Dan Cruickshank is a leading expert on Britain's architectural and engineering history, and a familiar face to TV viewers from programmes as diverse as The House Detectives, Sex in the 18th Century and Dan Cruickshank Under Fire, which took him to conflict zones around the world to see how ancient treasures stood up to modern warfare.

Besides presenting BBC TWO's Britain's Best Buildings, Dan was also involved in choosing the buildings featured in the series, a task he describes ruefully as "difficult at best." For One Foot in the Past he's investigated the fate of two of the great lost icons of British engineering, the Festival of Britain Skylon and the Euston Arch - former entry point to the first railway station in a World capital city. His range is enormous - reporting as authoritatively on the Mortimer family's bid for the crown of England in the 1300s as on the competition to find a design for a building to replace the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre.

Equally respected as a writer, Dan edited Perspectives on Architecture and was an editor for both The Architects’ Journal and The Architectural Review. He also regularly contributes articles on architecture to the national press. His books include The Rape of Britain; London - the Art of Georgian Building; Life in the Georgian City and Invasion, which considered how the need for defence has shaped the buildings of the British Isles.

Dan is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects; Visiting Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Sheffield and a member of the London faculty of the University of Delaware. He sits on the Executive Committee of the Georgian Group; the Architecture Panel of the National Trust and is a Director of the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust. He also acts as a historic buildings consultant to Robert Adam Architects.

Content last updated: 16/08/2005