Justin Champion


Justin Champion was a British historian and educator. He was head of the Department of History at Royal Holloway, University of London between 2005 and 2010.

Early life and education

Champion held a PhD from Cambridge University.

Career

His research and teaching interests included the history of early modern ideas, blasphemy and irreligion in early modern Europe, Thomas Hobbes, Biblical criticism, urban disease, the history of reading and scholarship, and the use of information technology in the study of history.
Champion was a strong proponent of public history. He presented or appeared in several TV and radio shows about British history, including the Channel 4 drama documentary The Great Plague in 2001, the ITV documentary series Kings and Queens in 2003 and the BBC Four programme Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls - Act One: At Court in 2012. He made history features for BBC Radio 3 and 4 on the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the execution of Charles I, the history of duelling and the history of friendship. He was President of the Historical Association and a member of its Committee of Public History.
During his time as the head of the history department at Royal Holloway, the college began offering a Master of Arts programme in Public History in partnership with external heritage and media institutions. Champion stepped down as the head of the history department at Royal Holloway in 2010, but continued to teach at the college. He was working on the thought and influence of Thomas Hobbes' radical criticism of public religion and its relationship with the early Enlightenment at the time of his death.

Personal life and demise

Champion died on 10 June 2020 after a lengthy illness, aged 59.

Selected publications