Alison Weir Tours

Alison Weir is the top-selling female historian in the United Kingdom since records began in 1997. She had a career in the Civil Service before her first book, Britain`s Royal Families, came out in 1989. She has since written eighteen other history books, including The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Princes in the Tower, Lancaster and York, Children of England, Elizabeth the Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry VIII: King and Court, Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley, Katherine Swynford and The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn. Alison has also written nine historical novels, the latest of which, Anna of Kleve: Queen of Secrets, is the fourth in a series of six on the wives of Henry VIII. Her books have sold more than 2.7 million copies worldwide. Four of them have been chosen as Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4. Her last historical biography, Queens of the Conquest, was published in October 2017, the first in a quartet about England's Medieval Queens. In 2010 Alison published a short book, Traitors of the Tower, for the Quick Reads series for emergent adult readers. She has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences and is an Honourary Life Patron of Historic Royal Palaces. She has been a guest historian on many historical tours for English Heritage, and developed and led a Tudor Tapestry Tour for the Smithsonian Institute in April 2010 before setting up Alison Weir Tours Ltd. later that year (See www.alisonweir.org.uk)  




After leaving Oxford, Sarah Gristwood worked as a journalist specialising in the arts and women's issues. The author of two Sunday Times best-selling history books, she is a regular contributor to The Times, the Guardian, the Independent and the Evening Standard. Arbella, her biography of Arbella Stuart, the first cousin of Elizabeth I and heir to her throne, was widely acclaimed.  She is also the author of Elizabeth and Leicester, the story of the relationship between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley, Bird of Paradise, a biography of the poet, actress and royal mistress, Mary Robinson, Fabulous Frocks, an illustrated account of the dresses that shaped twentieth-century fashion, and Breakfast at Tiffany's: The Official Companion, which marked the fiftieth anniversary of the classic film, The Girl in the Mirror, a novel set in Elizabethan times, Blood Sisters, an acclaimed study of the royal women who brought the Tudor dynasty into being, The Story of Beatrix Potter, Game of Queens, a book about female rulers in the sixteenth century, The Queen's Mary, a novel of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth: The Queen and Crown. AWT are lucky to have Sarah as a full-time guest historian on the tours.




After reading History at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Julian Humphrys spent 12 years at Chelsea’s National Army Museum where he set up a number of special exhibitions and was spokesman to the media on all matters of military history.  He has acted as a historical expert on a number of TV programmes, has featured several times on BBC Radio 4’s Ramblings series, and made three expeditions to Bosnia during the civil war to record the British army’s activities there and obtain objects for display in the Museum. A qualified Blue-Badge guide, Julian left the Museum to pursue a career in guiding and lecturing – battles and castles are his speciality! He worked alongside Alison Weir on English Heritage’s Tours Through Time, and in 2009 he was appointed Development Officer of the Battlefields Trust, the UK Charity dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Britain’s historic battlefields. Julian lectures and writes extensively on many aspects of British history – he is a regular contributor to BBC History Magazine and History Revealed Magazine and his published books include The Private Life of Palaces (for Historic Royal Palaces), Clash of Arms: Twelve English Battles and Enemies at the Gate: English Castles under Siege (both for English Heritage). Julian has now joined us for two tours, and has proved very popular with our guests. 




Nicola Tallis, AWT's other full-time guest historian, graduated from Bath Spa University with a first class BA Hons. degree in History, and has an MA in Public History from Royal Holloway College, University of London. She is currently studying for her PhD at the University of Winchester, where her thesis investigates the jewellery collections of the queens of England between 1464 and 1548. She has been passionate about English history all her life, and published her first book, Crown of Blood: The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey, in November 2016. Nicola completed an internship with the Interpretation Department at Hampton Court Palace, and also worked with the Curators to provide historical research for future projects. She has also given papers about sixteenth-century monarchy at several historical conferences, and has been working with the National Trust at Montacute House, delivering their education programme to school children, and at Wilton House. She worked as the Curator at Sudeley Castle, and featured prominently on BBC’s Countryfile in April 2013, guiding at Sudeley. Her second book, Elizabeth's Rival, was published in 2017, and she is currently working on a biography of Margaret Beaufort.




Tracy Borman studied and taught history at the University of Hull and was awarded a PHD in 1997. She went on to a successful career in heritage and has worked for a range of historic properties and national heritage organisations, including the Heritage Lottery Fund, The National Archives and English Heritage.She is joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces and Chief Executive of the Heritage Education Trust. Tracy is the author of a number of highly acclaimed books, including Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant, Matilda: Wife of the Conqueror, First Queen of England, Elizabeth's Women: The Hidden Story of the Virgin Queen and Witches: A Tale of Sorcery, Scandal and Seduction. Tracy is also a regular broadcaster on TV and public speaker, giving talks on her books across the UK and abroad.




Michael Jones is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a member of the British Commission for Military History. He is a leading military historian, with specialist interests in battle psychology and French history. He is a member of several distinguished societies in both the UK and France, including the Royal Historical Society and La Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Bretagne. Michael's first book, The King's Mother, a biography of Lady Margaret Beaufort, was shortlisted for the prestigious Whitfield Prize. He has published nine books since, covering numerous topics from Agincourt and Bosworth to Stalingrad. Michael has worked extensively with veterans of the Second World War. He has also been a historical advisor for both Russia Today and The History Channel. His tenth book, The Life and Times of the Black Prince, was published in 2017. Michael is the author, with Philippa Gregory, of The Women of the Cousins' War and, with Philippa Langley, of The King's Grave: the Search for Richard III. His most recent work is an acclaimed study of the life of  the Black Prince. He also guides for historical tour companies.




Dr Helen Rappaport is an internationally bestselling historian and author of  15 books specialising in the Victorian period and revolutionary Russia. These include Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert and the Death that Changed the Monarchy, and Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd 1917. She is a frequent contributor to television documentaries, most recently Queen Victoria’s Children (2013) and Russia’s Lost Princesses (2014), both for BBC2, as well as programmes about Queen Victoria’s love of the Highlands, Mary Seacole, Rasputin and the Romanovs. Helen Rappaport is a fluent Russian speaker and a specialist in Russian history and 19th century women’s history. Her great passion is to winkle out lost stories from the footnotes and to breathe new life and perspectives into old subjects. Helen recently filmed a two-part documentary The Romanovs for BBC 2. She is currently working on a documentary for Netflix on the Russian Revolution, in time to commemorate its 100th anniversary. She has also worked extensively in radio broadcasting, appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Start The Week, and Today Program, to name a few, as well as on BBC 1’s The One Show and Channel 4’s Walking Through History.
Helen gives frequent lectures at regional literary festivals and at high profile public events, anywhere from the V&A and Kensington Palace to addressing Citigroup at Canary Wharf.




Siobhan Clarke, who looks after AWT bookings, pre-tour customer care and admin, has a BA in Modern History and an Adult Education Teaching Certificate. She has worked for Historic Royal Palaces for seventeen years and is based at Hampton Court Palace, where she trained as a Costumed Interpreter before becoming an HRP Guide Lecturer. As well as specialising in 16th century dress, she delivers tours and lectures on Hampton Court, The Tower of London and the Banqueting House, Whitehall Palace. Siobhan lectures abroad for P&O, Crystal and Viking cruise lines and, within the UK, she has lectured for the Smithsonian, the National Trust, the U3A and the Arts Society. She has featured on BBC Radio Women's Hour and PBS Television Secrets of Henry VIII's Palace. In 2018, her first book, co-authored with Alison Weir, will be published by Jonathan Cape.




John Marston has had over fifty years' experience in the travel industry, and he will accompany the tour in the role of Travel Director to ensure that all guests have information on hotels, restaurants, schedule timings, local information and baggage handling etc.. John has worked for major commercial companies including Land Rover, Jaguar Cars and L'Oreal Cosmetics, arranging world-wide travel for groups of between forty to over four hundred. His experience has included planning and booking trips, and personally escorting these groups. For Land Rover, John was in charge of their major U.S. dealer group, looking after a party of fifty executive guests and their partners, and arranging visits to London, Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire, the Duke of Atholl's estate at Pitlochry in Scotland, and Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland. This was just one of many launch programs that John has organised; his priority has always been to give the highest standard of personal attention to guests' needs. Jo Marston accompanies AWT's tours with her husband, John; her role is to look after guests' pastoral needs and support the team.