30 Facts About Simon Schama

Simon Schama is a professor of history and art history at Columbia University.

Simon Schama is known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC television documentary series A History of Britain, as well as other documentary series such as The American Future: A History and The Story of the Jews.

Simon Schama was knighted in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Simon Schama was born on 13 February 1945 in Marylebone, London.

In 1956, Simon Schama won a scholarship to the private Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Cricklewood.

Simon Schama then studied history at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he was taught by John H Plumb.

Simon Schama graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Starred First in 1966.

From 1966 to 1976, Simon Schama was a fellow and director of studies in history at Christ's College, Cambridge.

Simon Schama then moved to Oxford University, where he was elected a fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford in 1976, specialising in the French Revolution.

Simon Schama worked at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris.

Simon Schama's second book, Two Rothschilds and the Land of Israel, is a study of the Zionist aims of Edmond and James Rothschild.

In 1980, Simon Schama took up a chair at Harvard University as Mellon Professor of History.

Simon Schama interpreted the ambivalences that informed the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, held in balance between the conflicting imperatives, to live richly and with power, or to live a godly life.

Simon Schama appeared as an on-screen expert in Michael Wood's 1989 PBS series Art of the Western World as a presenting art historian, commenting on paintings by Diego Velazquez, Rembrandt, and Johannes Vermeer.

Simon Schama became art critic for The New Yorker in 1995.

Simon Schama held the position for three years, dovetailing his regular column with professorial duties at Columbia University; a selection of his essays on art for the magazine, chosen by Schama himself, was published in 2005 under the title Hang Ups.

Simon Schama returned to the UK in 2000, having been commissioned by the BBC to produce a series of television documentary programmes on British history as part of their Millennium celebrations, under the title A History of Britain.

Simon Schama wrote and presented the episodes himself, in a friendly and often jocular style with his highly characteristic delivery, and was rewarded with excellent reviews and unexpectedly high ratings.

Simon Schama wrote a trilogy of tie-in books for the show, which took the story up to the year 2000; there is some debate as to whether the books are the tie-in product for the TV series, or the other way around.

In March 2009, Simon Schama presented a BBC Radio 4 show entitled Baseball and Me, both exploring the history of the game and describing his own personal support of the Boston Red Sox.

In 2010, Simon Schama presented a series of ten talks for the BBC Radio 4 series A Point of View.

In 2011, the BBC commissioned Simon Schama to write and present a five-part series called A History of the Jews for BBC Two, for transmission in 2012, The title became The Story of the Jews and broadcast was delayed until September 2013.

In 2018, Simon Schama wrote and presented five of the nine episodes of Civilisations, a reboot of the 1969 series by Kenneth Clark.

Simon Schama is married to Virginia Papaioannou, a geneticist from California; they have two children, Chloe and Gabriel.

In 2010, Simon Schama was a financial donor to Oona King's unsuccessful campaign to become Mayor of London.

Simon Schama made a further criticism of the party in July 2019, when he joined other leading Jewish figures in saying, in a letter to The Guardian, that the crisis was "a taint of international and historic shame" and that trust in the party was "fractured beyond repair".

Simon Schama was critical of British art critic John Berger's support for the Palestinian call for an academic boycott of Israel.

In 2006 on the BBC, Simon Schama debated with Vivienne Westwood the morality of Israel's actions in the Israel-Lebanon War.

Simon Schama described Israel's bombing of Lebanese city centres as unhelpful to Israel's attempt to "get rid of" Hezbollah.

Simon Schama appeared on the BBC's coverage of the 2008 US presidential election, clashing with John Bolton.