Peter Ackroyd (1) (1949–)

Author of London: The Biography

For other authors named Peter Ackroyd, see the disambiguation page.

83+ Works 28,998 Members 645 Reviews 79 Favorited

About the Author

Peter Ackroyd was born in London in 1949. He graduated from Cambridge University and was a Fellow at Yale (1971-1973). A critically acclaimed and versatile writer, Ackroyd began his career while at Yale, publishing two volumes of poetry. He continued writing poetry until he began delving into show more historical fiction with The Great Fire of London (1982). A constant theme in Ackroyd's work is the blending of past, present, and future, often paralleling the two in his biographies and novels. Much of Ackroyd's work explores the lives of celebrated authors such as Dickens, Milton, Eliot, Blake, and More. Ackroyd's approach is unusual, injecting imagined material into traditional biographies. In The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde (1983), his work takes on an autobiographical form in his account of Wilde's final years. He was widely praised for his believable imitation of Wilde's style. He was awarded the British Whitbread Award for biography in 1984 of T.S. Eliot, and the Whitbread Award for fiction in 1985 for his novel Hawksmoor. Ackroyd currently lives in London and publishes one or two books a year. He still considers poetry to be his first love, seeing his novels as an extension of earlier poetic work. (Bowker Author Biography) Peter Ackroyd is the award-winning author of four biographies, most recently the national bestseller "The Life of Thomas More", as well as ten novels, including "Chatterton" & "Hawksmoor". He lives in London, where he is at work on his next book, "London: The Biography. (Publisher Provided) Peter Ackroyd is a bestselling writer of both fiction and nonfiction. He lives in London. (Publisher Provided) show less

Series

The History of England

Peter Ackroyd's Brief Lives

Voyages Through Time

Works by Peter Ackroyd

Popular Recent

London: The Biography (2000) 3,259 copies

Hawksmoor (1985) 1,869 copies

Shakespeare: The Biography (2005) 1,267 copies

Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors (2011) 1,260 copies

The Life of Thomas More (1998) 1,189 copies

Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination (2002) 1,140 copies

London Under (2011) 945 copies

Blake (1995) 916 copies

Chatterton (1987) 885 copies

Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem (1994) 885 copies

Thames: Sacred River (2007) 874 copies

The Lambs of London (2004) 861 copies

Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I (2012) 854 copies

The Clerkenwell Tales (2003) 821 copies

The House of Doctor Dee (1993) 819 copies

Dickens (1990) 773 copies

Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution (2014) 700 copies

Venice: Pure City (2009) 620 copies

The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (2008) 562 copies

The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling (2009) 531 copies

The Plato Papers (1999) 492 copies

T.S. Eliot: A Life (1984) 472 copies

English Music (1992) 459 copies

First Light (1989) 455 copies

The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde (1983) 425 copies

The Fall of Troy (2006) 402 copies

The Death of King Arthur: The Immortal Legend (2010) — Author — 376 copies

Milton in America (1996) 364 copies

Poe: A Life Cut Short (2008) 364 copies

Revolution: The History of England from the Battle of the Boyne to the Battle of Waterloo (2016) 344 copies

Chaucer (2005) 316 copies

Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day (2017) 280 copies

Dickens (abridged) (1994) 268 copies

Dickens: Public Life and Private Passion (2002) 256 copies

Dominion: The History of England from the Battle of Waterloo to Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (2018) 256 copies

The Great Fire of London (1982) 198 copies

The Collection (2001) 171 copies

Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life (2015) 170 copies

Newton (2006) 170 copies

J.M.W. Turner (2005) 158 copies

Charlie Chaplin: A Brief Life (2014) 140 copies

The English Ghost (2010) 138 copies

Three Brothers (2013) 137 copies

Wilkie Collins (2012) 133 copies

Innovation: The History of England from the Boer War to the Millennium Dome (2021) 122 copies

Illustrated London (2003) 87 copies

Mr Cadmus (2020) 76 copies

Ezra Pound (1981) 66 copies

Escape from Earth (2004) 66 copies

Dressing Up: Transvestism and Drag: The History of an Obsession (1979) 63 copies

Dickens' London: An Imaginative Vision (1987) 59 copies

The Beginning (2003) 57 copies

Cities of Blood (2004) 53 copies

Introduction to Dickens (1991) 45 copies

The Diversions of Purley (1987) 38 copies

Kingdom of the Dead (2004) 36 copies

A Traveller's Companion to London (2004) 33 copies

Colors of London: A History (2022) 31 copies

Ancient Rome (2005) 31 copies

London: The Concise Biography (2016) 29 copies

Ancient Greece (2005) 26 copies

Ezra Pound and his world (1980) 25 copies

The Mystery of Charles Dickens (2002) 12 copies

The English Actor: From Medieval to Modern (2023) 11 copies

The English Soul: Faith of a Nation (2024) 11 copies

Notes for a New Culture: Essay on Modernism (1976) 10 copies

Blitz (2016) 7 copies

London Lickpenny (1973) 6 copies

Country Life (1978) 5 copies

P.E.N. new fiction I (1984) 3 copies

William Shakespeare Without the Boring Bits 2 copies

Evil London: The Dark Side of a Great City (1973) 2 copies

Dickens [2002 miniseries] (2002) 2 copies

The Canterbury Tales 1 copy

Peter Ackroyd 5 Books Collection Set History of England Series Vol 1-5 (Foundation, Tudors, Civil War, Revolution,… (2020) 1 copy

Jack the Ripper and the East End 1 copy

Geoffrey Chaucer’ın Canterbury Hikayeleri (2000) 1 copy

Dickens - (1) Secrets; (2) Blazing Away [DVD] 1 copy

Dickens - (3) Terror to the End [DVD] 1 copy

Charles Dickens (2003): Uncovering the Real Dickens (2002)/ David Copperfield (1999)/ A Christmas Carol (2002) 1 copy

Brief Lives: Newton 1 copy

The Life of Thomas More r 1 copy

Dickens (dvd) 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) — Introduction, some editions — 39,804 copies

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (1589) — Introduction, some editions — 31,910 copies

Paradise Lost (1667) — Preface, some editions — 14,016 copies

The Sign of Four (1890) — Introduction, some editions — 5,095 copies

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006) — Introduction — 1,686 copies

Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763 (1950) — Foreword, some editions — 1,477 copies

The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) (1827) — Foreword, some editions — 1,314 copies

The Haunted House (1859) — Foreword, some editions — 384 copies

A Rogue's Life (1856) — Foreword, some editions — 244 copies

Memoirs of the Extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus (1741) — Foreword, some editions — 192 copies

First Folio: A Little Book of Folio Forewords (2008) — Contributor — 180 copies

London: A Pilgrimage (1872) — Introduction, some editions — 148 copies

The Worst Street in London (2008) — Foreword, some editions — 115 copies

A Brief Guide to William Shakespeare (2010) — Introduction & Commentaries — 80 copies

Table Talk (2000) — Foreword, some editions — 59 copies

Coffee with Dickens (Coffee with...Series) (2008) — Foreword — 49 copies

The East End: Four Centuries of London Life (1989) — Introduction, some editions — 43 copies

Method and theory : proceedings of the London 1985 Achaemenid history workshop (1988) — Contributor — 2 copies

Thomas Chatterton and romantic culture (1999) — Foreword — 2 copies

Tagged

17th century (549) 19th century (1,010) anthology (480) biography (2,078) British (1,224) British history (461) British literature (1,254) classic (3,277) classic literature (549) classics (3,918) drama (2,551) ebook (608) England (1,845) English (981) English literature (2,054) fantasy (458) fiction (9,261) gothic (471) hardcover (447) historical fiction (685) history (3,099) horror (711) Kindle (534) literature (4,087) London (1,721) medieval (830) mystery (750) non-fiction (1,908) novel (1,099) own (538) play (479) plays (1,854) poetry (5,865) read (1,046) reference (509) theatre (884) to-read (4,996) unread (714) Victorian (450) William Shakespeare (3,032)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Ackroyd, Peter
Legal name: Ackroyd, Peter Warwick
Birthdate: 1949-10-05
Gender: male
Nationality: UK
Birthplace: East Acton, Middlesex, England, UK
Places of residence: London, England, UK
Education: Clare College, University of Cambridge (MA|1971)
Yale University (Mellon Fellow 1972-1973)
St. Benedict's School, Ealing
Occupations: novelist
biographer
tv writer/presenter
poet
historian
critic
Relationships: Kuhn, Brian (partner)
Organizations: The Spectator
The Times
Awards and honors: Mellon Fellow
British Book Award (1991)
Commander, Order of the British Empire (2003)
Fellow, Royal Society of Literature (1984)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1998)
Whitbread Prize for Biography (1984) (show all 7)
Foreign Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006)
Agent: Sheil Land Associates Ltd
Short biography: Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning novelist, broadcaster, biographer, poet and historian. He is the author of London Under and the bestselling London: The Biography and Thames: Sacred River. He has won a number of accolades including the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal Society of Literature’s William Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award. He holds a CBE for services to literature (The Browser).

Members

Discussions

Group Read: Peter Ackroyd - History of England series in 2015 Category Challenge (July 2018)

1001 Group Read - January, 2013: Hawksmoor in 1001 Books to read before you die (August 2013)

Reviews

The Lambs Of London by Peter Ackroyd

Lightly based on the lives of Charles and his sister Mary Lamb (you know the ones: of 'Tales from Shakespeare' fame, this is nevertheless fiction. It's an account of how Mary emerges from her limited life of domesticity upon meeting young antiquarian William Ireland. Ireland has apparently made discoveries of his own: and found among a patron's papers a hitherto unknown play by William Shakespeare no less. What happens next? You'll have to read it to find out. But en route you'll be absorbed into the life of 19th century London, and will puzzle to disentangle fact from fiction. All whilst having a jolly good read.… (more)

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Margaret09 | 37 other reviews | Apr 15, 2024 |

Foundation: The History of England from Its… by Peter Ackroyd

This is more of a Cliff Notes style approach to history than the books by Dan Jones. If you just want a basic history of England, without too much detail, this would be a good book for it.

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sawcat | 31 other reviews | Apr 8, 2024 |