Neal Ascherson

Appearing on television discussion programme After Dark in 1987

Charles Neal Ascherson (born October 5, 1932) is a Scottish journalist and writer.

Background

He was born in Edinburgh and educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he read history and graduated with a triple starred first.^[1] He was described by the historian Eric Hobsbawm as "perhaps the most brilliant student I ever had. I didn't really teach him much, I just let him get on with it."^[1]

Neal Ascherson is married to fellow journalist Isabel Hilton. They currently live in London with their two children, Iona and Alexander.

Career

After graduating with a starred First,^[2] he declined offers to pursue an academic career. Instead, he chose a career in journalism, first at The Manchester Guardian and then at The Scotsman (1959–1960), The Observer (1960–1990) and The Independent on Sunday (1990–1998). He contributed scripts for the documentary series The World at War (1973-74) and the The Cold War (1998) series. He has also been a regular contributor to the London Review of Books.

Ascherson has lectured and written extensively about Polish and Eastern Europe affairs.^[3][4]

As of 2008^[update] Ascherson is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.^[5] He has been editor of Public Archaeology, an academic journal associated with UCL devoted to CRM and public archaeology issues and developments, since its inception in 1999.^[6]

In 1991 Ascherson was awarded an honorary degree from the Open University as Doctor of the University.^{[citation needed]} On St Andrew's Day 2011 at their Anniversary Meeting the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland elected Ascherson an Honorary Fellow.

Bibliography

• The King Incorporated. 1963. ISBN 1-86207-290-6. 
• The Polish August : the self-limiting revolution. 1981. ISBN 0-670-56305-6. 
• The Book of Lech Wałęsa. 1982. ISBN 0-671-45684-9. 
• The Spanish Civil War (Granada Television serial script, 1983)
• The Nazi Legacy. 1984. ISBN 0-03-069303-9.  with Magnus Linklater and Isabel Hilton
• The Struggles For Poland. 1987. ISBN 0-7181-2812-5. 
• Games With Shadows. 1988. ISBN 0-09-173019-8. 
• Black Sea. 1995. ISBN 0-8090-3043-8. 
• Stone Voices: the search for Scotland. 2002. ISBN 0-8090-8491-0. 
• Opposition to Turkey's Ilisu Dam rises again with Maggie Ronayne, published 27 November 2007, chinadialogue

References

External links

• Works by or about Neal Ascherson in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Neal Ascherson's CV at PFD
• Neal Ascherson at the Internet Movie Database
• Guardian on Neal Ascherson (04/2003)
• Neal Ascherson - Guardian
• Neal Ascherson - Prospect