Neil Oliver is a Scottish broadcaster and author. He grew up in
AyrAyr is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde in south-west Scotland. With a population of around 46,000, Ayr is the largest settlement in Ayrshire, of which it is the county town, and has held royal burgh status since 1205...
and
DumfriesDumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South...
before attending Glasgow University to study
archaeologyArchaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
. He is best known as a presenter of the documentary series
CoastCoast is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two television in 2005. A second series started on 26 October 2006, a third in early 2007 and a fourth in mid-2009...
.
Television career
Oliver's television debut came in 2002 with
BBC TwoBBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
's Two Men in a Trench, which featured Oliver and close friend,
Tony PollardTony Pollard is an archaeologist specialising in the archaeology of conflict. He is Director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University...
, visiting historic British battlefields and recreating the battle situation using state of the art archaeological techniques. In addition to the TV series, Oliver co-wrote the two accompanying books.
In 2005, he wrote a tie-in book for the
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
documentary,
Not ForgottenNot Forgotten is a British television documentary series made by Wall to Wall for Channel 4. The series examines the impact on British society of the First World War. It is written and presented by Ian Hislop...
which starred
Ian HislopIan David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, comedian, writer, broadcaster and editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye...
. Oliver then became the archaeological and social history expert on
CoastCoast is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two television in 2005. A second series started on 26 October 2006, a third in early 2007 and a fourth in mid-2009...
, then in the next series he replaced
Nicholas CraneNicholas Crane is an English geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster. Since 2004, he has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town....
as the show's main presenter and remained as such for the third and fourth series.
2006 saw Oliver appear in two more documentary series, Channel 4's The Face of Britain and BBC Two's Scotland's History: The Top Ten. As well as this, in August 2006 he appeared on the special "Big Royal Dig" edition of Channel 4's
Time TeamTime Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...
, in which he presented a dig at
Holyrood PalaceThe Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The palace stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle...
.
Oliver was a contributor to
BBC OneBBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
's
The One ShowThe One Show is a topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD, hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker. Chris Evans joins Jones to present the programme on Friday...
in the summer of 2007. That year he also appeared as one of the presenters of BBC Two series The History Detectives.
Oliver's series
A History of ScotlandPresented by Neil Oliver, A History of Scotland is a television series first broadcast in November 2008 on BBC One Scotland and later shown UK-wide on BBC Two during January 2009....
began airing on 9 November 2008 on
BBC One Scotland and was broadcast throughout the UK in 2009. The series also has links to radio, online and
Open UniversityThe Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
materials. Like Coast, the programme is a co-production of the BBC and
Open UniversityThe Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
.
On 23 March 2009, Neil Oliver presented a programme on Cleopatra on BBC One. In February 2011 he presented A History of Ancient Britain on
BBC TwoBBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. This was followed later in the year by A History of Celtic Britain. He also provided the voiceover for
VisitScotlandVisitScotland is Scotland's national tourism agency. It is a public body, with offices in Edinburgh, Inverness, London as well as other parts of Scotland...
's 2011 television advertisement.
Personal life
He lives in
StirlingStirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
with his wife Trudi and their three children.
In 2010 he assisted at the launch of the
Ask ScotlandAsk Scotland is a Virtual reference service run by Scottish libraries which allows users to contact a librarian directly using one of several online methods of communication regarding a query...
virtual reference by speaking out in support of the new Scottish library service.
He is a patron of the Association of Lighthouse Keepers.
Publications
- A History of Ancient Britain (2011)
- A History of Scotland (2009)
- Amazing Tales for Making Men Out of Boys (2008)
- Coast from the Air (2007)
- Not Forgotten (2006)
- Castles and Forts (with Simon Adams and Tony Pollard) (2006)
- Two Men in a Trench II: Uncovering the Secrets of British Battlefields (with Tony Pollard) (2003)
- Two Men in a Trench: Battlefield Archaeology - The Key to Unlocking the Past (with Tony Pollard) (2002)
External links