Rupert Willoughby is a freelance historian, Latin-whisperer and impresario of ancient Greeks, with a passion for castles, lakes and uncovering the layers of the past.

His latest book, Mountain Gunner: The Wartime Adventures of Tony Fowle, M.C., 1939 – 1951, is published by Chiselbury. Among his other works are A Head of his Time: The Life and Opinions of Ernest Golledge, Reforming Headmaster, 1872 – 1951, the best-selling Life in Medieval England for Pitkin, and a series of histories of places, including Chawton: Jane Austen’s Village, and the whimsical yet scholarly Basingstoke and its Contribution to World Culture; one reviewer described this as ‘a most entertaining and enlightening enterprise. It makes you want to visit Basingstoke, and that is quite some achievement.’

Rupert is a graduate with First Class Honours from the University of London, where he immersed himself in the ‘Byzantine’, or medieval Greek Empire. In his capacity as an itinerant Classics master, he has taught in a series of prestigious prep schools, including Ludgrove, Arnold House, Thomas’s Kensington, St Paul’s Cathedral School, Summer Fields and Elstree.

He has published numerous articles, contributes regular obituaries to The Daily Telegraph, undertakes private research commissions, occasionally broadcasts to the nation and is an experienced lecturer (accredited to The Arts Society), with an extensive practice both at home and abroad.

Rupert’s forefathers were Vikings and his foremothers were Tatars. He is based in London and on the Hampshire-Berkshire border, midway between Reading and Basingstoke.

Rupert at a favourite swimming spot in the Cevennes.