Peter John Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield, FBA

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...

 (born 28 March 1947) is an English historian of government. Since 1992, he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary, University of London

Queen Mary, University of London

Queen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

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Hennessy is of Irish descent, the youngest of a large Catholic family. He was brought up in large council-requisitioned houses, first in Allandale Avenue and then in Lyndhurst Gardens, Finchley

Finchley

Finchley is a district in Barnet in north London, England. Finchley is on high ground, about north of Charing Cross. It formed an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, becoming a municipal borough in 1933, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965...

 which typically fetch more than £2 million today.