Helen Castor Explained

Helen Castor
Birth Name:Helen Ruth Castor
Birth Date:4 August 1968
Birth Place:Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Education:Gonville and Caius College
Occupation:Author
Broadcaster

Helen Ruth Castor (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

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

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

Broadcasting

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

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

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

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

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

Books

One Family's Struggle and Triumph During the Tumultuous Wars of the Roses (2004) Faber and Faber[22]

Television

Radio

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kings High School, Warwick. OGA. https://web.archive.org/web/20140104054532/http://www.kingshighwarwick.co.uk/alumnae_news/OGA_Lunch_2013.php. dead. 4 January 2014.
  2. Web site: Castor . Helen . The Duchy of Lancaster in the Lancastrian polity, 1399-1461 . E-thesis Online Service . The British Library Board . 21 January 2023 . 1993.
  3. Web site: Dr Helen Castor . Sidney Sussex College . University of Cambridge . 21 January 2023 . en.
  4. Web site: Profile at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.. https://web.archive.org/web/20120523121828/http://www.sid.cam.ac.uk/aboutus/people/person.html?crsid=hrc12. dead. 23 May 2012.
  5. https://twitter.com/hrcastor?lang=en Personal Website.
  6. Web site: helencastor.com | Nanomaterials, Chemical Products, Bearings Industry, Super material, Water-based Zinc Stearate articles and news.. https://web.archive.org/web/20120310104946/http://www.helencastor.com/. dead. 10 March 2012. helencastor.com.
  7. News: 2022-10-17 . Booker Prize 2022: Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka wins with supernatural satire . en-GB . BBC News . 2022-10-17.
  8. Web site: Samuel Johnson longlist celebrates variety. Pauli. Michelle. 2005-04-20. The Guardian. en. 2018-02-04. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20151020012352/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/apr/20/samueljohnsonprize2005.samueljohnsonprize. 2015-10-20.
  9. Web site: Beatrice White Prize - Previous Winners. English Association. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20160317083926/http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/english-association/prizes/beatrice-white-prize-1/beatrice-white-prize-previous-winners/. 2016-03-17. live. 2018-02-04.
  10. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/25/books-of-the-year?INTCMP=SRCH "Books of the year"
  11. Web site: helencastor.com | Nanomaterials, Chemical Products, Bearings Industry, Super material, Water-based Zinc Stearate articles and news.. https://web.archive.org/web/20120310104946/http://www.helencastor.com/. dead. 10 March 2012. helencastor.com.
  12. Web site: BBC Four - She-Wolves: England's Early Queens, Matilda and Eleanor. https://web.archive.org/web/20120312061413/http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bgpm7/SheWolves_Englands_Early_Queens_Matilda_and_Eleanor/. dead. 12 March 2012. BBC.
  13. http://www.historytoday.com/bookclub/interview-helen-castor History Today
  14. Book: Castor, Helen. Elizabeth I (Penguin Monarchs). 4 July 2019 . penguin.co.uk.
  15. Onwuemezi, Natasha. "Rankin, McDermid and Levy named new RSL fellows", The Bookseller, 7 June 2017.
  16. Web site: Current RSL Fellows . Royal Society of Literature . 10 June 2017 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170703172808/https://rsliterature.org/fellows/current-fellows/ . 3 July 2017 .
  17. Web site: Helen Castor The Booker Prizes . 2022-10-22 . thebookerprizes.com . en.
  18. Web site: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. The Booker Prizes . 2022-10-22 . thebookerprizes.com . 4 August 2022 . en.
  19. Web site: 2022-10-17 . The Booker Prize winner has been announced . 2022-10-22 . The Independent . en.
  20. Web site: Helen Castor | Authors | Faber & Faber . faber.co.uk.
  21. Web site: Helen Castor Interview - Writewords.org.uk. writewords.org.uk.
  22. Web site: Helen Castor. https://web.archive.org/web/20110614104139/http://www.faber.co.uk/author/helen-castor/. dead. 14 June 2011. Faber.
  23. Web site: The Real Versailles – BBC Two. BBC. 2016-07-23. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20160725163021/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07dprr6. 2016-07-25.

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