Kenneth Owen Morgan, Baron Morgan (born 16 May 1934) is a Welsh

Welsh people

The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...

 historian and author, known especially for his writings on Modern British history and politics and on Welsh history

History of Wales

The history of Wales begins with the arrival of human beings in the region thousands of years ago. Neanderthals lived in what is now Wales, or Cymru in Welsh, at least 230,000 years ago, while Homo sapiens arrived by about 29,000 years ago...

. He is also a regular reviewer and broadcaster on radio and television.

He was a Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford from 1966 to 1989 and served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wales

University of Wales

The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...

 from 1989 to 1995. In this capacity, he served as a Welsh Supernumerary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...

 from 1991 to 1992. In 1983 he was elected Fellow of the British Academy

British Academy

The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...

 and in 1992 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Queen's College, Oxford, and in 2002 of Oriel College, Oxford. Morgan is a member of the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

, and in 2000 he was made a life peer

Life peer

In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...

 as Baron Morgan, of Aberdyfi in the County of Gwynedd. He was married to the historian and criminologist Dr Jane Morgan, who died in 1992; they had two children together. In 2009 he married Dr. Elizabeth Gibson, senior lecturer in Law at the universities of Tours and Bordeaux.

He is the author of many acclaimed works, such as The People's Peace, his notable history of postwar Britain, and has completed biographies of many famous politicians, including David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...

, Keir Hardie

Keir Hardie

James Keir Hardie, Sr. , was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

, James Callaghan

James Callaghan

Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...

 and Michael Foot

Michael Foot

Michael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...

. He is the editor of the best-selling The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, to which he contributed the two final chapters (1914–2000 and 2000–10). He also edited the Welsh History Review from 1961 to 2003. He became a Druid of the Gorsedd of Bards in 2008 and in 2009 received the gold medal from the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion for lifetime achievement. He is also a Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales

Learned Society of Wales

The Learned Society of Wales is a society that exists to “celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines”.The society was launched on 25 May 2010 at the National Museum of Wales...

.

Works

• David Lloyd George, Welsh Radical as World Statesman (1963)
• Wales in British Politics, 1868-1922 (1963, rev ed 1992)
• Freedom or Sacrilege (1966)
• The Age of Lloyd George (1971)
• (ed.) Lloyd George, Family Letters (1973)
• Lloyd George (1974)
• Keir Hardie, Radical and Socialist (1975)
• Consensus and Disunity (1979)
• (jointly) Portrait of a Progressive (1980)
• Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880-1980 (1981)
• Labour in Power, 1945-1951 (1984)
• (joint ed.) Welsh Society and Nationhood (1984)
• (ed.) The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain (1984, many rev eds down to 2009, over 750,000 copies sold)
• Labour People (1987, rev ed 1992)
• (ed.) The Oxford History of Britain (1987, rev ed 2010)
• The Red Dragon and the Red Flag (1989)
• The People's Peace: Britain since 1945 (1989, rev ed 2001)
• Modern Wales, Politics, Places and People (1995)
• (ed.) The Young Oxford of Britain and Ireland (1996)
• Callaghan: A Life (1997)
• (ed.) Crime, Police and Protest in Modern British Society (1999)
• The Great Reform Act of 1832 (2001)
• The Twentieth Century (2001)
• Universities and the State (2002)
• Michael Foot: A Life (2007)
• Ages of Reform' (2010)

Offices held