Highlights of Britain

Dr. Victoria Whitworth grew up in Kenya, where she developed a passion for the deep past and the natural world. At the universities of Oxford and York, she studied medieval literature, art, and archaeology; and in between degrees she worked and traveled in Greece and qualified as a Blue Badge Guide with the London Tourist Board. Her doctorate was on the origin of medieval Christian ideas of landscape, burial, and commemoration. In parallel, she has explored the Viking Age in three historical thrillers, The Bone Thief, The Traitors’ Pit, and The Daughter of the Wolf. Victoria worked for a decade on the remote Scottish archipelago of Orkney and has written a best-selling memoir about her time in the islands, Swimming with Seals. Her new book about Greece, Dust and Pomegranates, was published in October 2024, and her major study of the world’s most famous medieval manuscript, the Book of Kells, appeared in 2025.

Carol Ann Lloyd is a popular historian with expertise in Shakespeare, 16th century Europe, women’s lives, and leadership. She speaks for Smithsonian Institution, Agecroft Hall, Royal Oak Foundation, and other organizations, online and on stage. She holds graduate degrees from the University of Virginia and University of Utah and is doing additional postgraduate work with Oxford University. Carol Ann delivers programs for business audiences about leadership in history, focusing on how today’s leaders can use leadership principles found in Shakespeare and history to achieve success in the modern world. She is a member of National Speakers Association and is President of the Washington, DC chapter in 2023-2024. Carol Ann is the host of the popular “Royals, Rebels, and Romantics” podcast and is the author of The Tudors by Numbers, which was published in 2023. Her next book, Courting the Virgin Queen: Elizabeth I and Her Suitors is scheduled for publication in summer 2024.

Miriam Davis is an expert in medieval history and archaeology. After graduating from Emory University, Miriam studied history and archaeology at the University of St Andrews on a Bobby Jones Scholarship. She went on to earn an MA in medieval archaeology from the University of York on a Fulbright grant, and a Ph.D. in medieval history from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has participated in archaeological excavations in Mississippi, Alabama, England, and Scotland. Currently, Miriam is a freelance writer. She has written for the popular press on archaeology, history, and travel and has lectured throughout the U.S., Great Britain, and Israel. Her work has also been featured on The Travel Channel. As a history professor at Delta State University for 16 years, she taught a wide variety of courses, including ancient and medieval history, the Renaissance and Reformation, English history, and the history of Christianity. Miriam is the author of Dame Kathleen Kenyon: Digging Up the Holy Land and The Axeman of New Orleans: The True Story. She has served as a Smithsonian Journeys Expert for trips since 2011.

Tom Dawson is an archaeologist and principal research fellow at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He started his archaeological career in London, excavating trenches up to 20 feet deep in the heart of the city. He then conducted excavations in Japan, Italy, Ireland and France, and spent three years in Sri Lanka, training archaeologists at World Heritage Sites and doing underwater archaeology on the south coast.

Since joining Scotland’s oldest university, Tom has pioneered ways of working with sites threatened by climate change. He is the CEO of SCAPE (Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion) and together with his team, has inspired creative ways of recording threatened heritage. As he is a strong advocate of public archaeology, most projects were developed in collaboration with local communities.

Tom regularly appears on TV shows in the United Kingdom and has written many academic papers. His edited publications include Archaeology and Coastal Erosion in Scotland and Public Archaeology and Climate Change. He sits on a number of international panels and advisory boards and was formerly a commissioner with the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and vice president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Janetta Rebold Benton is the Distinguished Professor of Art History at Pace University, New York. She has lectured for many years at the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has been a lecturer on trips all over the world for both institutions. Once a resident of Paris, Janetta has lived in St. Petersburg, Russia and Hangzhou, China on Fulbright Senior Scholar Awards, serving as visiting professor in the graduate schools of art history at European University and the China Academy of Art.

Janetta has authored 10 art history books (with translations into multiple languages), as well as numerous scholarly articles and reviews published in Austria, China, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, and the U.S. She holds degrees/diplomas from Harvard University, Brown University, George Washington University, and Cornell University.

Sara N. James combines her passion for art, architecture, archaeology, gardens, and photography with her sense of adventure, love of travel, and enjoyment of people. She specializes in Italian Renaissance art with a particular passion for narrative fresco and stained-glass programs, but over her 30-year teaching career, Sara taught courses in Renaissance (Italian and Northern), Baroque, Greek, Roman, Medieval, and English art and architecture, as well as interdisciplinary honors courses. She is Professor Emerita of Art History at Mary Baldwin University, where she also served as director of the Renaissance Studies Abroad Program, teaching students on site in Italy and Northern Europe. In addition to teaching, she is a respected scholar and author of three books: The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Medieval Italy: Art, Devotion, and Liturgy in Orvieto (Cambridge University Press, 2025); Art in England from the Saxons to the Tudors: 600-1600 (Oxbow/Casemate, 2016) ; and Signorelli and Fra Angelico at Orvieto: Liturgy, Poetry and a Vision of the End-time (Ashgate, 2003), as well as numerous chapters, articles, and book reviews. Her speaking engagements include the Renaissance Society of America, the College Art Association, the Chief Executives Organization, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Chrysler Museum. Sara holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Virginia and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. She has spent three sabbaticals at the American Academy in Rome and one at the Paul Mellon Centre in London. An avid gardener and garden lover, Sara is a certified Master Gardener as well as a member of the Garden Club of Virginia, which has awarded her for her daffodils, and the Garden Club of America, which has awarded her for her photography.