Greg Jenner

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Greg Jenner (born 1982) is a British author and public historian with a particular interest in communicating history through pop culture and humour.[1]

Early life[edit]

Jenner studied for a History and Archaeology BA and a Medieval Studies MA at The University of York.[2]

Career[edit]

Jenner has worked as an historical consultant on the Horrible Histories books and television shows.[3] Jenner has credited the success of Horrible Histories to a non-patronising approach to children’s television.[4]

Jenner has written for GQ magazine[5] and has appeared as a guest on Richard Herring's interview podcasts[6] and on the Art Detective podcast.[7] He also featured on the BBC Radio 4 programme Great Lives, discussing Gene Kelly.[8]

He has appeared more than once as a guest on QI spin-off podcast No Such Thing as a Fish.[9][10] and has made appearances on the Simon Mayo[11] and the Steve Wright shows on BBC Radio 2.[12]

Jenner featured as an expert on the BBC2 television programme Inside Versailles,[13] as well as for the Independent newspaper, discussing historical accuracy in television programmes.[14]

Jenner has been made an Honorary Research Associate at Royal Holloway, University of London.[15]

Since 2019, Jenner has presented a BBC Sounds podcast, You’re Dead To Me. Each episode sees him to talk to both a historian and comedian about a historical figure or time period.[16] As well as the streamed edition, a radio-edit version is broadcast on BBC Radio 4. In February 2023 and 2024 the show won the Best Radio Entertainment Show category at the Comedy.co.uk Awards.[17][18]

In 2020, Jenner launched Homeschool History, an educational history podcast aimed at children, in response to the Coronavirus lockdown whereby children who were unable to attend school.[19][20] Homeschool History ran for two series and was broadcast on BBC Radio 4.[21]

In 2021 Jenner launched an Audible Original podcast A Somewhat Complete History of Sitting Down.[22]

Publications[edit]

Jenner is the author of several books:

  • A Million Years In A Day: A Curious History of Daily Life, From The Stone Age To The Phone Age (2015) in which he described how routines and habits today had their genesis in the past as well as highlighting contrasts in every day routines through the ages.[23][24][25]
  • Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen was released in 2020.[26]
  • Ask a Historian: 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know was released in 2021.[27][28]
  • You Are History: From The Alarm Clock To The Toilet, The Amazing History of The Things You Use Every Day[29] was released in 2022.[30]
  • Totally Chaotic History: Ancient Egypt Gets Unruly! was released in 2024.[31]

Personal life[edit]

Jenner is half French on his mother's side. He is an avid fan of heavy metal and alternative rock, and loves Thrice, the band. Jenner is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur.[32] He is teetotal.[33][34]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Gaia Vince (2 April 2018). "This is why good people turn bad online". The Independent.
  2. ^ "Greg Jenner". HuffPost.
  3. ^ Richard Preston (21 February 2013). "Horrible Histories: 20 years of entertaining children". The Daily Telegraph.
  4. ^ Vicky Carroll (16 February 2018). "Horrible Histories' Greg Jenner: "We don't treat kids like they're stupid"". The Big Issue.
  5. ^ "Will the monarchy survive the death of the Queen?". GQ. 3 May 2017.
  6. ^ Richard Herring (6 December 2017). "Greg Jenner — Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast #157". Richard Herring's interview podcasts – via YouTube.
  7. ^ "Bayeux Tapestry — with Greg Jenner". Art Detective podcast. 31 May 2017 – via Podtail.
  8. ^ "Greg Jenner on Gene Kelly, Series 46". BBC Radio 4. Great Lives.
  9. ^ "No Such Thing as a Fish". QI.
  10. ^ "List of No Such Thing as a Fish Episodes" – via GitHub.
  11. ^ "Rowan Atkinson set for Horrible Histories". What's on TV. 6 January 2015.
  12. ^ "Susan Calman and Greg Jenner". Steve Wright in the Afternoon. BBC Radio 2.
  13. ^ "Inside Versailles - S1 - Episode 10". Radio Times.
  14. ^ Mark Butler (23 January 2017). "Sex and swearing in the 1800s: Taboo is more historically accurate than you think". i.
  15. ^ York, University of. "Ask a Historian". University of York. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  16. ^ "You're Dead To Me". BBC Radio 4. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  17. ^ "Comedy.co.uk Awards Winners 2022". Comedy.co.uk. 8 February 2023.
  18. ^ Craig, David (12 February 2024). "Ghosts and Taskmaster named comedy and entertainment shows of the year". Radio Times. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  19. ^ Marriott, James. "Homeschool History review — how to sell the Stuarts to children". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  20. ^ "Homeschool History". Greg Jenner. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  21. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Homeschool History". BBC. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  22. ^ "Take a load off with a new podcast about sitting". Financial Times. 10 May 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  23. ^ Vincent, Alice (25 May 2015). "14 things we learned from Greg Jenner's history of everyday life". The Daily Telegraph.
  24. ^ "Rebecca Rideal reviews A Million Years in a Day by Greg Jenner". The History Vault.
  25. ^ "How Did Women Deal With Their Periods? The History of Menstruation". HuffPost. 1 January 2016.
  26. ^ Fara Dabhoiwala (18 March 2020). "Dead Famous by Greg Jenner review – a joyous history of celebrity". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  27. ^ "Ask a Historian". Greg Jenner. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  28. ^ Jenner, Greg (28 October 2021). Ask A Historian: 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know. Orion. ISBN 978-1-4746-1863-2.
  29. ^ "An interview with Greg Jenner". Just Imagine. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  30. ^ "You Are History: a funny children's history book by Greg Jenner". Greg Jenner. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  31. ^ "Walker Books snaps up 'riotously funny' Totally Chaotic History series". The Bookseller. 30 June 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  32. ^ "Who is Greg Jenner - the Public Historian?". Greg Jenner.
  33. ^ Jenner, Greg; Fletcher, Catherine; Wang, Phil (12 February 2021). "The Borgias". You're Dead To Me. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  34. ^ Jenner, Greg [@greg_jenner] (13 December 2016). "I should add, I've been teetotal since 2002. I find drinking culture fascinating, but it's not for me" (Tweet). Retrieved 21 August 2021 – via Twitter.
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