David Starkey

I was outrageous on the 'Moral Maze.' The closest I sailed to the wind was when I almost outed a most saintly…

— David Starkey

I tend to be a bit of a proselytiser for the importance of royal courts, but all politics - in fact every…

— David Starkey

In the early 20th century the monarchy was held up as the archetypical virtuous British family. In the late 20th century it…

— David Starkey

I always bought pictures, I only started to buy oil paintings when I started to make serious amounts of money because they…

— David Starkey

“Elizabeth for the whole of Edward's reign, never wore the rich jewels and clothes left her by her father. Instead, she offered…

— David Starkey

At the top, successful blacks, like David Lammy and Diane Abbot, have merged effortlessly into what continues to be a largely white…

— David Starkey

I admire writers who have the tenacity to write a blog, and I'm told by everyone that it's an important element in…

— David Starkey

You could say that my life since has been a sustained act of luxurious rebellion.

— David Starkey

I'm not a delicate man.

— David Starkey

My biggest poetic influences are probably 20th-century British and Irish poets. So I suppose I'm always listening for the music I associate…

— David Starkey

Since I was a child, I've gone to bed when things get too much. As a result, I have more trouble winding…

— David Starkey

I think it's probably true that creative people are touched by melancholy more than the average person, and to the extent that…

— David Starkey

In the 20th century, the position of the monarch as head of the Church of England was given a meaning which it…

— David Starkey

If I'm relaxing, I'll make a proper cooked breakfast and very slowly drift into the day.

— David Starkey

I was born a cripple, with two club feet, and mild polio in the left leg. I was in orthopaedic boots right…

— David Starkey

It's not every day that you're the subject of direct personal attack from the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition.

— David Starkey

The idea that it's only the young or people who've grown up with a technology who can appreciate it. Complete nonsense!

— David Starkey

We are dangerously devaluing knowledge and learning by no longer having a requirement to remember anything at all.

— David Starkey

In the same way that I've no desire to live in earlier historical periods, I never touch historical recipes. Most historical cooking…

— David Starkey

I wouldn't dream of commenting on Hilary Mantel as a novelist, frankly I'd be grateful if she stayed off my patch as…

— David Starkey

Delving into history is not an escape for me. I'm like a detective, sniffing for clues with a terrier-like excitement.

— David Starkey

We don't normally go on about the fact that Roman Catholics once upon a time didn't have the vote and weren't allowed…

— David Starkey

To footnote properly takes time.

— David Starkey

The notion that you can duff up a country for three months, pacify it for a bit longer and then miraculously transform…

— David Starkey

Why would you want to drape yourself in the trappings of marriage?

— David Starkey