John Keay

For the Scottish businessman and MP, seeJohn Seymour Keay.

John Keay
Born	1941 Barnstaple,Devon, England
Education	Oxford University
Occupation(s)	Writer and historian
Known for	Histories of colonial Asia
Spouse(s)	Julia Keay (died 2011) Amanda Douglas (2014–present)
Relatives	Anna Keay,Humphrey Atkins,Simon Thurley

John Stanley Melville KeayFRGS(born 1941) is a British historian, journalist, radio presenter and lecturer specialising in popular histories ofIndia,the Far East and China, often with a particular focus on theircolonisationand exploration byEuropeans.In particular, he is widely seen as a pre-eminent historian ofBritish India.He is known both for stylistic flair and meticulous research into archivalprimary sources,including centuries-old unpublished sources.

The author of some twenty-five books, he also writes regularly for a number of prominent publications in Britain and Asia. He began his career withThe Economist.He has received several major honours including the SirPercy Sykes Memorial Medal.In 2019, he received an honorary doctorate, presented byPrincess Anne,from theUniversity of the Highlands and Islandsin Scotland.

The Economisthas called him "a gifted non-academic historian", theYorkshire Posthas called him "one of our most outstanding historians",The Independenthas called his writing "exquisite" andThe Guardianhas described his historical analysis as "forensic" and his writing as "restrained yet powerful". He is a Fellow of theRoyal Geographical Society.Keay lives in bothEdinburghand inArgyllin theWest HighlandsofScotlandand travels widely.

Life and career

John Keay was born on 18 September 1941 inBarnstaple,Devon, England, to parents of Scottish origin. His father Stanley Walter Keay (1902–72) was amaster marinerand his mother Florence Jessie née Keeping (1905–92) was a housewife. He studied atAmpleforth CollegeinYorkshirebefore going on to read Modern History atMagdalen College,Oxford, where he earned high honours. Among his teachers at Oxford were the historianA. J. P. Taylorand the future playwrightAlan Bennett.In 1965 he visited India for the first time. He went toKashmirfor a fortnight'strout-fishing and liked it so much that he returned the following year, this time for six months.

It was during his second stay in Kashmir that Keay decided upon writing as a career. From India, he sent unsolicited articles to many British magazines and newspapers and eventually joined the staff ofThe Economist(1965–71) and returned to India often as its political correspondent. He also started contributing stories toBBC Radio.

In 1971 he gave up his correspondent's job to write his first book,Into India,which was published in 1973. Keay followed it with two volumes about the European exploration of the Western Himalayas in the 19th century:When Men and Mountains Meet(1977) andThe Gilgit Game(1979). These two books were later combined into a single-volume paperback byJohn Murray.Alexander Gardner(1785–1877), the American adventurer and mercenary employed by theSikh Empire,who is featured in Keay's 1977 and 1979 books, is the sole focus of his book,The Tartan Turban: In Search of Alexander Gardner,released in 2017.

In the 1980s he worked forBBC Radioas a writer and presenter, and made several documentary series forBBC Radio 3.He also made programmes forBBC Radio 4.During this time he wroteIndia Discovered,the story of how British colonialists came to find out about the great artefacts ofIndian cultureandarchitecture.

Awards and recognition

John Keay's major books have all received strong positive reviews in leading publications in the UK, US, Asia and elsewhere. The professional recognition he has received has included the following:

• Fellow (FRGS),Royal Geographical Society,UK.
• SirPercy SykesMemorial Medal of theRoyal Society for Asian Affairs,UK (2009).
• Honorary Doctorate from theUniversity of the Highlands and Islands,Scotland (2019).
• Fellow,Royal Conservatoire of Scotland(2013–14).
• Fellow,University of Dundee,Scotland (2010–12).

Family

His late first wife Julia Keay, née Atkins (1946–2011), was also a successful writer and historian. She was the daughter of the politicianHumphrey Atkins.The historianAnna Keay(born 1974) is the daughter and second child of John and Julia Keay.John Keay also has three other children with Julia Keay: Alexander (born 1973), Nell (born 1977) and Samuel (born 1979). The architectural historianSimon Thurleyis his son-in-law. In 2014 Keay married Amanda Douglas.Keay had an uncle who was anIndian Civil Serviceofficer inBritish India.

Bibliography

• Into India(John Murray1973),ISBN0-7195-2918-2
• When Men and Mountains Meet: The Explorers of the Western Himalayas, 1820–75(John Murray 1977),ISBN0-7195-3334-1
• TheGilgitGame: The Explorers of the Western Himalayas, 1865–95(John Murray 1979),ISBN0-7195-3569-7
• India Discovered: The Achievement of theBritish Raj(Windward 1981),ISBN0-7112-0047-5
• Eccentric Travellers(John Murray 1982),ISBN0-7195-3868-8
• Highland Drove(John Murray 1984),ISBN0-7195-4105-0
• Explorers Extraordinary(John Murray 1985),ISBN0-7195-4249-9
• TheRoyal Geographical SocietyHistory of World Exploration(Hamlyn1991),ISBN0-600-56819-9(ed.)
• The Honourable Company: A History of theEnglish East India Company(HarperCollins1991),ISBN0-00-217515-0
• The Robinson Book of Exploration(Robinson 1993),ISBN1-85487-240-0(ed.)
• Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland(HarperCollins 1994),ISBN0-00-255082-2(ed. with Julia Keay)
• Indonesia: FromSabangtoMerauke(Boxtree Ltd1995),ISBN1-85283-545-1
• Last Post: The End of Empire in the Far East(John Murray 1997),ISBN0-7195-5346-6
• India: A History.New York City:Grove Press.2000.ISBN0-8021-3797-0.
• The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped andEverestWas Named(HarperCollins 2000),ISBN0-00-257062-9
• Sowing the Wind: The Seeds of Conflict in the Middle East(John Murray 2003),ISBN0-7195-5583-3
• TheSpice Route:A History(John Murray 2005),ISBN0-7195-6198-1
• Mad About the Mekong: Exploration and Empire in South East Asia(HarperCollins 2005),ISBN0-00-711113-4
• China: A History(HarperCollins 2008),ISBN978-0-00-722177-6
• The London Encyclopaedia,Ben Weinreb&Christopher Hibbert,Julia and John Keay with original photography by Matthew Weinreb,Macmillan Publishers,3rd Revised edition 2008,ISBN978-1-4050-4924-5
• The Tartan Turban: In Search of Alexander Gardner,(Kashi House 2017)ISBN978-1911271000
• Himālaya: Exploring the Roof of the World,(Bloomsbury Publishing 2022) ISBN 9781408891155

External links

• Official website