Tessa Dunlop FRHistS (born 1974, in Scotland), is a British historian, writer and broadcaster.

Dunlop has written several oral history books and presented history programmes for the BBC, Channel 4, Discovery Channel, UKTV History and the History Channel.

Background and education

A scion of the ancient Scottish family, Dunlop of Dunlop, her father was Donald Henry Dunlop (1940–2009), only son of the eminent physician, Sir Derrick Dunlop.

After Pitlochry High School, Dunlop attended Strathallan School, a private school in Perthshire,^[1] before going up to read history at St Hilda's College, Oxford, where she won the 1995 Gertrude Easton Prize for History.^[2] She then pursued further studies in Imperialism and Culture at Sheffield Hallam University graduating as MA, before receiving a PhD in 2020 for her thesis entitled Representations of Romania in British Public and Political Discourse, 1907–1919.^[3][4]

Career

After university, Dunlop embarked upon a media career, joining London radio station LBC then BBC London 94.9.^[5]

Dunlop was named Regional Television Personality in the Royal Television Society's West of England Awards in 2005 for her work on the regional magazine show Inside Out West.^[6] In 2007 Dunlop filmed Paranormal Egypt, an eight-part series with Derek Acorah on location in Egypt. Her television career was launched when in 2011 she became one of the presenters in BBC2's BAFTA-winning Coast series, and she has since presented several history series.^[7] She interviewed Patricia Davies and Jean Argles for her work on Army Girls and The Bletchley Girls.^[8]

Personal life

In 2005, Dunlop married a Romanian, Vlad Pricopi; they live in London and have two daughters, Mara and Elena. She struggled to conceive Elena and wrote extensively about her experiences with late miscarriage and IVF.^[9][10]

Publications

Dunlop's first book, To Romania with Love, a memoir set in post-revolution Romania about how she met her future husband, was published in May 2012.^[11] Several further history books written by her have been published, most recently Army Girls.^[12]

• Tessa Dunlop (2022). Elizabeth and Philip: A Story of Young Love, Marriage and Monarchy. London. ISBN 978-1035402441. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Tessa Dunlop (2021). Army Girls: The secrets and stories of military service from the final few women who fought in World War II. London: Headline Press. ISBN 978-1472282095.
• Tessa Dunlop (2018). The Century Girls: The Final Word from the Women Who've Lived the Past Hundred Years of British History. London: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1471161322.
• Tessa Dunlop (2015). The Bletchley Girls: War, secrecy, love and loss: the women of Bletchley Park tell their story. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1444795714.
• Tessa Dunlop (2012). To Romania With Love. London: Quartet Books. ISBN 978-0704372573.

References