Helen Poole

Helen Poole studied English, History and Archaeology at Bristol University before going on to postgraduate studies in archaeology at Durham and museum studies at Leicester. She excavated on several sites from Fishbourne to Corbridge and has retained a great interest in the subject. Teaching qualifications at Brighton followed later.

A vacation studentship at the British Museum led to a lifelong enthusiasm for a museum career, and she has worked in museums in Hertfordshire and Sussex since qualifying from Leicester. Her efforts at Watford Museum were recognised in the Museum of the Year Award for 1983, with the prize for the best exhibition, which featured on BBC2. She has also appeared on television in a number of other formats, including Mastermind and Crosswits. She is married to an antiquarian bookseller, who has written a book on Agatha Christie's literary output. They have a son and a daughter, and four grandchildren.

Helen is an enthusiastic sharer of information and has produced a range of publications from local themes to business histories. She is well known on the lecture circuit on topics as varied as Cleopatra or Anne of Cleves, and she is a regular steward at Firle Place.