Dominic studied History and French at Balliol College, Oxford, where he won the James Gay and Kirk- Greene Prizes. He studied for a Master’s at the University of St Andrews, and then read for his PhD at Jesus College, Cambridge, going on to win the Sara Norton Prize. He has been a lecturer in history at the University of Sheffield and has twice been a senior fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford, just around the corner from NCS. Since 2012 he has been a Visiting Professor at King’s College London. Dominic is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a trustee of the National Archives Trust. 

Dominic is the author of too many books to list here, but the NCS audience was particularly interested in the hugely popular ‘Adventures in Time’ series of children’s history books, titles in which have included The Second World War, Alexander the Great and The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Dominic has written for almost all major British papers, as well as some international papers. He has been nominated as Critic of the Year in the National Press Awards and as Comment Journalist of the Year in the British Journalism Awards. Dominic has also written a monthly column for BBC History Magazine. Dominic has appeared frequently on Radio 4 and his television career began with the four-part documentary series The 70s in 2012. He has since presented series about the 1980s, Britain in the Cold War, the history of science fiction and the history of British popular culture. 

Dominic is currently perhaps best known for being the co-presenter of the worldwide hit podcast ‘The Rest is History’, which has been going since 2020 and was awarded the Royal Academy President’s Medal in 2023. The podcast has several million downloads per month and is consistently ranked in the top ten podcasts in the UK. 

For our Holloway Lecture, Dominic spoke brilliantly on ‘Seafarers Who Changed the World’, taking a packed-out audience through some key figures in history who have shaped the modern world through their seafaring ways.