15 Facts About Godfrey Hodgson

Godfrey Hodgson was an English journalist and historian who covered and studied American politics and civil society.

Godfrey Hodgson had degrees from University of Oxford and University of Pennsylvania.

Godfrey Hodgson's father was a headteacher at the Archbishop Holgate's School in North Yorkshire, where the family moved to when he was three.

Godfrey Hodgson's mother suffered multiple sclerosis when he was young, and he contracted osteomyelitis at the age of two leaving him with a disfigured arm.

Godfrey Hodgson's mother died in 1947, when he was 13.

Godfrey Hodgson won scholarships to Winchester College and Magdalen College, Oxford, and achieved a first in history in 1954.

Godfrey Hodgson completed his masters from University of Pennsylvania on a scholarship and wrote his thesis on the English civil war.

Godfrey Hodgson began his career in the UK as a journalist with The Times and later joined The Observer in 1960 as a columnist.

Godfrey Hodgson went on to anchor London Weekend Television's London Programme between 1976 and 1981.

Godfrey Hodgson was one of the co-founders of Channel 4 News in 1982 and served as a presenter until 1985.

Godfrey Hodgson received a fellowship at the Green Templeton College, Oxford, where he taught graduate studies.

Godfrey Hodgson set up the Laurence Stern fellowship with journalist Ben Bradlee from The Washington Post in 1980 for young British journalists to work at the Post and cover American stories.

Godfrey Hodgson coined the phrase "liberal consensus" to describe the liberal values accepted across the political divide, and accompanied by aggressive foreign policy to defeat communism abroad, and domestic abundance enabled by free enterprise.

Godfrey Hodgson went on to dispel several myths about the society, including the central theme in the provocatively titled The Myth of American Exceptionalism.

Godfrey Hodgson married Hilary Lamb in 1970 and the couple had two daughters.