David Miles pays fulsome tribute to the late Jean Manco and reviews her last book probing the roots of the Anglo-Saxons, which is also the subject of a landmark exhibition on show at the British Library.
I am sorry that I never met Jean Manco. Like the goddess Minerva, she seemed to spring full formed from nowhere, with the publication of her book Ancestral Journeys in 2015. This was rapidly followed by Blood of the Celts, and now her latest and regrettably last work The Origins of the Anglo Saxons. Sadly, she died in March this year at the age of 72.
Her books read like the work of a dynamic and talented young researcher, energised by the discoveries of genetics and their potential for casting light on history. This was an author preternaturally well-read, scientifically literate and capable of transforming complex data into a compelling narrative. So I was surprised to discover that Jean was in her late 60s, with no formal training in genetics. Of course, she had a backstory: born in Boston (Lincolnshire) in 1948, she moved to London, married and had children while quite young. She later divorced and took a degree in psychology at Sussex University. In her forties she trained herself to become a seriously good buildings historian – working mainly in Bath and the West Country. She was an avid communicator, writing for a local newspaper and broadcasting on local radio. She also discovered the potential of the internet.
So far so good. But then in about 2000, she discovered genetics and moved up a gear. Jean semi-retired from buildings work to concentrate on her new obsession. It required awesome intelligence and focus to deal with the avalanche of genetics papers, sometimes ill-digested, often contradictory, even self-aggrandising. Yet she made sense out of it.
This story is from the November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6 edition of Minerva.
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This story is from the November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6 edition of Minerva.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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