... Peter Brears is one of Britain's leading food historians. Formerly director of York's Castle Museum and for 15 years director of Leeds City Museums, he has carried out research projects at many historic venues, including Hampton Court Palace, Belvoir Castle, Petworth and Harewood House, where he often designs seasonal food events.

Much in demand across the UK, he works with organisations that include Historic Royal Palaces, the National Trust, English Heritage, and many museums and historic private houses. His prolific writing includes The Gentlewoman's Kitchen, Traditional Food in Yorkshire,The Complete Housekeeper and The Book of Carving.

His is highly specialised work, and there are only one or two historians in the country who are as skilled and knowledgeable.

Peter Brears began volunteering in museums as a secondary schoolboy, living then in the pit village of Outwood near Wakefield. His dad was a colliery baths supervisor....