W a y m a r k s ~: From Surrey Heath to Ancient Alexandria

Justin Pollard

History is a very big thing, but working in history can be a surprisingly small world … It’s always nice to bump into old friends and colleagues at unexpected times and in unusual places, and one of the things about working in the museum world which has always made the job more fun is exactly that. The number of times I’ve bumped into people I haven’t seen in years, either in work contexts or popping up on the telly, is something I never really thought about when I was getting started, but it happens now with surprising regularity. Discovering what old friends and acquaintances have been doing, where they’ve ended up, and finding out what they’ve been working on, where it’s led them, and the specialisms they’ve developed since we first met, is always a real pleasure.

Back in the early 1990s, when I was starting out in archaeology and museum work, I used to dig with the Surrey Heath Archaeological & Heritage Trust. I dug on two sites with them, first at Lightwater and then in Bagshot, under the direction of the inimitable Geoff Cole. Both were multi-period sites, but mainly Iron Age and Romano-British at Lightwater, with more Medieval and later elements predominant at Bagshot (the two most remarkable finds at Bagshot, I recall, being a tanning pit complete with paddle, c.1600-1700s, and a Roman "Chi-Rho" monogrammed finger ring made of jet). Digging at these two sites in Surrey, along with volunteering at the British Museum, was what enabled me to get a foot in the door and very likely helped to set me up for my later career in museum-work.

Digging at Lightwater, Surrey, 1992

At the time one of the regular site supervisors on these digs in Surrey was Justin Pollard, who I recall really helped fire my enthusiasm for archaeology and history. I learnt quite a bit from him, not just the basics of excavation techniques but also the rudiments of surveying and site recording; as well as an introduction to environmental archaeology, flotation tanks and the like, from Justin’s partner, Steph. The other thing I learnt was just how convivial archaeology and history can be. If half of all archaeology – a very muddy business, is conducted out in the open air, come rain or shine, the other half undoubtedly takes place in the always clement confines of the local pub! … Historians and archaeologists in particular, especially in Britain, love a decent pint of ale.

In the mid-late 1990s I moved onto digging at a Roman Villa excavation in Northamptonshire (which I’ve written about here), and so, slowly, as is the way with life, over the years I gradually lost my connection to and contact with the Surrey Heath gang of diggers. However, working at the BM I’ve helped to facilitate and supervise many filming sessions, particularly for TV crews. If you are a fan of TV history documentaries the chances are I may well have been standing just off camera on some of the programmes you may have watched.

Justin was beginning to get involved with TV projects at the time we used to dig together in Surrey, and so it’s always been nice to see his name popping up on TV and film credits over the subsequent years. He’s forged a fantastic career as a writer and historical adviser. His name might not necessarily always be front and centre of the camera, but you will undoubtedly have come across his work. He has advised on films such as the two Cate Blanchett biopics of Queen Elizabeth I, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, and Atonement. He has also written and worked behind the scenes on a number of historical TV documentaries and series, such as Time Team, Vikings, The Tudors, and the Seven Ages of Britain – as well as the very popular, Peaky Blinders and QI. I did bump into Justin very briefly many, many years back when he was working with my colleague Nick Ashton for an episode of Time Team about a Palaeolithic site in Elveden, Suffolk, which was broadcast in early 2000 (see here). Sadly we didn’t get a chance to chat as I was rushing off somewhere in the opposite direction as he was arriving. It was such a long time ago though, that I doubt Justin would remember me if we bumped into one another now!

Interview with Justin Pollard, 2013 (Chalke Valley History Festival)

As well as TV and film work Justin has written a number of history books and articles, many of which you can find listed here on Goodreads.

With the help of his friend, the late Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, himself a historian, Justin has also co-founded (with John Mitchinson and Dan Kiernan) a crowd-funded publishing venture, Unbound.

You can find out more about Justin’s interesting line of work in the two short accompanying TV interviews, and read about his involvement with making QI here.

Interview with Justin Pollard, 2019 (Breaking the Ice)

Asides from shared roots in archaeology, the other thing I have in common with Justin is a deep interest in the Hellenistic city of ancient Alexandria. A cosmopolitan, scholarly, and deeply modern city, where the Old Testament was famously first translated into Ancient Greek, Alexandria was perhaps the first truly global city, which like its famed lighthouse shone as a beacon of light across the entire ancient world. In the mid-1990s I wrote my Classics A-level dissertation on the Great Library of Alexandria, thereby beginning a lifelong fascination with such learned historical figures as the mathematician and geographer, Eratosthenes – who first devised a way to accurately measure the circumference of the Earth; and the poet, Callimachus – who invented the library catalogue, and who also is supposed to have said "mega biblion, mega kakon" ("a big book is a big bore") in a literary dispute with Apollonius of Rhodes, author of the epic, Argonautica; and also the truly remarkable philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, Hypatia – she was a deeply respected scholar and much loved teacher whose very brutal murder shocked the Classical world. So it was a really happy surprise when I recently found Justin's book, The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern Mind (2006), co-authored with Howard Reid. Justin also wrote and co-produced the documentary, Alexandria – The Greatest City, presented by Bettany Hughes in 2010, which very evocatively brings this wonderful cultural melting pot of an ancient university town vividly to life.

Alexandria - The Greatest City, 2010 (Lion Television)

So, as I said before, history is a very big thing. But those who venture undaunted into its vast landscape often seem to follow paths which occasionally re-cross over great and improbable stretches of time (those early digging days in deepest Surrey seem so long ago now). Perhaps that’s not so surprising though, as after all we are clearly all fellow time-travellers with kindred passions and deep rooted interests traversing the broad fields of history. In our shared pursuit of the past, in search of the lives of people who lived long before us, we've created interesting lives and scholarly adventures of our own, and that is something well worth raising a glass to, if ever there was – cheers!