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| 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.
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| 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!
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| "Now, here's an interesting thing ..." |
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