Dr Nick Barratt
Dr Jonathan Foyle

Dr Nick Barratt BA (Hons) PhD
Dr Nick Barratt is a professional broadcaster and director of several media companies, including Sticks Research Agency - the company responsible for the genealogical research for the award-winning and double-BAFTA nominated BBC series Who Do You Think You Are and BAFTA-nominated Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. He has recently presented Hidden House History for the History Channel and will be co-presenting So You Think You're Royal on Sky One in 2007. He writes a regular column for the Daily Telegraph's Weekend section called 'Family Detective' and has authored a book of the same name to accompany the strand, published November 2006 by Ebury. Other publications include series support books for Who Do You Think You Are (Harper Collins, 2005 & 2006) and The National Archive's best-selling title Tracing the History of Your House (2nd edition 2006). He is also a director of Firebird Media, responsible for designing and building the National Memorybank, to be launched at the first National History Show - Britain's largest history show that will take place at Earl's Court Olympia in May 2007, for which Nick also acts as consultant historian.

His academic career includes a First Class BA (Hons) from King's College London (1991), and a PhD from the same institution awarded in 1996 in state finance and fiscal history. He has authored numerous articles on finance, politics and institutions during the period 1066-1307 - these have been published in conference proceedings volumes and leading academic journals such as the English Historical Review. Nick also runs the Archive Research Techniques and Skills (ARTS) scheme, training higher education students who wish to undertake research on primary sources in record offices and archives. Consequently he spends much of his time lecturing to students up and down the UK.

After leaving college, Nick worked for the Public Record Office, now The National Archives, at Kew as a specialist advisor in medieval history, helping to run the nascent Medieval and Early Modern Record Information Service (MEMRIS) and establish the Academic Induction scheme. On leaving in 2000, he joined the BBC as specialist archive researcher, working on series such as House Detectives, Invasion, One Foot in the Past and Omnibus. It was at this point that Sticks Research Agency was founded, and he left the BBC in 2002 to grow the company. He presented the end section of Who Do You Think You Are with Adrian Chiles, as well as ten films for BBCi on family history shown after the main show was broadcast, and now works on a regular basis with other broadcasters such as Jonathan Foyle, with whom he presented Hidden House History and History Mysteries alongside Miranda Krestovnikoff for BBC2 in 2005. Future plans for the team include the development of a heritage tourism business in association with Ancestry.co.uk and Paramount Hotels.
Related links:
www.sra-uk.com
www.nickbarratt.co.uk

Dr Jonathan Foyle BA (Hons) MA Dipl Arch (RIBA Pt I & II) PhD

Dr Jonathan Foyle has a full architectural training and a holds a doctorate in buildings archaeology with two research awards. He has developed his practical knowledge of major and minor historical monuments over more than a decade, including as a surveyor of Canterbury Cathedral, and as Buildings Curator at Hampton Court Palace and Kew Palace for almost 8 years. His precise and evocative architectural illustrations and reconstructions have been widely featured in broadcasts, exhibitions and publications.

He teaches architectural history for Cambridge University's International Division and has written widely, including for The Sunday Times, Architects' Journal, Current Archaeology, and Building Design. His presenting credits include Hidden House History (History Channel, 2006), History Mysteries (BBC2, 2006), and Restoration Secrets (BBC4, 2003) and he is a regular specialist contributor to Time Team (Channel 4 2003-6).

For further information, and to contact the team, click here.

To see excerpts from Hidden House History, visit the accompanying website www.hiddenhousehistory.co.uk which was designed and written in association with Drs Foyle and Barratt.