What's



What's the Use of History? - The Career Destinations of History Graduates

Professor David Nicholls, Department of History and Economic History, Manchester Metropolitan University

The attached is an extract from the early draft of an article, which Professor Nicholls kindly allowed us to publish in the CD Rom which accompanied our Choosing History packs in 2001 and 2002. Because of the time lapse, some details may be slightly out of date – nonetheless it gives a good idea of the span of careers followed by people who have studied history!

The full version of the finished article can be found on the LTSN Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology website, .

Distinguished history alumni are to be found in a whole range of occupations. Some, such as politics and the media, are perhaps predictable; others, however, notably business and finance, may occasion some surprise. In the course of preparing this article, I have assembled a large database of individuals who have achieved great success and distinction in their chosen careers.[1] It is not possible to list all of these here, and I will concentrate instead upon some general observations supported with examples.

Key positions in the media -- newspapers, journals and magazines, television, film and radio -- have been colonized by historians. Indeed, some sectors seem a veritable hotbed with, for example, Radio 5 Live boasting at least three history graduates on the team: Alan Green (Queen's, Belfast), John Inverdale (Southampton) and J.G. de Launcey (Leeds). They have been joined recently by Simon Mayo (history and politics, Warwick) who, prior to his transfer from Radio l, was the last of the ‘old guard’ of DJs to retain a slot on that popular music station.[2] Historians appear to have a particular penchant for sports journalism -- other practitioners include the BBC motor racing correspondent, Jonathan Legard (Leeds), and the BBC presenter Martin Tyler (UEA).

The daily appearance of news and current affairs presenters on ‘the box’ has made several history graduates household names: notably, the BBC's Middle East correspondent, Jeremy Bowen (UC, London), the former MP and latterly BBC clinical pundit, Brian Walden (Oxford), and the ITN journalists, Bill Neilly (Queen's, Belfast) and Dermot Murnaghan (Sussex). Others are well- known locally but not (yet) nationally -- my list includes several newsreaders and journalists in regional television.

In addition to news journalism, there are several history graduates in the entertainment areas of the media. Simon Thomas, a presenter of Blue Peter since 1999, is a Birmingham graduate. Likewise, Timmy Mallett (Warwick) began his career as a children's presenter but has since diversified into acting and producing. Behind the scenes of television and radio are senior managers, such as James Moir (Nottingham), Controller, BBC Radio 2; Alan Watson (Cambridge), chair of the Corporate TV Networks; Rachel Attwell (Warwick), Deputy Head BBC TV News; John McCormick (Glasgow), Controller BBC Scotland; and Lesley Anne Dawson (Keele), Head of the Press Office at ITN. Sir Marmaduke Hussey (Oxford) was chair of the BBC Board of Governors from 1986 to 1996. An even greater number of researchers, producers and editors, whose names whiz by in the programme-credits, cannot for want of space be given even that brief passing mention here.[3] Keeping a watchful eye on much of this activity is Suzanne Warner (Sussex), Deputy Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Commission. The press also boasts a fair number of historians working, inter alia, as education correspondents, home affairs editors, journal editors and freelance journalists. Two of these are particularly well-known and will serve as examples of what can be achieved: Peter Wilby (Sussex), the editor of the New Statesman, and David Montgomery (history and politics, Queen's, Belfast), Director of News UK and former chief executive of Mirror Group Newspapers.

Many historians have entered politics at local and national levels. In local government, several are chief executives of district councils and directors of education (for example, in Wolverhampton, Lambeth, and Windsor and Maidenhead). Many have been elected to the House of Commons and some have attained distinction in senior government positions. If we pushed too far back in time the list would be unmanageable. However, the link between a history education and political career, and the importance of the one to the other, can be illustrated by the simple expedient of examining the educational backgrounds of the members of the current (March 2001) cabinet.

A breakdown of the first degrees of the twenty-two members of the Labour cabinet reveals the following: law (6); history (5.5); politics (3); English (2); metallurgy (1) social anthropology (1); politics, philosophy and economics (1); social science (1) art and social studies (1); economics (0.5). The preponderance of law graduates in an executive body drawn from the nation's legislature is perhaps to be expected; the general absence of economists rather more surprising. The significant presence of historians, however, is striking testimony to the all-round talents of the graduates of the discipline. The history cabinet ministers are: Gordon Brown (Edinburgh), Chancellor of the Exchequer; Alan Milburn (Lancaster), Health Secretary; Dr John Reid (Stirling), Northern Ireland Secretary; Paul Murphy (Oxford), Welsh Secretary; John Prescott (Hull), Deputy Prime Minister and Environment, Transport and the Regions Secretary; and Nick Brown (history and politics, Manchester), Agriculture Secretary. The contribution of historians to contemporary government is even more impressive when we consider that history comprised a significant part of the social science degree of Ann Taylor (Bradford), the Parliamentary Secretary and Chief Whip; that one of the three law officers who serve the cabinet, Lord Williams of Mostyn QC, the Attorney General, studied history at Cambridge before law; and that several up-and-coming junior ministers such as Mike O'Brien (history and politics, Staffordshire), under-secretary at the Home Office, and Nick Raynsford (Cambridge), minister of state for housing and planning, are also history educated.

The high profile of historians in the present Labour government is by no means an aberration. In the current Conservative shadow cabinet, for example, we have Francis Maude (Cambridge), shadow Foreign Secretary; Tim Yeo (Cambridge), shadow Agriculture Secretary; Edward Garnier (Oxford), shadow Attorney-General; and Michael Portillo (Cambridge), shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sebastian (now Lord) Coe (economics and social history, Loughborough), former Olympic champion and world record-holder at 800 metres, was William Hague's private secretary.[4]

It is worth emphasizing that the high representation of history graduates in government is not confined to the present time. A number of historians served in the Thatcher and Major governments, though, it must be said, not always with great distinction. It is galling to relate that it was historians who, almost to a man, mismanaged the great BSE crisis as Agriculture Secretaries during its unfolding: John McGregor (history and economics, St Andrew's), John Gummer (Cambridge) and Douglas Hogg (Oxford). The propensity of historians for the agriculture portfolio is striking, but, one can only assume, purely coincidental. Other Conservative history cabinet ministers include Kenneth Carlisle (Harvard College, California and Oxford); Kenneth Baker Oxford); Douglas Hurd (Cambridge); Kenneth Clarke (history and law, Cambridge); John Biffen (Cambridge); and Michael Forsyth (St Andrew's). Major's cabinets also boasted an Attorney General who had studied history before law -- Sir Nicholas Lyell (Oxford) -- and the minister whose fall occasioned the most joy among Labour supporters on election night, the aforementioned Michael Portillo. Thatcher's opponent as leader of the Labour party after 1983 was Neil Kinnock (history and industrial relations, Cardiff). Finally, it is worth noting that several historians have gained political influence as a result of their elevation to the Lords in recognition of their academic attainments. Ennoblement has been primarily an honorary reward for such luminaries as Robert Blake (Oxford), Asa Briggs (Cambridge), Alan Bullock (Oxford), Kenneth Morgan (Oxford) and Hugh Thomas (Cambridge), but for others it has led to a directly political role. Patricia Hollis (Cambridge) is a parliamentary under-secretary of state and Conrad Russell (Oxford) is Liberal Democrat spokesman on social security.[5]

If history has produced more than its fair share of Jim Hackers, it has also produced the Sir Humphreys to advise them. Most civil servants do not, of course, share the limelight with their political masters, though there are exceptions. Lady (afterwards Baroness) Falkender (QMW, London) attained rather more publicity during Sir Harold Wilson's premiership than is the case with most private secretaries. Clive Ponting (Reading) shot from obscurity overnight as an official at the Ministry of Defence following his challenge to state secrecy. Others will perhaps only be known to those with a particular knowledge of the civil service, though they are none the less distinguished for all that: Anna Blackstock (Oxford), Director General at the Department of Trade and Industry; Eric Sorensen (Keele), holder of many important posts but perhaps best known as chief executive of the Millenium Commissions; Alexander Russell (Edinburgh), Deputy Chair of HM Customs and Excise; William Mackey (Edinburgh), Clerk to the House of Commons; and David Wilkinson (Bedford College, London), Head of the Cabinet Office's Central Secretariat. One of his colleagues in the Cabinet Office is another history graduate, Dr Ruth Ingamells (Durham). In addition, there are several permanent secretaries, such as David Normington (Oxford) at the DfES, and under-secretaries and chief executives serving in a variety of Whitehall departments. Sir William Ryrie (Edinburgh), now retired, attained distinction at the Treasury before moving to the World Bank.

There are also several prominent history graduates involved with political ‘think-tanks’, watchdogs, national charities, or more general advisory bodies -- notably, Dame Ruth Runciman (Cambridge), Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs; Iona Hauser (Warwick), Senior Arms Control Analyst at the Institute for Public Policy Research; the writer, television and newspaper journalist Michael Ignatieff (Toronto), who is currently Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University; Ceridwen Roberts (Sussex), Director of the Family Policy Studies Centre; Frances Crook (Liverpool), Director of the Howard League for Penal Reforms; David Edmonds (history and politics, Keele), Director-General of Oftel since l998 and chairman of Crisis, the national homeless charity; David Collett (Keele), Director of VSO, Water Aid and a member of WHO; Victor Craggs (Warwick), Director of the Commonwealth Youth Exchange Councils; Susan Daniels (Keele), Chief Executive of the National Deaf Children's Society; Brian Vale (Keele), Assistant Director with the British Council; and Martin Gorham (QMW), Chief Executive of the National Blood Service and one of several historians in my database who have attained prominence in the sphere of public health, either as members of regional health boards or as executives in the NHS.

The diplomatic branch of the civil service in particular has provided an outlet for the talents of history graduates. A handful work in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and in senior overseas postings as embassy secretaries or heads of mission. A select few have reached the dizzy heights of ambassador: Sir R.R. Betts (UC, London), Christopher Crabbie (Liverpool) and Roderick Lyne (Leeds). Peter Smyth (Queen's, Belfast) is Northern Ireland representative in the British Embassy in Washington. Sir Crispin Tickell (Oxford), now retired, had a long and distinguished career in the diplomatic service.

The knowledge of politics and international relations which studying history imparts has clearly been of advantage to these servants of the state. But there is more to it than accumulated knowledge. Historians must, as well, possess particular personality or character traits that lead them into such roles. For example, it is surely more than their knowledge of religious history that has influenced some of them towards a career in the church. From its upper echelons I have found a provost and four bishops (Blackburn, Guildford, London and Norwich). One of these, Richard Chartres (Cambridge), the Bishop of London, has been tipped by some to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Success has not been confined to Anglicans -- witness, for example, the career of Rabbi Lionel Blue (Oxford), the well-known broadcaster and writer. An altogether different mind-set has persuaded other historians to serve in the armed forces, police and prisons. Here we find not only the Assistant Chief Constable of Sussex, the Deputy Chief Constable of Gloucester, the Chief Superintendent of Hampshire Constabulary and the Assistant Chief Constable of South Wales police,[6] but also the former Governor of Ford Open prison, Roger Brandon (Keele), who retired in 1998. Of the several high ranking officers in my database, Peter Collins (Birmingham) retired as Air Vice Marshall in 1985 and went on to act as a company director and consultant to arms dealing in military technology, and Earl Jellicoe (Cambridge) enjoyed a successful military, diplomatic, business and political career, including a spell as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1963-64.

None of the careers considered thus far could be said to require a ‘subject- specific’ training, though further education will have been a prerequisite in certain instances. Hence, for example, it is not difficult to conceive of a history graduate going on to study theology or take religious orders in preparation for a life in the service of the church. Some career paths, however, are not quite so easy to comprehend. A profession like law, for example, cannot be pursued without vocational training and qualification and it has long-established academic routes into it. Yet, there are a significant number of lawyers whose first degree is in history. My database includes a dozen barristers, some of them working in private chambers, others on behalf of major companies. By virtue of their prominent part in big trials, a couple are widely-known: Michael Briggs (Oxford) and Michael Mansfield (Keele), both QCs. It should also be noted that several of the cabinet politicians whose first degree was in history afterwards studied law and were called to the bar.

Politics, civil service, church, army, police, law -- it may seem that historians are strongly inclined towards serving the establishment. This would, however, be a misleading conclusion to draw. It is certainly not the case that they are by temperament ‘conservative’. Indeed, one of our distinguished lawyers is known for his defence of ‘radical’ causes, and our politicians cover a broad spectrum. Moreover, historians have also pursued careers that might be regarded by many (though not all) as anti-establishment. Several, for example, are trade union activists and have risen through the ranks to become leaders of their unions. Philip Bowyer (Sussex) is General Secretary of the Postal and Telecommunication Workers, David Davies (Keele), General Secretary of the Managerial and Professional Officers, and, once again, it is a historian who has reached the very top in the person of John Monks (Nottingham), the General Secretly of the TUC.

There are also occupations that seem to have a more organic connection to a history education and which, though they perform a public service, are less directly linked to the ‘establishment’ as such. By virtue of my focus on transferable skills, I am not concerned here with the many historians who have become teachers of their subject, though it should be recorded that some, through their facility as managers and administrators, and seduced no doubt by the aphrodisiac of power and Ofsted inspections, have gone on to become headteachers. One, John Sutton (Keele) served as General Secretary of the Secondary Heads Association from 1988-98. A history degree has also been a natural passport to service in the museums, libraries and arts. Anita Ballin (Sussex) is Head of Education at the Imperial War Museum, Christopher Brown (Oxford) is Director of the Ashmolean, Catherine Ross (Sussex) is Deputy Head of the Museum of London, Richard Gray (history and art history, Bristol) is Director of Compton Verney, Mark Taylor (Birmingham) is Director of the Museums Association in London, and David Dykes (Oxford), now retired, was Director of the National Museum of Wales 1986-9. Three names are especially well-known here: Sir Roy Strong (QMW, London), former Director of the Victoria and Albert; John Tusa (Cambridge), formerly of the BBC but now Managing Director at the Barbican Centre; and Sarah Tyacke (London), Keeper at the Public Records Office.

Many history graduates have attained distinction in the ‘private’ pursuit of the arts, notably as writers. Good writing is a quality that is highly prized by historians and one that, the benchmark group rightly stressed, should be cultivated by an undergraduate history education. I am not concerned here with the writing of academic history where there are, of course, many skilled practitioners, nor with the many popularisers of history, though Andrew Morton (Sussex), the biographer of royalty, should perhaps be mentioned if only to show that it is possible to make a good living in this way. Nor is there space to rehearse the names of the many historians who have established their own special authorial niche -- whether as travel-writers, pedagogues, or ‘sexologists’ -- though I have examples of all of these and more. Rather, the focus here is on creative and fictive writing. Here there are some ‘big names’ -- well-known novelists and playwrights whose work has sometimes been inspired by their historical knowledge. This is evident, for example, in the novels of Anthony Powell (Oxford, died March 2000), Salman Rushdie (Cambridge), and Penelope Lively (Oxford), and also in the plays of Howard Barker (Sussex).[7] There are others, such as Pamela Thomas (Sussex), who have explicitly drawn on their education and have a reputation as ‘historical novelists’ in the Catherine Cookson mould. And there are many more in my database who have not (as yet) achieved the fame of the aforementioned. There are, predictably, fewer historians in the creative field of music. Nevertheless, and covering the range from highbrow to lowbrow, we have Peter Shellard (Warwick), Director of Development at the Royal Academy of Music, and Neil Tennant (North London), lead singer of the Pet Shop Boys and perhaps the most famous of history's ‘popstars’.

This facility to reach the top through the application of diverse skills is reaffirmed by the success of historians in business and finance. Of all the categories in my database of distinguished history graduates, this is by far the largest. It might at first seem surprising that students of dusty old history rise to become captains of modern industry. Those historians who have linked British economic decline to the persistence of a traditional education at the expense of an entrepreneurial training will no doubt see this as confirmation of their thesis.[8] I would prefer to see it rather as yet another demonstration of the enormous capabilities of historians, of their flexibility, adaptability and versatility, and of their innate and acquired skills. Most of the business leaders are not household names, but a roll call of their jobs will give some indication of their successes. Historians have in significant numbers become: company directors, chief executives and managing directors, e-commerce millionaires, chief accountants, business partners, directors of strategic development, heads of personnel and of human resources, fund managers, management consultants, chief financial officers, divisional directors, presidents and vice-presidents, directors of sales and marketing, company secretaries and so forth. Many work for large and long-established companies, others are managing directors or partners in companies which they established or helped to set up.

A few examples will have to suffice. Gerald Corbett (Cambridge), formerly of Dixons, Redland and Grand Metropolitan, and now of Woolworth, attained notoriety as chief executive of Railtrack at the time of the Hatfield train crash. Historians have attained particular prominence with ICI: Anthony Hudson (Birmingham) is a former chairman, and Charles Miller Smith (St Andrew's) the current chief executive. Sir Bob Reid (political economy and history, St Andrew's), deputy governor of the Bank of Scotland, was chair of the British Railways Board; Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover (Oxford) was chair of the family supermarket business until l 992 and is now its president. Robert Gunn (Oxford), a former director of Boots, is now chair of the Further Education Funding Council of England. David Lyon is chief executive of Rexam (formerly Bowater). Professor Sir Roland Smith (Birmingham) has a long and distinguished cv which combines academic and business pursuits. He has held many directorships and consistencies, including director of the Bank of England 1991-6, and is currently Chancellor of UMIST and chairman of Manchester United plc. It is not, of course, unusual for businessmen to involve themselves in football management -- another example is Phil Soar (Kee1e), the managing director of Blenheim Publishing Group and chief executive of Nottingham Forest.

Christopher Tugendhat (Cambridge) also has a string of company directorships to his name including Blue Circle, BOC, Abbey National and Rio Tinto and was made a life peer in 1993. Others, more briefly, include: Angus McDougall (Sussex), vice-president of Lloyds Bank; Michael Morris (Keele), managing director of Reed Information Services; Sir Howard Springer (Oxford), president of the Sony Corporation of America; Raymond Seitz (Yale), a director at GEC, Rio Tinto, BA, Cable and Wireless; Andrew Sinclair (Cambridge), a prolific writer and managing director of Timon Films; Anita Roddick (Bath Spa University College), the Body Shop entrepreneur; Clara Freeman (Oxford), personnel director at Marks and Spencer,’ and John Varley (Oxford), chief executive and Head of Retail Financial Services at Barclays Bank.[9]

Historians have always made a virtue of the importance of reaching objective judgements based upon wide reading and an understanding of a multiplicity of oft-convicting sources. This is coupled with the ability to write clear, literate, synoptic, analytical accounts that represent a balanced assessment of the sources and evidence but which do not fight shy of drawing conclusions from them. Rightly emphasized by the benchmark group, these are surely vital qualities, not just for business but for many of the other careers where history graduates have so palpably achieved.

So what may we conclude, is the use of history in the world of work? A history degree undoubtedly provides an opening to a wide range of careers. Some will come as no surprise: teaching, academia, clerical and administrative, PR, retail and catering, politics, and library, museum and information services. Others, notably business, may raise an eyebrow. Perhaps most surprising though, is the extent to which historians have risen to the very top of a diverse range of professions and to key positions in civil society and in the attainment of which their education must have played no mean part. A truly remarkable number of history graduates have gone on to become the movers-and-shakers of modern-day Britain. Many top jobs are within the grasp of historians. With a history degree you can aspire to be prime minister, press baron and media mogul, overlord of the BBC, archbishop of Canterbury, top diplomat, Oxbridge vice-chancellor, England footballer and football manager or chairman of the richest football club in the world, celebrated pop musician, best-selling novelist, trade union boss, business millionaire and perhaps even, one day, monarch of the realm.

1] I owe a huge debt to the many alumni officers and colleagues in university History departments who supplied me with the names of their distinguished graduates. I have tried to cross-check this information and to gather more evidence from conventional sources such as Dod 's Parliamentary Companion and Who 's Who. But, caveat emptor, such sources do not always give the first degree of their subjects and are not comprehensive. I would welcome therefore corrections from readers as well as further information for my database

2] Guardian, 28 Nov. 2000

3] There are also many academic historians who have drawn on their expertise to front or appear in programmes that popularise history, such as The History Hunters and Time Team. These are too numerous to list here and besides they do not quite meet the concern of the article to concentrate on careers that are not subject-specific. Among the best known are Michael Wood, David Starkey and Simon Schama.

4] Consideration of the other opposition groups yields similar results -- Alex Salmond, for example, leader of the Scottish National Party throughout the 1990s, studied history and economics at St Andrew's.

5] In this context it is worth mentioning two published historians who are now MPs: Austin Mitchell (Manchester) and Gordon Marsden (Oxford), the former editor of History Today.

6] The last two graduated with disjoint honours.

7] I have uncovered only one actor of note. Bernard Lloyd (Keele), a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

8] There is an enormous amount of literature on this. For a classic statement of the thesis, see M.J. Wiener, English Culture and the decline of the Entrepreneurial Spirit 1850-1980 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. l98l ) and for a counter explanation, see D. Nicholls, ‘Fractions of Capital: the Aristocracy, City, and Industry in the Development of Modern British Capitalism’, Social History. l3 (Jan. 1988). pp. 7l-83.

9] This is just a small selection from my database. It includes as well many joint honours gradates. For example Isabel Maxwell (Oxford, history and modern languages). Daughter of the late newspaper baron is president of one of the USA’s major internet companies, CommTouch.

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