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Ruth Goodman

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This article is about the historian. For the writer, see Ruth Goodman (writer).

Ruth Goodman
Born (1963-10-05) 5 October 1963 (age 60)
Occupation(s)BBC presenter, historian
Notable workBBC documentaries, advisor to the Victoria & Albert Museum
Websitewww.ruthgoodman.me.uk Edit this at Wikidata

Ruth Goodman (born 5 October 1963[1][2]) is a British freelance historian of the early modern period, specialising in offering advice to museums and heritage attractions.[3]

She is a specialist in British social history and after presenting the 2005 television series Tales from the Green Valley,[3][4] went on to participate in several BBC historic farm series. She occasionally presents features for The One Show, and she co-presented Secrets of the Castle in 2014, and 24 Hours in the Past (2015).

Early life

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She was born in Cardiff and went to Westbury primary[5] school[6][7] and Fearnhill School[8] in Letchworth. "School...was rather pedestrian...I became a very poor student, simply going through the motions, and my academic record at both school and university indeed lacks lustre."[9]

Career

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Goodman "couldn't get a job after university", so she trained for a job as railway ticket clerk for British Rail, working at Chester station for a short time.[10]

She has been a consultant to the Victoria & Albert Museum and to the film Shakespeare in Love.[3] She is a member of the Tudor Group, a re-enactment organisation for the Tudor period.[11][12] Since participating in Tales of the Green Valley in 2005, she has been a presenter on the BBC television educational documentary series Victorian Farm, Victorian Pharmacy, Edwardian Farm, Tudor Monastery Farm,[13] Wartime Farm,[14] Wartime Farm Christmas, Secrets of the Castle, and Full Steam Ahead.[15] She participated in the 2011 series of Celebrity Masterchef. Since 2015, she has presented segments within the BBC television series Inside the Factory.[16]

In 2007, the Weald and Downland Living Museum Historic Clothing Project was founded by Hannah Tiplady, Head of Interpretation, consulted by Goodman and historical costumier Barbara Painter.[17]

In 2022, Goodman was featured in A Farm Through Time with brothers Rob and Dave Nicholson,[18] a three-part series shown on Channel 5 that explores how farming practices have changed over the years.[19] Prior to A Farm Through Time she had appeared with the brothers on one of their nightly ...on the Farm programmes at Cannon Hall Farm, discussing alcoholic brews from the past.

Personal life

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She lives in Buckinghamshire[20][21] and is married to Tudor re-enactor and musician Mark Goodman,[citation needed] who participated[22] in one episode of Tudor Monastery Farm. Their daughter Eve works on historic clothing and fashions and has appeared on television, sometimes alongside her mother.[23]

Goodman was awarded an honorary degree in 2012 by Bishop Grosseteste University College, Lincoln, for her contribution to history education.[24]

As a result of her social history research, she has stopped using detergents in her washing machine, never eats factory farmed food and sometimes cooks on an open wood fire.[3] For a period of three months she followed a Tudor body cleansing regime, and no-one complained or noticed a smell.[25]

Publications

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  • How to be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life (2016). ISBN 9780241973714
  • How to be a Victorian (2014). ISBN 9780670921362
  • How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts (2018). ISBN 9781782438496
  • How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain (2018). ISBN 9781782438526
  • The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything (2020). ISBN 9781631497636

References

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  1. ^ Radford, Ceri (5 November 2010). "Tough but tranquil: life on the BBC's Edwardian farm". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 10 April 2017.
  2. ^ Companies House Archived 27 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b c d Ford, Matt (4 October 2008). "The good old days of back-breaking labour". Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 22 December 2010. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
  4. ^ Lane, Megan (19 August 2005). "Lessons from our ancestors about the countryside". BBC News Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
  5. ^ Gill, Nick (18 January 2011). "Houses to be built on former Letchworth school site". The Comet. Archant Community Media. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  6. ^ Gill, Nick (10 June 2011). "A fortnight of Letchworth Festival fun". The Comet. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  7. ^ "An Evening with Ruth Goodman". Letchworth Festival. broadwayfilmgroup.org. 12 June 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  8. ^ McDermott, Olly. "History and Alumni". Fearnhill School. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  9. ^ Martin-Brown, Becca (26 November 2020). "Lessons from the past". Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  10. ^ Webb, Claire (11 August 2016). "Full Steam Ahead's Ruth Goodman on her days as a stationmaster". Radio Times. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  11. ^ "Live your life in Tudor times". Derby Telegraph. 2 May 2009. Archived from the original on 3 May 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
  12. ^ Siano, Joseph (14 June 1998). "Q & A: Tudor Tour". New York Times. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
  13. ^ "Ruth Goodman". Tudor Monastery Farm, Series 1. BBC Two. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  14. ^ "Victorian Christmas". BBC. Archived from the original on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
  15. ^ "BBC Two - Full Steam Ahead". BBC. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  16. ^ "Inside the factory. Series 3, episode 1, Tea bags". OneSearch. Wesleyan University. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  17. ^ "Historic Clothing". Weald and Downland Living Museum. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  18. ^ Swain, Marianka (18 August 2022). "A Farm Through Time, review: The Ant and Dec of agriculture plough straight into parody". The Telegraph.
  19. ^ "New TV Show: A Farm Through Time". cannonhallfarm.co.uk. 12 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  20. ^ Austin, Sue. "Historian, Ruth calls in to sample The Fat Rabbit's pancakes". Shropshire Star. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  21. ^ "Closing Presentation: Ruth Goodman". Ontario Museum Association. 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  22. ^ "Tudor Monastery Farm, Series 1, Episode 1". BBC Two. BBC. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  23. ^ "Eve Goodman". Take Three Management. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  24. ^ "TV star to join BG graduation". Bishop Grosseteste University College. 3 July 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  25. ^ McGrath, Carol (26 February 2022). "Did Tudors Smell Whiffy?". Adventures of a Tudor Nerd. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
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