Ted Powell read Modern History at Merton College, Oxford taking a First Class degree in 1976. He gained his DPhil in 1980 on Public Order and Law Enforcement in Shropshire and Staffordshire in the Early Fifteenth Century.  He was Talbot Research Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford 1981-2 and Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Downing College, Cambridge between 1982-1989.

In 1989 he changed career and qualified as a solicitor.  He was a partner of national law firm Mills & Reeve between 1997 and 2015, when he retired to devote himself to historical writing and lecturing.  In 2018 he published his latest book "King Edward VIII: An American Life" (Oxford)

Ted has taught for several years on the Medieval Studies course at ICE Summer School in Cambridge; his teaching style is document-based with close study of original sources in translation.  He encourages active calss collaboration.

For Ted the great joy of teaching adult students is the diversity of age and background and the wealth of life experiences students bring to class as well as their tremendouse enthusiasm for learning.