Eamon Duffy
Eamon Duffy (born 1947) is an Irish historian. He is a professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow and former president of Magdalene College. Early life. Duffy was born on 9 February 1947, in Dundalk, Ireland. He describes himself as a "cradle Catholic". He was educated at St Philip's School and the University of Hull. He undertook postgraduate research at the University of Cambridge, where his doctoral advisers were Owen Chadwick and Gordon Rupp. Academic career. Duffy specialises in 15th- to 17th-century religious history of Britain. He is also  a former member of the Pontifical Historical Commission. His work has done much to overturn the popular image of late-medieval Catholicism in England as moribund, and instead presents it as a vibrant cultural force. On weekdays from 22 October to 2 November 2007, he presented the BBC Radio 4 series "10 Popes Who Shook the World" – those popes featured were Peter, Leo I, Gregory I, Gregory VII, Innocent III, Paul III, Pius IX, Pius XII, John XXIII, and John Paul II.