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Peter Ackroyd

Born

in East Acton, London, The United Kingdom

October 05, 1949

Genre

Biography, Fiction, Poetry

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Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English novelist and biographer with a particular interest in the history and culture of London.

Peter Ackroyd's mother worked in the personnel department of an engineering firm, his father having left the family home when Ackroyd was a baby. He was reading newspapers by the age of 5 and, at 9, wrote a play about Guy Fawkes. Reputedly, he first realized he was gay at the age of 7.

Ackroyd was educated at St. Benedict's, Ealing and at Clare College, Cambridge, from which he graduated with a double first in English. In 1972, he was a Mellon Fellow at Yale University in the United States. The result of this fellowship was Ackroyd's Notes for a New Culture, written when he was only 22 and eventually published in 1976. The ...more

4 posts
Peter Ackroyd's Blog

Peter Ackroyd isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed.

'Alfred Hitchcock was an overgrown schoolboy, with a schoolboy's obsession with sex': The director who used and abused his leading ladies

His marriage was sexless – ‘that’s why they call me the celibated director’. He slapped Joan Fontaine and left Grace Kelly covered in bruises. And he made a very indecent proposal to Tippi Hedren. A brilliant new book by Peter Ackroyd gets to the heart of Alfred Hitchcock’s cruelly controlling...

View more on Peter Ackroyd's website »

7 likes · Like • 1 comment • flag

Published on March 20, 2015 17:00

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Combine Editions
Peter Ackroyd’s books

Average rating: 3.84 · 205,059 ratings · 14,529 reviews · 192 distinct works • Similar authors

	London: The Biography 3.96 avg rating — 6,036 ratings — published 2000 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors (The History of England, #1) 4.05 avg rating — 5,584 ratings — published 2011 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hawksmoor 3.46 avg rating — 4,970 ratings — published 1985 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I (The History of England, #2) 4.05 avg rating — 3,740 ratings — published 2012 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets 3.46 avg rating — 3,345 ratings — published 2011 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Trial of Elizabeth Cree 3.70 avg rating — 2,733 ratings — published 1994 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution (The History of England, #3) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,491 ratings — published 2014 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shakespeare: The Biography 4.03 avg rating — 2,340 ratings — published 2005 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling by Peter Ackroyd (adapter), Geoffrey Chaucer, Nick Bantock (Illustrator) 3.57 avg rating — 2,592 ratings — published 2009 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dickens 3.89 avg rating — 2,364 ratings — published 1990 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Peter Ackroyd…

Series by Peter Ackroyd

The History of England (7 books)
by

Peter Ackroyd

4.03 avg rating — 14,096 ratings

Ackroyd's Brief Lives (6 books)
by

Peter Ackroyd

3.65 avg rating — 3,468 ratings

Voyages Through Time (5 books)
by

Peter Ackroyd

3.77 avg rating — 150 ratings

Shakespeare: the Biography (4 books)
by

Peter Ackroyd

4.07 avg rating — 15 ratings

Quotes by Peter Ackroyd (?)

“And when I was young, did I ever tell you, I always wanted to get inside
a book and never come out again? I loved reading so much I wanted
to be a part of it, and there were some books I could have stayed in
for ever.”
― Peter Ackroyd, First Light

71 likes

“The world is a sea in which we all must surely drown.”
― Peter Ackroyd, English Music

39 likes

“I have liv'd long enough for others, like the Dog in the Wheel, and it is now the Season to begin for myself: I cannot change that Thing call'd Time, but I can alter its Posture and, as Boys do turn a looking-glass against the Sunne, so I will dazzle you all.”
― Peter Ackroyd, Hawksmoor

tags: inspiration, time-passing

23 likes

See all Peter Ackroyd's quotes »

Polls

Addendum: Since we only usually get about 11 or so votes each time, I'm going to close this poll and put up a tie-breaker poll for Unbroken and The Ancestor's Tale.

September is now officially a non-fiction month for genre so it's time to vote for our September read. Last day to vote will be Saturday, August 9. (Non-Fiction will no longer be present in our regular monthly genre polls)

There are some really great titles on this list so please do your research before placing your vote. Thanks!

Unbroken

Laura Hillenbrand

3 votes, 33.3%

The Ancestor's Tale

Richard Dawkins

2 votes, 22.2%

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

Harriet Reisen

1 vote, 11.1%

Poe: A Life Cut Short

Peter Ackroyd

1 vote, 11.1%

Starvation Heights

Gregg Olsen

1 vote, 11.1%

Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder

Holly Tucker

1 vote, 11.1%

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Dee Brown

0 votes, 0.0%

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Mary Wollstonecraft

0 votes, 0.0%

9 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Challenge: 50 Books: Amanda's Book List for 2009	28	216	Dec 31, 2009 02:28PM
Cover to Cover Ch...: Ellen's 2010 Booklist	6	115	Dec 31, 2010 02:46PM
Historical Fictio...: Challenge #4 - September 1 - December 31	877	450	Jan 03, 2011 01:10PM
Challenge: 50 Books: astrangerhere's 2011 list (3 and counting)	3	12	Jan 05, 2011 03:41AM
The Seasonal Read...: Winter Challenge 2010-2011 Completed Tasks (do not delete any posts)	2578	1112	Feb 28, 2011 09:05PM
100+ Books in 2026: astrangerhere's 2011 100 book challenge	24	85	Mar 16, 2011 05:14AM
Pick-a-Shelf: 2011-03 - Mythology - Post March Reviews Here	50	51	Apr 06, 2011 12:31AM
Cover to Cover Ch...: May Read-a-thon Progress and Mini-challenges	167	100	May 29, 2011 12:40AM
The Seasonal Read...: * Summer Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS)	2614	899	Aug 31, 2011 09:18PM

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Peter Ackroyd’s Followers (1,503)

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Peter Ackroyd

4 postsPeter Ackroyd's Blog

'Alfred Hitchcock was an overgrown schoolboy, with a schoolboy's obsession with sex': The director who used and abused his leading ladies

Combine EditionsPeter Ackroyd’s books

Series by Peter Ackroyd

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

4 posts
Peter Ackroyd's Blog

Combine Editions
Peter Ackroyd’s books