English historian and biographer Peter Ackroyd was BOTD in 1949. Born in London, he was educated at Cambridge University, undertaking postgraduate study at Yale University. He worked as an editor and reviewer at The Spectator and The Times of London, beginning his literary career as a poet. A prolific writer of fiction and non-fiction, his best known works include a fictionalised autobiography of Oscar Wilde, the postmodern historical drama Hawksmoor and biographies of famous Londoners Thomas More, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock. His 2000 history London: The Biography became a bestseller, as did Queer City, his 2017 survey of London as a centuries-old haven for “buggers, catamites, chicken hawks, fribbles, fairies, shirt-lifters, bone-smokers, fudge-packers, butt pikers and pillow biters“. Openly gay since forever, he had a relationship with American dancer Brian Kuhn, living together until Kuhn’s death from an AIDS-related illness in 1994. In a 2004 interview, Ackroyd said that he had not been in a relationship since Kuhn’s death and was happy being celibate.