Wilson, Derek 1935- (Jonathan Kane, D.A. Wilson, Derek A. Wilson, Derek Alan Wilson)

PERSONAL:

Born October 10, 1935, in Colchester, England; son of Sydney Harold and May Beatrice Wilson; married Marjorie Ruth Elizabeth King, 1961; children: Hilary Lynn Rowena, Jacqueline Eve Carey, Timothy Hal Quentin. Education: Peterhouse, Cambridge, B.A., 1960, M.A., 1963. Religion: Church of England.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Devon, England. Agent—Charles Walker, PFD, Drury House, 34-43 Russell St., London WC2B 5HA, England. E-mail—enquiries@derekwilson.com.

CAREER:

Duke of York School (now Lenana School), Nairobi, Kenya, history teacher and housemaster, 1964-71; historian and author. Broadcaster with Voice of Kenya, 1965-71; broadcaster with British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), 1980-86. Founder and Organizer of Cambridge History Festival, 2003—.

MEMBER:

Society of Authors, United Oxford and Cambridge Club.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Archbishop Cranmer Prize from Cambridge University, 1968, for "John Lascelles and Anne Ayscough: A Study in the Spread of Protestantism among the Gentry of Court and County."

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(Under name Derek A. Wilson; with Gideson S. Were) East Africa through a Thousand Years: A History of the Years A.D. 1000 to Present Day, Evans Brothers (London, England), 1968, 2nd edition, Africana Publishing (New York, NY), 1971.

(Under name D.A. Wilson) East African History: 1000-1970, Progress Publications (Nairobi, Kenya), 1970, revised edition, Evans Brothers (London, England), 1976.

(Under name Derek A. Wilson) A Student's Atlas of African History, University of London Press (London, England), 1971.

A Tudor Tapestry: Men, Women, and Society in Reformation England, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), 1972.

A History of South and Central Africa, Cambridge University Press (London, England), 1975.

The People and the Book: The Revolutionary Impact of the English Bible, 1380-1611, Barrie & Jenkins (London, England), 1976.

(With Peter Ayerst) White Gold: The Story of African Ivory, Taplinger (New York, NY), 1976.

(Under name D.A. Wilson) West African History: 1000-1960, Evans Brothers (London, England), 1976.

A New Primary History Course for Kenya, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1976.

(Under name D.A. Wilson) Kenya Junior School Examination World History, Evans Brothers (London, England), 1976.

A Short History of Suffolk, David & Charles (London, England), 1977.

The World Encompassed: Francis Drake and His Great Voyage, Harper (New York, NY), 1977, published as The World Encompassed: Drake's Great Voyage, 1577-1580, Hamish Hamilton (London, England), 1977.

(With Margaret Sharman) The Illustrated Book of World History, Evans Brothers (London, England), 1977, Hippocrene (New York, NY), 1978.

England in the Age of Thomas More, Hart-Davis McGibbon (London, England), 1978, Beekman (New York, NY), 1979.

The Tower, 1078-1978, Hamish Hamilton (London, England), 1978, published as The Tower: The Tumultuous History of the Tower of London from 1078, Scribner (New York, NY), 1979.

(Under name D.A. Wilson; with J.O. Sagay) Africa: A Modern History, 1800-1975, Evans Brothers (London, England), 1978, Africana Publishing (New York, NY), 1980.

The World Atlas of Treasure, Collins (London, England), 1981.

Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 1533-1588, Hamish Hamilton (London, England), 1981.

Extraordinary People, Pan (London, England), 1983.

Francis Frith's Travels, Dent (London, England), 1985.

Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, Deutsch (London, England), 1988, published as Rothschild: The Wealth and Power of a Dynasty, Scribner (New York, NY), 1988.

The Astors: The Life and Times of the Astor Dynasty, 1763-1992, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1993, published as The Astors: 1763-1992, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1997.

(With Felipe Fernandez-Armesto) Reformation: A Radical Interpretation of Christianity and the World, 1500-2000, Scribner (New York, NY), 1997.

The King and the Gentleman: Charles Stuart and Oliver Cromwell, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

In the Lion's Court: Power, Ambition, and Sudden Death in the Court of Henry VIII, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

All the King's Women: Love, Sex and Politics in the Life of Charles II, Hutchinson (London, England), 2003.

A Brief History of the Circumnavigators, Constable & Robinson (London, England), 2003.

The Uncrowned Kings of England: The Black History of the Dudleys and the Tudor Throne, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2005.

Charlemagne: Barbarian & Emperor, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2006.

FICTION

The Bear's Whelp: The Autobiography of Robert Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Earl of Warwick, and Earl of Leicester in the Holy Roman Empire, Hamish Hamilton (London, England), 1978, published as Her Majesty's Captain: Being the Manuscript of Robert Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Earl of Warwick, and Earl of Leicester in the Holy Roman Empire, from His Own Hand: A Novel, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 1979.

Bear Rampant: The Autobiography of Robert Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Earl of Warwick and Earl of Leicester in the Holy Roman Empire, Part Two: 1598-1603, Hamish Hamilton (London, England), 1981, State Mutual Book (New York, NY), 1982.

(As Jonathan Kane) Triple Take, Orbit (London, England), 1991.

(As Jonathan Kane) Triptych, Orbit (London, England), 1999.

The Swarm of Heaven: A Renaissance Mystery, Constable & Robinson (London, England), 1999.

"TIM LACY ARTWORLD MYSTERY" SERIES

The Triarchs, Headline (London, England), 1994.

The Dresden Text, Headline (London, England), 1994.

The Camargue Brotherhood, Headline (London, England), 1995.

The Hellfire Papers, Headline (London, England), 1995.

The Borgia Chalice, Headline (London, England), 1996.

Cumberland's Cradle, Headline (London, England), 1996.

"KEENE'S REVOLUTION" SERIES

Keene's Quest, Severn House (New York, NY), 2001.

Keene's Terror, Severn House (New York, NY), 2002.

Keene's Liberty, Severn House (New York, NY), 2002.

"NATHANIEL GYE, PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR" SERIES

Tripletree, Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2004.

The Nature of Rare Things, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2005.

Unquiet Spirit, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2006.

RADIO PLAYS

The Princely Pleasures at Kenilworth, British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) Radio 4, 1985.

The Lost Colony, BBC Radio 4, 1986.

The Mystery of the Reluctant Storyteller, BBC Radio 4, 1986.

DOCUMENTARIES

The Golden Obsession (six-part series), BBC Radio 4, 1983.

Men Sent to Lie Abroad (six-part series), BBC Radio 4, 1984.

The Last Witch, BBC Radio 4, 1985.

Who Needs Adventure, BBC Radio 4, 1986.

After the Darkness, Light, BBC Radio 4, 1986.

SIDELIGHTS:

Derek Wilson is known primarily for his books about England's Tudor period, which began with the Tudor family's rise to power when Henry VII assumed the throne in 1485 and ended with the death of his granddaughter, Elizabeth I, in 1603. Considered one of the most tumultuous eras in England's history, the reign of the Tudors was marked by vast cultural changes that included the founding of a new church of England, the development of England into a formidable naval power, and the proliferation of arts and literature.

A Tudor Tapestry: Men, Women, and Society in Reformation England, published in 1972, is Wilson's first book about Tudor England. Wilson begins his book with a discussion of the era's religious and political upheavals, most notably the English Reformation. Like the far-reaching religious European Reformation of the sixteenth century, the English Reformation similarly arose from dissatisfaction with Roman Catholic church doctrine. In England, however, the controversy was sparked by Tudor monarch Henry VIII, who denounced the Catholic pope's authority after the pope refused to grant Henry an annulment from his first marriage. In 1543 Henry issued the Act of Supremacy, which denied the sovereignty of the pope in matters of church and state and established an independent Church of England, with Henry at its head. Catholic monasteries and lands were confiscated by the state and turned over to secular landlords. Wilson provides a unique perspective on this era, wrote a reviewer in the Times Literary Supplement, by focusing on how these events affected the average person in Tudor society. The reviewer credited Wilson's thorough research for providing "much fresh information," while adding that the "arrangement and evaluation has produced a piece of historical writing as informative as it is readable."

Another of Wilson's books examining the Tudor era is his 1977 biography of British explorer Sir Francis Drake, The World Encompassed: Drake's Great Voyage. Deemed a "scintillating biography" by Alden Whitman in the New York Times, Wilson's book tells of Drake's daring voyage around the world that began in 1577 and ended nearly three years later. Wilson "writes well, with a good feeling for narrative, nicely spiced with touches of nautical detail and quotations from original accounts," assessed K.R. Andrews in the Times Literary Supplement. Andrews added that the author "presents the big scenes of Drake's voyage dramatically, heightening their colour by strong characterization and plentiful dialogue."

One aspect of Tudor history that holds particular interest for Wilson is the Dudley family who for several generations served the Tudor monarchs Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Elizabeth I. The Dudleys have been unfairly maligned in history, asserts Wilson, whose efforts to change some misconceptions about the family resulted in his 1981 biography Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 1533-1588, a work on the life of the most famous Dudley. A favored courtier of Elizabeth I, Sir Robert Dudley made many political enemies during his lifetime but enjoyed a close alliance with the queen who, scholars speculate, wanted to marry him. Historians have generally regarded him as a blackguard who exploited his relationship with Elizabeth in order to advance his own career. Wilson, however, views him as a devoted and shrewd courtier who deserves more favourable opinion than is commonly allowed by historians.

Sweet Robin, which garnered mostly favorable reviews, is, according to D.M. Loades in the Times Literary Supplement, a "well-written and perceptive character study which manages to avoid the pitfalls of historical distortion." He added that Wilson has "incorporate[d] very useful and original research into a popular format without losing the momentum and appeal of his story." Loades particularly liked Wilson's "penetrating and fair-minded commentary" on Dudley's relationship with the royal Elizabeth, "which draws upon much new or little-known evidence" and is "the best part of the book." Writing in the New York Times Book Review, Frances Taliaferro remarked that Wilson "admirably rehabilitates" Dudley's image and gives the reader a fine sense of Leicester's "vigorous presence."

In a later work, The Uncrowned Kings of England: The Black History of the Dudleys and the Tudor Throne, Wilson "asserts that England almost—almost—had a native-born royal dynasty in the Dudley family, which hitched its wagon to the stars of the Welsh Tudors," observed a critic in Kirkus Reviews. Wilson recounts the triumphs and failures of three generations of Dudleys, including Edmund, whose staunch support of Henry VII's unpopular policies cost him his life; Edmund's son, John, who was executed for his attempts to install Jane Grey to the throne; and John's son, Robert, who courted Elizabeth I. "Wilson makes a convincing case that the Dudleys were less ruthless than reputed; they strengthened the Tudor monarchs and helped to build their financial base," a Publishers Weekly contributor remarked.

Wilson also wrote two fictional works based on the life of Leicester's adventurous son, another Robert. The first, The Bear's Whelp: The Autobiography of Robert Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Earl of Warwick, and Earl of Leicester in the Holy Roman Empire, was published in 1978. Written in first-person narrative, the book covers the period in Robert's life from 1574 to 1596. Susan Kennedy, writing in the Times Literary Supplement, remarked that Wilson "is obviously fascinated by the details of sixteenth-century navigation and shipping" and "writes well of these" when recounting Dudley's sea exploits. Kennedy found Wilson's description of court life "wordy and humourless," however, and claimed that the book contains "stereo-typed portraits" of Sir Robert and another famous courtier, Sir Walter Raleigh. In his second volume, Bear Rampant: The Autobiography of Robert Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Earl of Warwick, and Earl of Leicester in the Holy Roman Empire, Part Two: 1598-1603 Wilson provides a first-person account of Robert's life from 1598 until Elizabeth's death in 1603. Lindsay Duguid, writing in the Times Literary Supplement, observed that Wilson "is not particularly strong on characterization" but commended the author for his "brisk way with a naval battle and his gusto in piling on dramatic events."

Other books about the Tudor period include England in the Age of Thomas More, an account of the life and times of the respected English statesman who was sentenced to death under Henry VIII for refusing to acknowledge the king as the head of the English church; and The Tower, 1078-1978, a history of England's famous Tower of London, which has been used variously as a fortress, a prison, a residence, a zoo, and a tourist attraction in its more than nine-hundred-year history.

In 1999 Wilson published The King and the Gentleman: Charles Stuart and Oliver Cromwell, a dual biography of King Charles I and his military and political nemesis. Wilson devotes a good part of the book to his subjects' formative years, paying special attention to their differing religious views. According to a critic in Publishers Weekly, the author "suggests that both wished to transcend the Puritan education that had instilled in them their immutable faith: while Charles rose ever nearer sensuous Catholicism, Cromwell gravitated toward charismatic evangelism." Writing in the English Historical Review, Richard Grassby stated that The King and the Gentleman "offers some intelligent comments on spiritual passion, community networks and the relationship of beliefs to action."

Wilson took on perhaps the best-remembered of the Tudor kings in his 2002 release, In the Lion's Court: Power, Ambition, and Sudden Death in the Court of King Henry VIII. The monarch who directed the fate of his six wives—as recalled in the popular mnemonic verse, "divorced, beheaded, died/divorced, beheaded, survived"—also altered the fates of the "six Thomases" of Henry's court. Wolsey the cleric, More the lawyer, Cromwell the "whizz kid," Howard the nobleman, Wriothseley the courtier and Cranmer the scholar jockeyed for power and influence in the royal court. Wilson assigns these real-life characters a modern social context; a coronation crowd in 1511 is compared to the cheering throng at a rock concert, and Cromwell was "the 16th-century equivalent of a dot.com millionaire, prospering in a culture of grasping greed," as a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted. The author also provides a new mnemonic to remember the fates of the six Thomases: "Died, beheaded, beheaded/Self-slaughtered, burned, survived."

Recording the goings-on in Henry's court during the monarch's thirty-eight-year reign demands "an impressive command of early Tudor history," noted a Kirkus Reviews critic. While Wilson lives up to that task, the Kirkus critic also felt that the author holds back on "the lurid details of life, sex, and death that have drawn readers to the subject of centuries." The Publishers Weekly contributor, though, commended Wilson's "provocative and fresh" look at the notorious Tudor king, and the view was echoed by Library Journal critic Robert Jones, who said that the study "contains a brilliant series of parallel portraits—a fresh look at each Thomas's family and social origins, his education [and] his entry into ‘the lion's den.’"

Though not Tudor or royalty, the Astor family has claimed a place in the cultural heritage of the United States, as chronicled by Wilson in The Astors: The Life and Times of the Astor Dynasty, 1763-1992. Patriarch John Jacob Astor (1763-1848), a butcher by training, was a native of Heidelberg who immigrated to the United States to seek his fortune. He found it in trade, selling everything from muskets to furs. His descendents built upon John Jacob Astor's land holdings in New York to amass a fortune of 60 million dollars by the beginning of the nineteenth century. The family was wealthy beyond imagination, but they craved prestige as much as money. Escaping the taint of business scandal, William Waldorf Astor fled to England "and tried to turn himself from plutocrat to aristocrat with the aid of [a] spurious ancestry," as Piers Brendon noted in a New Statesman review. Nevertheless, the family gained a peerage.

Wilson's telling of the dynasty's story, said Brendon, "seems altogether too indulgent toward the later Astors. For example, ‘Bill,’ the third Viscount (1907-1960), is found guilty only of gullibility in his association with Stephen Ward during the Profumo affair." The critic also thought Wilson provided "no proper accounting of the Astors' wealth." Still, the author "does score with his colourful cameos of individual members of the clan. As he says, affluence fosters eccentricity. It spawned Henry Astor, who paved one of his rooms with silver dollars; … and ‘Colonel’ Jack Astor, who built a hotel dining room so enormous that the servants had to communicate from one end to the other by telephone."

In 2006 Wilson published Charlemagne: Barbarian & Emperor, a biography of the Frankish king whose military and political conquests created an empire in the Early Middle Ages and paved the way for the development of modern Europe. According to a critic in Kirkus Reviews, Wilson "has two interests here: to tell the ‘truth’ about the historical Charlemagne (difficult to do with primary texts written by folks not principally interested in fact) and to examine how his life has affected ensuing western history." In addition to chronicling the emperor's military triumphs, Wilson also devotes attention to Charlemagne's scholarly and religious pursuits, including his coronation as emperor by Pope Leo III. "Wilson embroiders Charlemagne's actions with the broad-minded personality that has come down to us," wrote Booklist reviewer Gilbert Taylor.

In addition to his works of nonfiction, Wilson has penned radio plays, documentary screenplays, crime thrillers, and historical fiction. In the "Tim Lacy Artworld Mystery" series, a security expert investigates fraud and murder in the international art world. Set in the late eighteenth century, Wilson's "Keene's Revolution" series concerns the activities of an English spy in the war against Revolutionary France.

A Cambridge University parapsychology lecturer is the focus of the "Nathaniel Gye, Paranormal Investigator" series. In Tripletree, the debut work in the series, Gye and his journalist wife, Kathryn, attend a masquerade party at the home of Shelley and June Myles in the village of Colin Polyts. The festivities are ruined, however, when a local woman is found drowned. Though the death is ruled accidental, Shelley grows alarmed when his wife claims she murdered the woman, and he contacts Gye to look into the case, which may involve evil spirits that inhabit the grounds of the estate. "Gye's investigation leads to run-ins with a white witch, a regression-therapy charlatan who expires in a gas explosion, and a slew of locals," noted a Kirkus Reviews critic. "Murders, older and newer, cleverly committed and concealed, are convincingly revealed," according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

Gye attempts to uncover the truth behind the theft of a valuable Renaissance painting in The Nature of Rare Things. When security guard Bob Gomer is wrongly accused of stealing the artwork and commits suicide, his widow implores Gye to attend a séance. Through the medium, Gomer reveals that he did not kill himself, and he declares that Gye's wife, who is traveling in Italy, is in imminent danger. Rex E. Klett, writing in the Library Journal, praised the "clever plot full of artful dodging, thwarted seduction, and masterly illusion." In Unquiet Spirit, the third work in the series, Gye looks into the death of a college professor that may have been caused by a malevolent spirit. "Wilson's tautly written whodunit leads to a stunning conclusion," wrote a contributor in Publishers Weekly.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Apollo, December, 1996, review of Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man, p. 70.

Booklist, November 15, 1999, Gilbert Taylor, review of The King and the Gentleman: Charles Stuart and Oliver Cromwell, p. 599; March 1, 2005, Jenny McLarin, review of The Nature of Rare Things, p. 1148; May 1, 2006, Gilbert Taylor, review of Charlemagne: Barbarian & Emperor, p. 68; November 1, 2006, David Pitts, review of Unquiet Spirit, p. 32.

Books, September, 1988, review of Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, p. 17.

Business Week, January 30, 1989, review of Rothschild: The Wealth and Power of a Dynasty, p. 12.

Choice, July, 1989, review of Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, p. 1890; March, 1998, review of Hans Holbein, p. 1184.

Contemporary Review, December, 1993, review of Rothschild, p. 335; May, 1998, review of The World Encompassed: Francis Drake and His Great Voyage, p. 276; August, 1998, review of The Tower of London, p. 108; October, 2003, review of All the King's Women: Love, Sex and Politics in the Life of Charles II, p. 254; July, 2005, review of The Uncrowned Kings of England: The Black History of the Dudleys and the Tudor Throne, p. 58.

Economist, September 17, 1988, review of Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, p. 106; March 12, 1994, review of Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, p. 100.

English Historical Review, November, 2000, Richard Grassby, review of The King and the Gentleman, p. 1303.

History Review, December, 2000, Ivan Roots, review of The King and the Gentleman, p. 50.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 1993, review of The Astors: 1763-1992, p. 993; November 1, 1998, review of Rothschild: The Wealth and Power of a Dynasty, p. 1596; October 15, 1999, review of The King and the Gentleman, p. 1630; January 15, 2002, review of In the Lion's Court, p. 96; May 1, 2004, review of Tripletree, p. 426; September 15, 2004, review of The Uncrowned Kings of England, p. 908; February 15, 2005, review of The Nature of Rare Things, p. 203; April 15, 2006, review of Charlemagne, p. 400.

Library Journal, October 1, 1993, review of Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, p. 110; April 1, 1997, Sandra Collins, review of Reformation, p. 98; October 15, 1999, Jean E.S. Storrs, review of The King and the Gentleman, p. 80; March 1, 2002, Robert Jones, review of In the Lion's Court, p. 121; April 1, 2005, Rex E. Klett, review of The Nature of Rare Things, p. 74; May 1, 2006, Jim Doyle, review of Charlemagne, p. 96.

New Statesman, March 5, 1993, Piers Brendon, review of The Astors: The Life and Times of the Astor Dynasty, 1763-1992, p. 38.

New York Times, April 24, 1978, Alden Whitman, review of The World Encompassed.

New York Times Book Review, August 16, 1981, Frances Taliaferro, review of Sweet Robin.

Observer (London, England), September 4, 1988, review of Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, p. 40; January 7, 1990, review of Rothschild, p. 40; February 28, 1993, review of The Astors: The Life and Times of the Astor Dynasty, 1763-1992, p. 59; June 23, 1996, review of Hans Holbein, p. 14.

Publishers Weekly, July 5, 1993, review of Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, p. 55; October 6, 1997, review of Hans Holbein, p. 64; October 18, 1999, review of The King and the Gentleman, p. 37; February 4, 2002, review of In the Lion's Court, p. 62; May 17, 2004, review of Tripletree, p. 37; October 4, 2004, review of The Uncrowned Kings of England, p. 79; March 13, 2006, review of Charlemagne, p. 51; October 2, 2006, review of Unquiet Spirit, p. 42.

Reference and Research Book News, November, 1994, review of The Astors: 1763-1992, p. 6.

School Library Journal, August, 2006, Kathy Tewell, review of Charlemagne, p. 147.

Times Literary Supplement, November 4, 1988, review of Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, p. 1225; March 26, 1993, review of The Astors: The Life and Times of the Astor Dynasty, 1763-1992, p. 26; February 28, 1997, review of Hans Holbein, p. 20; January 22, 1999, review of The World Encompassed, p. 32.

Wall Street Journal, October 4, 1993, review of Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power, p. A13.

OTHER

Derek Wilson Web site,http://www.derekwilson.com (February 5, 2007).