English author
Rosalind Miles (born Rosalind Mary Simpson on January 6, 1943) is an English author, historian, university lecturer, broadcaster, journalist, magistrate and activist who has written 23 works of fiction and non-fiction. Dr Miles' international best-selling book The Women's History of the World, also called Who Cooked the Last Supper?, charts the untold history of women.
She has two grown children, and is married to the historian Robin Cross.[1]
Life and career
Rosalind Miles was born in Warwickshire, the youngest of three sisters. As a child, Miles suffered from polio, which she acquired at the age of four,[citation needed] causing her to undergo several months of treatment. From the age of ten, Miles attended the King Edward VI High School for Girls,[1] where she obtained a working knowledge of Latin and Greek, along with a lifelong love of Shakespeare. At seventeen, she was accepted at St Hilda's College, Oxford,[2] where she studied English literature, Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, Latin and French. There, she was awarded the Eleanor Rooke Memorial Prize, the Principal's Prize of St Hilda's College, as well as a State Studentship Award. She obtained five degrees in all, including an MA and Ph.D. from the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham, as well a starred MA* from the Centre for Mass Communication Research at the University of Leicester.[1]
Alongside her studies, Miles worked in several occupations, including working as a travelling saleswoman and a stable hand. She got her first job, in a plastics factory, at the age of 13.[3] Miles later became interested in jurisprudence, which resulted in her appointment at the age of 26 as a lay magistrate in the Warwickshire criminal and family courts, and eventually on the bench in a superior court in Coventry. She served for ten years, and rose to the level of Crown Court. Miles has also worked with numerous government agencies and served on consultative committees.[1]
In addition to novelist, Miles is also a journalist and broadcaster. She began her broadcasting career on the BBC, for which she is now a regular commentator. She also broadcasts on Canadian radio, as well as numerous local radio stations. She has made many television appearances as a historian and commentator, including on CNN, PBS, and CBS. As a journalist, her work has appeared in major newspapers across the English-speaking world, including The Washington Post. Miles is also a major contributor to a number of magazines, including Prospect and Cosmopolitan.[1]
