Alex von Tunzelmann (born 1977) is a British popular historian, author, newspaper columnist, podcaster and screenwriter.

Early life and education

Tunzelmann has stated that her surname is of German ancestry originating in Saxony in Germany and that she has family connections from Estonia since 1600 and New Zealand since 1850. Tunzelmann was educated at Brighton and Hove High School, an independent school for girls in Brighton, and at University College at the University of Oxford. She read history and edited both Cherwell and Isis.

Career

Columnist

From 2008 to 2016, Tunzelmann wrote a column for The Guardian entitled "Reel history", in which she discussed and rated popular films for their historical accuracy. She has also written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, Conde Nast Traveller, the BBC News website, BBC Lonely Planet Magazine, the Financial Times and The Daily Beast.

Author

Tunselmann has written five non fiction popular history books Tunzelmann collaborated with Jeremy Paxman on his books The Political Animal and On Royalty. She also contributed to The Truth About Markets by John Kay, Does Education Matter? by Alison Wolf, and Not on the Label by Felicity Lawrence.

Podcasting and broadcasting

Tunzelmann is the alternating co-host of the light-hearted British newspaper review podcast Paper Cuts. For BBC Radio 4, she wrote and presented the series The Lucan Obsession series of The History Podcast and also wrote the series History's Secret Heroes. She has also appeared on the literary discussion radio programme Litbits on Resonance FM, discussing literature and hair. She appears regularly on Sky News and on BBC current affairs programmes.

Screenwriting

Tunzelmann wrote the script for the movie Churchill, a film that received mixed reviews. Churchillian biographer Andrew Roberts noted the irony that, "Ms. von Tunzelmann—who once had a column in The Guardian that attacked movies for their historical errors—has twisted the truth about Churchill". Matthew Norman in the London Evening Standard acknowledged that despite the films "fancifulness", it was "an interesting and original study of a magnificent but unsaintly man raging in the dark against the dying of the light". She also wrote episodes of the RAI period drama Medici, focusing on the powerful Florentine family.

Awards

Tunzelmann was recognized by the Financial Times as Young Business Writer of the Year, and was shortlisted for the 2022 Wolfson History Prize for Fallen Idols.