Bettany Hughes

Bettany grew up in West London. Her parents were in the theatre and it was there that she learnt early on the importance and delight of sharing thoughts and ideas with a wider public. Bettany won a scholarship to read Ancient and Modern History at Oxford University and then continued her post-graduate research while travelling through the Balkans and Asia Minor.

Bettany lectures throughout the world. She has been invited to universities in the US, Australia, Germany, Turkey and Holland to speak on subjects as diverse as Helen of Troy and the origins of female 'Sophia' to concepts of Time in the Islamic world. She considers her work in the lecture halls and seminar rooms amongst the most important and rewarding. But she does not confine herself to just the world of academia. She has written and presented a number of documentaries for television including When The Moors Ruled Europe, Helen of Troy and The Spartans for Channel 4, which were viewed over 50 million people worldwide. Bettany is frequently asked to sit on academic and cultural jury panels.

Her book Helen of Troy - the first serious and wide-ranging book ever to have been written about Helen - was published in 2005 to great critical and popular acclaim. She is currently writing a book on Socrates.

Topics

• The Challenge of Democracy "using Golden Age Athens as my sounding board"

• Women in History and In The Future

• The roots of the relationship between Christian and Muslim communities.

• Our Use of Time

• The value of Sophia - Wisdom

• Femmes Fatales

• Mass Media, Pop culture and the Future of the Mind