Prof. Tony Pollard


1965 -

Archaeologist. Born in Macclesfield in Cheshire, the son of a professional diver, Pollard moved with his family to Oban in the late 1970s, his father having been inspired by the film Ring of Bright Water based on Gavin Maxwell's book. He was educated at Oban High School and then studied archaeology at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1987. Pollard continued there undertaking a doctorate on the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers around Oban. He is now Professor of Conflict History and Archaeology at Glasgow and Director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology there.

He has investigated battlefields in the UK, Africa and South America and has directed several seasons of fieldwork at Culloden Battlefield, the results of which did much to revise the interpretation of the battlefield and inform the public through the Visitor Centre there. Pollard has also examined the Jacobite battles at Killiecrankie and Prestonpans, together with the siege of Fort William. He has published numerous books and academic papers.

Pollard's broadcasting career began as co-presenter of the BBC television series Two Men in a Trench with Neil Oliver (b. 1967) , which brought battlefield archaeology to a worldwide audience. He has gone on to contribute to Time Team special programmes (2008-11) for Channel 4 television, and to present Digging the Great Escape (2011), Walking Through History (2013), The Quest for Bannockburn (2014) and Nazi Megastructures (2013-20).

He lives in Glasgow.


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