A Superdon (or celebrity don) is an academic who repeatedly appears in television documentaries. The term is a portmanteau combining Superman and University Don. The term is a Briticism, and has no exact analogue in American English. The Teledon is a closely allied phenomenon.
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Examples
Many count Superdons as those who have appeared on TV repeatedly. On this basis the following could be considered:
- A. J. P. Taylor (Oxford historian well-known for unscripted talks - perhaps the first superdon)
- Prof Richard Holmes (Military historian, an acclaimed Churchillian)
- Prof Richard Dawkins (ethologist)
- Prof Niall Ferguson (historian)
- Prof Germaine Greer (feminist and literary critic)
- Prof Robert Winston (human fertility, children)
- Dr. David Starkey (historian, famous for his Tudor period and Monarchy documentary series)
- Carenza Lewis (archaeologist, known for Time Team)
- Prof Stephen Hawking (theoretical physicist, commonly appears on television to explain quantum mechanics)
- Prof Simon Schama (historian, famous for his A History of Britain and Rough Crossings TV series, the latter a revisionist look at Anglo-American slavery)
- Francis Pryor (historian, known for his work on Anglo-Saxon sites and Time Team)
- Prof Dan Cruickshank (historian, series include Around the World in 80 Treasures)
- Tom Paulin (literary and cultural critic).
- Prof Timothy Garton Ash (historian, known for his commentary on European and international politics).
In literature
- Kingsley Amis' satires on University life makes reference to the phenomenon, but not by name, where lecturers seek fame to hold on to their positions and to try and achieve tenure.
- 'Howard Kirk' was a fictional 'superdon' historian created by Malcolm Bradbury in his novel The Historu Man
- In The Da Vinci Code, the protagonist, Robert Langdon, could be considered a misguided 'superdon'.
Miscellaneous
- Andrew Marr mentions the cult of the Superdon as indicative of our love of celebrity in his book My Trade
