DR BEN ROBINSON
Dr Ben Robinson is a British archaeologist, television presenter, and author, known to viewers as "The Flying Archaeologist." He grew up in a Cambridgeshire fenland farming village, spending his youth exploring the region's distinctive landscape and the Norfolk coast. As a young man he persuaded the Royal Air Force to teach him to fly, and as a pilot of microlight aircraft he has spent many years gaining an aerial perspective on landscape history and archaeology.
Ben holds an MA and PhD from the University of York. He began his career as a digging archaeologist in what was once called "rescue archaeology," retrieving evidence of past lives from sites threatened by development, and went on to work in museums and adult education. After more than a decade as heritage adviser to a planning authority, he joined English Heritage as an "Inspector of Ancient Monuments." He now leads a Historic England team investigating and saving threatened heritage across the Midlands. Throughout his work, Ben has been driven by a desire to understand more about the heritage of places, so that we can better appreciate their special qualities, look after them, and help shape their futures.
Ben's archaeological expertise led him into television, including several series of the cult archaeology show Time Team, as well as regional BBC features on heritage subjects ranging from Roman treasure to Victorian rubbish. His national television work includes tracing King John's final journey and tracking the path of Zeppelin raids for BBC Four, exploring village history in Pubs, Ponds and Power: The Story of the Village, and taking to the skies in The Flying Archaeologist.
He joined Bettany Hughes for ITV's Secrets from the Sky and was Alice Roberts's "eye in the sky" for three series of Channel 4's Britain's Most Historic Towns. He now fronts Villages by the Sea for BBC Two, which has explored Britain's coastal heritage over five series and thirty-seven episodes.
Ben's first book, England's Villages: An Extraordinary Journey Through Time, was published by Blink in 2021. He lives in Cambridgeshire with his family.
Coastline: An Exploration of Britain's Coastal Heritage
The stunning new book from the host of BBC Two's Villages by the Sea
From prehistory to the modern era, Britain's coastline has shaped the nation — not only physically, but socially, economically, and culturally. Far from sitting at the margins of national interest, the coast has been central to the British people's most important endeavours and to era-defining national events. For thousands of years it has been both Britain's frontier and its connection to the wider world.
Exploring key coastal themes throughout British history, and introducing some of the most significant, intriguing, and quirky places that express the pivotal role of our coastal heritage, archaeologist and presenter Ben Robinson looks to the coastline to tell the stories of our past — and our present. From artefacts lost by hunter-gatherers in a land now beneath the sea, to bustling medieval ports, smugglers' caves, early seaside resorts, fortifications, and secret wartime bases, the coast is resplendent with fascinating history.
Interwoven with Ben's own experiences and drawing on his boundless historical knowledge, Coastline invokes ancient legends, villages and towns lost to the waves, happy holiday memories, and artistic expression — all found in the places where land meets sea.
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