| John
Roberts |
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| Nationality - English |
Profession - Author |
| Date of birth - 14 Apr 1928
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Date of death - 2003 |
| Place of birth
- Bath : Somerset |
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John Morris Roberts was born in Bath, Somerset on April 14, 1928.
John was educated at Taunton School and he won a scholarship to Keble College, Oxford, where in 1948 he gained first class honours in Modern History.
After National Service he was elected a Prize Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1951.
Fluent in French and Italian, he wrote his doctoral thesis on the Italian Republic set up under the auspices of the French revolutionaries and Napoleon Bonaparte.
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He was the first historian since H.G. Wells to write a History of the World, published originally by Hutchinson in 1976 and then by Penguin, a book which has sold half a million copies worldwide.
In perhaps his most original book, The Mythology of the Secret societies (1972), Roberts explored the fear of masonic networks and plots that so troubled conservative circles in the 18th and 19th centuries and in 1973 published a study in what would now be called cultural history, The Paris Commune from the Right.
A charismatic, energetic and generous man, John Roberts grew from glamorous young don to academic father figure. He inspired loyalty and devotion in students and colleagues, though some were daunted by his powerful personality and commitment to achieving results. His reputed exploits included wrestling a Balliol student to the ground at a drinks party and conducting a tutorial from his bath. Undergraduates contributed to his mythic status by spreading the fact that he had written the Ladybird history book Henry
II and Thomas Becket.
Though appointed CBE in 1996 and made a Cavalier of Italy's Order of Merit, he was never awarded the knighthood he so plainly deserved. His legacy will be more potent for being more popular. A final accolade was that his History of the World was the choice of the Radio 4 presenter Sue MacGregor to take with her to her desert island.
SOURCE: Robert Gildea - The Independent |
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John Roberts
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