
Erasmus Forum

Hywel Williams
Director
Hywel Williams is a historian, commentator, and broadcaster. His books include The Age of Chivalry: Culture and Power in Medieval Europe 950-1450; Emperor of the West: Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire; Sun Kings: A History of Kingship; Cassell’s Chronology of World History: Dates, Events and Ideas that Made History; Days that Changed the World; Guilty Men: Conservative Decline and Fall; Britain's Power Elites, In Our Time: A History of Oratory, and The Seven Ages of Britain.
His television credits, as writer and presenter, include documentaries on David Lloyd George, Pope Benedict XV, contemporary architecture, Britain's coal industry, a six-part international history of the late 20th century, 'Promised Land'- a social and economic history of post 1945 Wales, and 'How Empires Fall', a six part series on the decline of the Roman, British, Dutch, Spanish, French and Ottoman empires.

Fergus Butler Gallie
Senior Research Associate
Fergus Butler Gallie is an author, editor and lecturer. His books include A Field Guide to the English Clergy and Priests de la Resistance. He has been published in newspapers and magazines in Britain and the United States as a reviewer and commentator. His academic background is in Church History and his published work is on the Hussites and Early Modern Bohemia. He is a member of the Senior Common Rooms of St John's College and Keble College in Oxford and has lectured on History, Philosophy and Theology, focussing in particular on the interplay between Christianity and humour, across the UK and abroad.

Amelia Butler Gallie
Research Associate
Amelia Butler-Gallie is a freelance writer with an interest in literature, architecture, and culture. She has written for The Times, The Spectator, The Critic, The Oldie, and The Spectator World. She read English at Oxford, and then completed a Master’s in 18th century and early 19th century literature.

Milo Hynes
Research Associate
Milo Hynes is the podcast producer for the Erasmus Forum. His experience spans podcasts, political research, theatre and TV production. Before joining the Erasmus Forum, Milo produced the Institute for Government's podcasts (Inside Briefing, Preparing for Power, Becoming a Minister) and was a researcher for the Institute's Review of the UK Constitution. He continues to produce The Expert Factor, a collaborative podcast from the IfG, IFS, and UKICE. His television work includes Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events, ITV's CRIME, and Channel 4's Lost Worlds: Deeper Into the Black Sea. In theatre, he has produced two critically acclaimed plays: 20 Minutes of Action and Moderation. Milo studied History at the University of Edinburgh, specialising in the history of political thought.

Matthew Thal
Research Associate
Matthew Thal is presently a trainee solicitor at Slaughter and May. Prior to this he taught Latin and Classical Greek at Henrietta Barnett School and King Edward's School Birmingham. Matthew studied Classics at Peterhouse, Cambridge before completing an MPhil in Byzantine history. He has written book and exhibition reviews as well as lecturing to school age audiences on Cicero, Plato, Greek tragedy and Classical art.