web |last=Service |first=Luaine Lee Tribune News |date=2017-06-13 |title=New PBS series aims to tell 'The Story of China' |url=https://herald-review.com/new-pbs-series-aims-to-tell-the-story-of-china/article_d44be2c0-0db8-59f7-8564-be9d32940b9b.html |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Herald-Review.com |language=en}}

"My uncle Sid was torpedoed and sunk in the middle of the Mediterranean and swam through burning oil; Dad was in the hospital at Haslar on D-Day looking after the dead and the dying; Mum was caught in the blitz in the middle of Manchester and sheltered in a doorway all night."{{Cite web |title=A storyteller in China {{!}} The University of Manchester Magazine |url=https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/magazine/features/a-storyteller-in-china/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=www.manchester.ac.uk}}

Wood has been a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Royal Society of the Arts.{{Cite web |date=2019-01-29 |title=Michael Wood |url=https://www.hachette.co.uk/contributor/michael-wood/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=Hachette UK |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Michael Wood {{!}} Authors {{!}} Macmillan |url=https://us.macmillan.com/author/michaelwood |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=Macmillan Publishers |language=en-US}} In 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by Sunderland University.[http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Celebs-awarded-honorary-degrees.5470954.jp Celebs awarded honorary degrees] Shields Gazette, 17 July 2009. This was followed by an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Leicester in 2011 and in 2015 he was awarded the President's Medal by the British Academy.{{cite web|title=The British Academy President's Medal|url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/british-academy-presidents-medal|website=British Academy|access-date=23 July 2017}} Wood received honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from Lacaster University in 2007 and the University of Winchester in 2021.{{Cite web |title=Honorary Graduates |url=https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/honorary-degrees/#2000s-431177-15 |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=Lancaster University |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Media Articles - University of Winchester |url=https://www.winchester.ac.uk/News-and-Events/Press-Centre/Media-Articles/Student-achievements-celebrated-and-public-figures-honoured-at-Graduation-for-Class-of-2021.php |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=www.winchester.ac.uk}}

Wood is the president of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding.{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://sacu.org/ |access-date=2020-12-22 |website=Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding (SACU) |language=en-US}}

Wood was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 2008.{{Cite web|title=Mr Michael Wood|url=https://www.sal.org.uk/our-fellows/directory/mr-michael-wood/|access-date=4 January 2022|website=Society of Antiquaries of London|language=en-GB}}

Wood was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to public history and broadcasting.{{London Gazette|issue=63218|supp=y|page=N15|date=31 December 2020}} He expressed regret that an opportunity had been missed to replace the word Empire with Excellence in OBE.{{cite web |title=Interview |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJbBQ2ABbfU |website=Primary Sources | date=14 November 2021 |publisher=Viral History |access-date=14 November 2021}}

BAFTA-winning broadcaster David Olusoga has said that he was inspired as a teenager to become a historian by having watched Wood on television.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/may/02/david-olusoga-bafta-special-award-outstanding-contribution-to-tv|title=David Olusoga to receive Bafta special award for contribution to TV|newspaper=The Guardian|author=Nadia Khomami|date=19 November 2022}}

Historian and broadcaster Lucy Worsely has stated that Wood and his unconventional documentary format inspired her when she was a child.{{Cite news |last1=Davies |first1=Hannah J. |last2=Davies |first2=As told to Hannah J. |date=2021-02-23 |title=Lucy Worsley: 'I thought my parents' TV was a waste of money' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/feb/23/lucy-worsley-i-thought-my-parents-tv-was-a-waste-of-money |access-date=2024-12-29 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

Wood is a recipient of the Historical Association’s Medlicott Medal and has served as a Trustee of Historic Royal Palaces.{{Cite web |title=Professor Michael Wood OBE has been reappointed as a Trustee of Historic Royal Palaces |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/professor-michael-wood-obe-has-been-reappointed-as-a-trustee-of-historic-royal-palaces |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}

Wood has been a governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company and a Trustee of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.{{Cite web |title=Shakespeare Birthplace Trust: Michael Wood |url=https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/documents/73/MICHAEL_WOOD_-_BIOGSBT.pdf}}

The Wall Street Journal has described Story of India as "the gold standard" of documentary history making’.

The Independent has called The Story of England "the most innovative history series ever made for TV."{{Cite web |date=2020-05-27 |title=Michael Wood |url=https://www.hayfestival.com/p-16798-michael-wood.aspx |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=Hay Festival |language=en}}

The Chinese news agency, Xinhua, has said that The Story of China had "transcended the barriers of ethnicity and belief and brought something inexplicably powerful and touching to the TV audience."{{Cite web |title=Michael Wood |url=https://felicitybryan.com/fba-author/michael-wood/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=Felicity Bryan Associates |language=en-GB}}

{{div col}}

• In Search of the Dark Ages (1979–81)
• Great Railway Journeys ("Zambezi Express", 1980)
• Great Little Railways (episode 3: "Slow Train to Olympia", 1983)
• In Search of the Trojan War (1985)
• Domesday: A Search for the Roots of England (1986)
• Greece: The Hidden War (1986)
• Art of the Western World (1989)
• Legacy: A Search for the Origins of Civilisation (1992)
• Lifeboat (1993)
• In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (1997)
• Conquistadors (2000)
• In Search of Shakespeare (2003)
• In Search of Myths and Heroes (2005)
• The Story of India (2007)
• Christina: A Medieval Life (2008)
• In Search of Beowulf (2009) (a.k.a. Michael Wood on Beowulf)
• Michael Wood's Story of England (2010)
• The Great British Story: A People's History (2012)
• King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons (2013)
• The Story of China (2016)

{{div col end}}

{{div col}}

• Darshan: An Indian Journey (1989)
• Traveller's Tales: The Sacred Way (1991)
• Saddam's Killing Fields (1993)
• Secret History: Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail (1999)
• Gilbert White: Nature Man (2006)
• Christina: A Medieval Life (2008)
• Alexander's Greatest Battle (2009)
• Shakespeare's Mother; The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman (2015)
• Ovid: The Poet and the Emperor (2017)
• How China Got Rich (2019)
• Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet (2020)

{{div col end}}

{{div col}}

• In Search of the Dark Ages (BBC Books, 1981)
• In Search of the Trojan War (1985)
• Domesday: A Search for the Roots of England (1988)
• Legacy: A Search for the Origins of Civilization (1992), London: Network Books/BBCbooks/London BCA.
• The Smile of Murugan: A South Indian Journey (1995)
• In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (1997)
• In Search of England: Journeys into the English Past (1999)
• Conquistadors (2000)
• In Search of Shakespeare (2003)
• In Search of Myths and Heroes (2005)
• India: An Epic Journey Across the Subcontinent (2007)
• The Story of England (2010)
• The Story of China (2020)
• China's Greatest Poet: In the Footsteps of Du Fu (2023)

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0939888|name=Michael Wood}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070301040238/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/94339 Michael Wood] at the British Film Institute
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318055950/http://www.mpt.org/programsinterests/mpt/alexander/index.html |date=18 March 2008 |title=In the Footsteps of Alexander The Great }}

;Writings

• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/conquistadors_01.shtml The Story of the Conquistadors]
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/archive.shtml#in_search_of_shakespeare In Search of Shakespeare]
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/archive.shtml#in_search_of_myths_and_heroes In Search of Myths and Heroes]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/jun/17/archaeology-forensicscience "The Life of an Anglo-Saxon Princess". The Guardian, 2010]

;Interview

• [https://archive.today/20130226015626/http://astrotalkuk.org/2012/06/07/episode-52-7th-june-2012-michael-wood-history-and-gagarins-visit-to-manchester/ 2012 video interview]

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Category:1948 births

Category:Living people

Category:Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford

Category:Anglo-Saxon studies scholars

Category:English documentary filmmakers

Category:English historians

Category:Fellows of the Royal Historical Society

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature

Category:Historians of antiquity

Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Category:People educated at Manchester Grammar School

Category:People from Moss Side

Category:Recipients of the President's Medal (British Academy)

Category:Academics of the University of Manchester