John Blair (historian)
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John Blair | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Blair in 2021 | |
| Born | William John Blair 4 March 1955 |
| Title | Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology |
| Spouse |
Kanerva Blair-Heikkinen
(m. 2005) |
| Parent | Claude Blair |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Brasenose College, Oxford |
| Thesis | Landholding, Church and Settlement in Surrey before 1300 (1983) |
| Doctoral advisor | Barbara Harvey |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline |
|
| Sub-discipline | Early medieval English history |
| Institutions | The Queen's College, Oxford |
William John Blair, (born 4 March 1955) is an English historian, archaeologist, and academic, who specialises in Anglo-Saxon England. He is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford. He gave the 2013 Ford Lectures at the University of Oxford.
Blair was born on 4 March 1955 in Woking, Surrey, England.[1] His father was Claude Blair, a museum curator and "one of the foremost authorities on historic European metalwork, especially arms and armour",[2] and his mother was Joan Mary Greville Blair (née Drinkwater).[1]
Blair was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead, a private school in Leatherhead, Surrey.[1] He then studied at Brasenose College, Oxford, graduating with a first-class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1976.[1] He remained at Brasenose College to undertake postgraduate research and completed his Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1983.[1][3] His doctoral thesis was titled Landholding, Church and Settlement in Surrey before 1300: this subsequently became the basis of his first book, Early Medieval Surrey (1991).[4]
Academic career
During his doctoral research, Blair was a Junior Research Fellow at Brasenose College, Oxford.[3] In 1981, he was elected a Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford.[1][3] Since then, he has been a praelector and tutor in history at the college.[1] On 1 October 2006, he was awarded a Title of Distinction by the University of Oxford as Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology.[5] He retired in October 2020 and was made an emeritus fellow of The Queen's College.[6]
Blair gave the 2013 Ford Lectures at the University of Oxford.[7] The lecture series was titled "Building the Anglo-Saxon Landscape".[8]
On 5 May 1983, Blair was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).[9] He was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2008.[10]
