David

I am an experienced historian and exhibitions curator with a PhD from the University of London (1998) and a First Class degree in 'Modern History' from the University of Oxford (1991). My books have included a biography of the English artist Paul Nash, a history of the Spanish Civil War, a study of British Surrealism, and the 2009 group biography of Stanley Spencer and his Slade School contemporaries, "A Crisis of Brilliance: Five Young British Artists and the Great War."

I am currently a Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University, and live in Marston, on the edge of central Oxford. My two children are at the Swan School.

Tutoring Experience

I teach A Level History (AQA) and History of Art (Edexcel) at Wychwood School, Oxford. Formerly I taught one-to-one tutorials to History undergraduates at the University of Oxford and at the London School of Economics. I am an established lecturer for the Arts Society, and speak widely at schools, galleries and museums around the UK. I am currently a visiting Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University.

Tutoring Approach

My teaching approach emphasises the need to establish strong study skills with a sound knowledge of key facts, supplemented by teaching the way to write well and to present ideas clearly on paper in a concise, well-structured fashion, and to explore ideas through discussion. I am a keen advocate of extensive reading, the development of good study skills, and the importance of exploring history at first hand, through art, architecture, objects and archaeology. I will offer assistance and guidance in all these areas.

My areas of expertise are British history from the Tudors to the Twentieth century, and the history of Western Art from the Renaissance to the birth of Modernism. I aim to help make good students into outstanding students.