Alfred Leslie Rowse was born in England in 1903. He studied history at Christ Church, Oxford on a scholarship and then became a lecturer first at Merton College, Oxford and then at the London School of Economics.
Rowse went on to become a prolific British historian, historian, poet, essayist, political commentator and renowned personality in his own right. His early work focused on 16th-century England. His first book, On History, a Study of Present Tendencies, was published in 1927. He then turned his focus to Shakespeare. His most important work was the historical trilogy The Elizabethan Age with The England of Elizabeth published in 1952, The Expansion of Elizabethan England published in 1955 and The Elizabethan Renaissance published in 1972. He also wrote biographies on historical figures including Shakespeare, Marlowe and Swift and Matthew Arnold.
Rowse delivered a series of three lectures at McGill in March 1963 titled "The Political Uses of History", "The Role of Germany in Modern History" and "The Responsibility of the Historian".
Listen to A. L. Rowse's second Beatty Lecture:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Listen to A. L. Rowse's third Beatty Lecture:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Audio: McGill University Archives
Image: UK National Portrait Gallery
