Broughton academic Hew Strachan is awarded a knighthood

Professor Hew Strachan is a military historian but his expertise is also in demand on modern military matters and he has a role as an unpaid adviser to the government.

He said this week that it was taking time for the knowledge of the knighthood to sink in.

“But it is very exciting,” he said.

Originally from Edinburgh, Professor Strachan (63) was educated at Rugby and then Cambridge.

Initially, he took a job with a shipping company but he knew that was not his dream job.

“I wanted to be a military historian,” he said. “I always wanted to do that.”