About

Dominic Sandbrook

I was born in October 1974 in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. I went to Birchfield School, just outside Wolverhampton, and then to Malvern College. There I made an ignominious TV debut on the cult quiz show Blockbusters, where I completed one Gold Run before being humiliated in the next round.

Academic

In 1993 I went up to Balliol College, Oxford, where I read History and French and won the James Gay and Kirk-Greene Prizes. I spent a year as a language assistant in Provence, studied for a Masters in history at the University of St Andrews, and then went to Jesus College, Cambridge, for my PhD, which won the Sara Norton Prize.

My first job was as a lecturer in history at the University of Sheffield, where I taught for three years before becoming a professional writer. I have twice been a senior fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford, and since 2012 I have been a Visiting Professor at King’s College London.

I began my academic career as a specialist in American history. My first book, based on my PhD thesis, was a biography of Senator Eugene McCarthy, the Democratic politician who challenged President Johnson in 1968 over the issue of the Vietnam War. Some years later I published a second book on American history, Mad As Hell, which was about the 1970s.

Books

I am probably best known, however, for my books about Britain since the 1950s. I began work on this project at the turn of the millennium and have so far published five books, taking the story to the end of the Falklands War in 1982.

The first volume, Never Had It So Good, covers the late 1950s and early 1960s. The second book, White Heat, looks at Britain in the heyday of the 1960s, and was later used as the background for a BBC drama. The third and fourth volumes, State of Emergency and Seasons in the Sun, cover the 1970s, and were adapted for television as the BBC documentary series The 70s.

The fifth volume, Who Dares Wins, covers the early 1980s, including the first Thatcher administration, the Falklands War, the New Romantics, the birth of home computers and the tragic decline of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

I have also written a book called The Great British Dream Factory, which explores the remarkable story of Britain's popular culture in the last century, and is probably the jolliest of all my books.

Journalism

I have written for almost all major British papers, as well as some international papers. I now write exclusively for the Daily Mail and the Sunday Times. I was nominated as Critic of the Year in the National Press Awards for 2018, and as Comment Journalist of the Year in the British Journalism Awards for 2021.

In the past, I was a regular columnist for the London Evening Standard and the New Statesman. I have written a monthly column for BBC History Magazine since 2006.

Media

My television career began with the four-part documentary series The 70s, which I wrote and presented for BBC Two in the spring of 2012. I have since presented series about Britain in the Cold War (Strange Days), the history of science fiction (Tomorrow’s Worlds) and the history of British popular culture (Let Us Entertain You), all for BBC Two. I have also made a programme about the German car industry (Das Auto). My most recent TV series, The 80s, was shown on BBC Two in 2016.

For BBC Radio 4, I have written and presented many programmes, including documentaries on the early days of radio, our obsession with anniversaries and the history of Prime Minister’s Questions, as well as a 15-part radio history of the Post Office.

I live in Oxfordshire with my wife and son. I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a trustee of the National Archives Trust. I am also on the council of my old school, Malvern, and am a Wolves season ticket holder.

Image: A portrait of the author as a young man: specifically, at the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977, aged two-and-a-half.

© 2024 Dominic Sandbrook

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