In 2013 Hughes was given an Honorary Doctorate by York University in recognition of her ‘outstanding’ contribution to history and to its international promotion. In 2014 she was awarded the Distinguished Friend of Oxford Award for her contribution to the academic life of the University.
Bettany Hughes is an English historian, author and broadcaster, specializing in classical history.
Hughes was raised in West London. She is the daughter of the actor Peter Hughes, and the sister of the cricketer and journalist Simon Hughes.
She was educated at Notting Hill and Ealing High School in Ealing, and at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, where she graduated with a degree in ancient and modern history.
She is a patron of The Iris Project, a charity that promotes the teaching of Latin and Greek in UK state schools. She is an honorary patron of Classics For All, a national campaign to get classical languages and the study of ancient civilizations back into state schools.
Hughes is a vegetarian. In 2016, she delivered the British Humanist Association’s annual Voltaire Lecture.
Her published books cover classical antiquity and myth, and the history of Istanbul. She is active in efforts to encourage the teaching of the classics in UK state schools. Hughes was appointed OBE in 2019.