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Jm Roberts

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John Morris Roberts CBE (14 April 1928 – 30 May 2003), often known as J. M. Roberts, was a British historian with significant published works. From 1979 to 1985, he was vice chancellor of the University of Southampton, and from 1985 to 1994, Warden of Merton College, Oxford. He was also well known as the author and presenter of the BBC TV series The Triumph of the West, first broadcast in 1985.

Roberts was born in Bath, the son of a department store worker, and educated at Taunton School. He won a scholarship to Keble College, Oxford, and took a first in Modern History in 1948. After National Service, he was elected a prize fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, where he completed a doctoral thesis on the Italian republic set up during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1953 Roberts was elected a fellow and tutor in Modern History at Merton College, Oxford. In the same year, he went to Princeton and Yale as a Commonwealth Fund fellow, where his interests broadened beyond European history. He returned to America three times as a visiting professor in the 1960s. In 1964 Roberts lectured for the British Council in India, and from 1966 to 1977, Roberts served as joint editor of the English Historical Review.

From 1979 to 1985, Roberts was vice-chancellor of the University of Southampton, where he felt obliged to make unpopular cuts (Classics and Theology). Roberts could be an intimidating figure, even a "terrifying" one, but was described by colleagues as "a nice man, a very nice man, underneath it all."

Roberts did not hesitate to take on ambitious subjects, and in 1976 he published The History of the World, regularly updated in later years and still in print today. The Times Literary Supplement described Roberts as a "master of the broad brush-stroke." In 1985, Roberts wrote and presented the thirteen-part BBC television series The Triumph of the West. This series painted a broad canvas but avoided simplistic solutions, encouraging the audience to think and reach their own conclusions. Later he served as a historical advisor to the BBC series People's Century.

From 1985 to 1994, Roberts was Warden of Merton College, Oxford. At Merton, he became an important figure in expanding and developing postgraduate studies. He also took up other roles, serving as a governor of the BBC from 1988 to 93 and as a trustee of Rhodes House from 1988 to 94. In 1994 he retired and returned to his native Somerset.

In 1996, Roberts was appointed CBE for his 'services to education and history and made a Cavalier of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1991. Roberts died in 2003 at Roadwater, Somerset, shortly after completing the fourth revised edition of his The New History of the World.

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History of the World

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