Historian
Alex has been interested in History ever since her Grandfather put her in front of the television and had her write out the Titanic’s passenger list from the back of a book to keep her quiet.
It has been a subject that has always run through Alex’s family. Her mum, who was born and raised in England, was the Granddaughter of a market trader, who at the age of ten diffused bombs that landed in his Essex back garden during the blitz, and used to give the Luftwaffe the finger from Southend Pier.
Alex’s Grandfather descended from the Roman Army sat around at Hadrian’s Wall, although her family tree does cross with Winston’s and the 1st Duke of Marlborough’s too. Her father was from Pakistan and came to England in the 1970s. On his side Alex descended from the travelling army of Alexander the Great. Her Grandfather (on her father’s side) was one of millions of men from the sub-continent who fought for the British in WW2, so really, it’s a wonder she’s not tried to invade Wales or the Isle of Wight yet!
Alex first appeared on television in an episode of Timewatch looking at the air war in 1918. Since then she has gone on to appear in an array of hit TV series’, including War Factories and World War Weird on UKTV, Lancaster Bomber at 80 with David Jason on Channel 4, Secrets of WW2 from Above on Nat Geo, and most recently presented and created her own film The Forgotten Battle of WW1 on History Hit.
With her background in maritime history, Alex was also called upon to design, research and appear in programmes marking the centenary of the Titanic disaster and the sinking of the Lusitania. The former was nominated for a television BAFTA.
Alex has also written best-selling books on the Battle of the Somme, the boys of Eton College and the First World War.
She is the co-founder and host of the podcast History Hack, which started in lockdown and has gone on to become a huge success.
Alex also runs a new charity, The Great War Group, which has been founded to preserve the memory of, and promote learning about the war. Alex is also the editor in chief of their journal, which has been a huge success and continues to gain rave reviews.
She is also studying for her post-graduate in History MRes.
Alex doesn’t believe in cancel culture. She thinks people are smart and will understand that history isn’t black and white if you just give her a platform to tell them why the lines are blurred.
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