Jonathan Foyle

Jonathan's passion is communicating the wonders of historic people and places, especially architecture. After a full architectural training, and an MA at the Courtauld Institute, Jonathan worked on Canterbury Cathedral and then became Curator of Historic Buildings at Historic Royal Palaces for eight years: the early history of Hampton Court was the subject of his Ph.D thesis in Archaeology, featured in a Meet the Ancestors Special on BBC2.

He is a seasoned public speaker who has taught for Cambridge University's International Division and lectured in Britain, Europe, the US and Australia. He often draws to explain complex ideas clearly, both on television and in his forthcoming book on Canterbury Cathedral (Spring 2012).

Over the last decade, his television career in Britain and the US as a spokesperson on architecture and cultural history has included many appearances for series such as Time Team (Channel 4) and Egypt Unwrapped (National Geographic/ Channel 5). Following the 10-part Hidden House History with Nick Barratt (History Channel), in 2008 he presented Channel 5's 10-part County Secrets and joined the reporters of BBC1's The One Show to explain the history of British streets and the rooms in our houses. He has presented two well-reviewed 2 x 60 minute series for BBC4: Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer (2009) and People's Palaces: Northern Civic Architecture (2010). His popular 15-part BBC2 series Climbing Great Buildings won the 2011 Broadcast Award for Best Daytime Series, bringing 'Peak time production values on a daytime budget'.

Jonathan is Chief Executive of World Monuments Fund Britain, the UK arm of a global charity which helps to secure imperilled sites for future generations. In 2011 he received an honorary doctorate in History of Art from the University of Lincoln.

For Jonathan's films, drawings and photographs, please see: http://www.built.org.uk