Sir Roderick Beaton

Sir Roderick Beaton has been travelling in and around Italy and the Mediterranean since his teens and has many years' experience of lecturing on cruises to the region. In his recent books, The Greeks: A Global History and Europe: A New History (soon to be a Penguin paperback), he has authoritatively explored the legacy of the ancient civilisations of Greece and Rome to modern Europe and the wider world. He is also a leading expert on the life and work of Lord Byron and the poet's contribution to the history of Italy and Greece in the early nineteenth century.

Born and bred in Edinburgh, Roderick went on to Cambridge to take his BA degree in English Literature, followed by a doctorate in Modern Greek.

For thirty years he served as Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King's College London and is now Emeritus. He is also Chairman of the British School at Athens, an institute of advanced research in Greece supported by the British Academy.

Roderick is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA); a Fellow of King's College; an Honorary Fellow of his old College at Cambridge, Peterhouse; and Commander of the Order of Honour of the Hellenic Republic. In 2023 he received honorary citizenship of Greece and an honorary doctorate from the University of Patras. In February 2025 he was knighted by King Charles Ill for services to History and UK/ Greek relations.