John Keay | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1941-09-18)18 September 1941 (age 84) Barnstaple, England, United Kingdom |
| Education | Ampleforth College |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
| Occupation(s) | Writer and historian |
| Known for | Histories of colonial Asia |
| Spouse(s) | Julia Atkins (died 2011) |
| Children | Anna and 3 sons |
| Parent(s) | Stanley Keay Jessie Keeping |
| Relatives | Humphrey Atkins (father-in-law) Simon Thurley (son-in-law) |
John Stanley Melville KeayFRGS (born 18 September 1941) is a British historian, journalist, radio presenter and lecturer specialising in popular histories ofIndia, the Far East and China, often with a particular focus on theircolonisation and exploration byEuropeans. In particular, he is widely seen as a pre-eminent historian ofBritish India.[citation needed] He is known both for stylistic flair and meticulous research into archivalprimary sources, including centuries-old unpublished sources.[1][failed verification]
The author of some twenty-five books, he also writes regularly for a number of prominent publications in Britain and Asia. He began his career withThe Economist. He has received several major honours including the SirPercy Sykes Memorial Medal. In 2019, he received an honorary doctorate, presented byPrincess Anne, from theUniversity of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland.[2][3]
The Economist has called him "a gifted non-academic historian", theYorkshire Post has called him "one of our most outstanding historians",The Independent has called his writing "exquisite" andThe Guardian has described his historical analysis as "forensic" and his writing as "restrained yet powerful". He is a Fellow of theRoyal Geographical Society. Keay lives in bothEdinburgh and inArgyll in theWest Highlands ofScotland and travels widely.[4][5][3]
John Keay was born on 18 September 1941 inBarnstaple, Devon, England, to parents of Scottish origin. His father Stanley Walter Keay (1902–1972) was amaster mariner and his mother Florence Jessie née Keeping (1905–1992) was a housewife. He studied atAmpleforth College inYorkshire before going on to read Modern History atMagdalen College, Oxford, where he earned high honours. Among his teachers at Oxford were the historianA. J. P. Taylor and the future playwrightAlan Bennett. In 1965 he visitedIndia for the first time. He went toKashmir for a fortnight'strout-fishing and liked it so much that he returned the following year, this time for six months.
It was during his second stay in Kashmir that Keay decided upon writing as a career. From India, he sent unsolicited articles to many British magazines and newspapers and eventually joined the staff ofThe Economist (1965–71) and returned to India often as its political correspondent. He also started contributing stories toBBC Radio.
In 1971, he gave up his correspondent's job to write his first book,Into India, which was published in 1973. Keay followed it with two volumes about the European exploration of the Western Himalayas in the 19th century:When Men and Mountains Meet (1977) andThe Gilgit Game (1979). These two books were later combined into a single-volume paperback byJohn Murray.Alexander Gardner (1785–1877), the American adventurer and mercenary employed by theSikh Empire, who is featured in Keay's 1977 and 1979 books, is the sole focus of his book,The Tartan Turban: In Search of Alexander Gardner, released in 2017.
In the 1980s he worked forBBC Radio as a writer and presenter, and made several documentary series forBBC Radio 3.[6] He also made programmes forBBC Radio 4. During this time he wroteIndia Discovered, the story of how British colonialists came to find out about the great artefacts ofIndian culture andarchitecture.
John Keay's major books have all received strong positive reviews in leading publications in the UK, US, Asia and elsewhere. The professional recognition he has received has included the following:[7]
His late first wife Julia Keay, née Atkins (1946–2011), was also a successful writer and historian. She was the daughter of the politicianHumphrey Atkins.[8] The historianAnna Keay is the daughter and second child of John and Julia Keay.[9] John Keay also has three other children with Julia Keay: Alexander (born 1973), Nell (born 1977) and Samuel (born 1979). The architectural historianSimon Thurley is his son-in-law. In 2014, Keay married Amanda Douglas.[10] Keay had an uncle who was anIndian Civil Service officer inBritish India.
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