Meet Alice Loxton, Gen Z's answer to top historians Mary Beard and Dan Snow

In an age of viral challenges and fleeting online trends, where attention spans are often shorter than a Roman toga, 28-year-old Alice Loxton is captivating a generation with bite-sized bursts of the past, delivered through the platform of TikTok.

Through her handle, history_alice, she has amassed a loyal following of nearly 750,000 predominantly Gen Z followers, enthralled by her unique and accessible portal to the past.

Forget dusty archives and dry lectures that drone on like a bard reciting an epic poem nobody remembers – Alice has found a way to make history captivating for teenagers and 20-somethings raised on short snippets and instant gratification.

Her weapon of choice?

The very platform that often gets labelled as a breeding ground for mindless clickbait.

With her infectious enthusiasm and smartphone at the ready, Alice uses the social media platform to its full potential to create visually-engaging videos lasting between 30 and 120 seconds, revealing historical oddities and architectural curiosities to engage even the most scroll-happy audience.

One moment, she’s exploring the hidden bomb shelters beneath London, the next, she’s deciphering the symbolism hidden within the architecture of a medieval cathedral, her smartphone panning across weathered stonework. And everything is set to classical music – “the most evocative soundtrack there is”.

“I like finding all the quirky, strange things that people see every single day and say ‘Did you know there is this amazing story behind it?’” Alice says. Since beginning her channel in April 2021 with the story of the biscuit tin that hid the Crown Jewels at Windsor Castle during the Second World War (100,000 views and counting), Alice has become one of the UK’s youngest and most influential historians, with more than 11 million likes on TikTok and 1.4 million followers on Instagram – figures that are growing daily.

“I’ve received messages from students thanking me for making history relatable and exciting, and that’s truly the most rewarding part of this whole experience,” she enthuses.

“The biggest feedback I get is the overwhelming message, ‘I never realised how much I loved history’ or ‘I hated learning about history at school, but I love this and found it interesting’.

“I do believe that everyone has an interest in history, but we are put off at different stages. But history is the story of everything that ever happened, and it’s all true, so it’s even more remarkable. I’m trying to help people find their way back in: I talk about buildings that people can actually go and see, or architectural details to inform their daily commute – if you know a bit about architectural history, it makes your day even more interesting.”

Now her debut book, Uproar! – an acclaimed study of the influential political cartoonists of the 18th century, written in her hallmark conversational style – is about to be published in paperback. Her second book, 18: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives, will be published in August.

“I’ve always been into history, and I’ve always been thrilled by old buildings,” she enthuses, her voice ringing with energy. “When I go to a historic building it sends shivers down my spine, but it dawned on me that history wasn’t connecting with my generation.

“I wanted to find a way to make history accessible, engaging, and most importantly, fun. We take churches for granted, but in every village, there is an 800-year-old building. It’s something quite extraordinary.

“But churches are in a massive crisis, so I want to convince people how wonderful these buildings are and why we need to preserve them. In one minute, you can share a lot of information.”

The impact of her TikToks extends beyond the realm of entertainment. Historical societies, including the National Trust – which has a serious problem attracting Gen Z visitors – are reaching out to collaborate with Alice.

“I set up Young Trust to gather young people together to see what they wanted from the National Trust and I work for them making content on social media about their properties. There are all sorts of conversations going on,” she says.

Two months before the National Portrait Gallery reopened last June, after a three-year, £36million refurbishment, Alice was granted a behind-the-scenes visit for this very purpose.

Wearing a hard hat and hi-vis jacket for her loyal TikTok followers, many of whom might not know the gallery, she revealed previously hidden architectural features, including beautiful cut-glass windows hidden behind a hoarding for decades.

“I’m on a mission to improve heritage and history for young people,” she says.

“As children, we are taken to historic places and don’t go again until our 30s with families of our own. There is a gap in the middle – the 20s are the missing decade – and everyone in the heritage world is keen to make things more accessible, so it’s a very positive world to work in.”

There is always a pressure on social media to be trend-driven, but Alice insists she never compromises on historical integrity.

“A mistake that is often made with young people is to try to attract them with the current thing,” she says.

“It can work, but it’s not really necessary. What I’ve seen is that they are interested in history for the bare bones; you don’t always have to dress it up.

“The fact that I can make videos about the wonderful encaustic tiles in Winchester Cathedral that go viral shows that there is this fascination with genuine history.”

In February, Canterbury Cathedral held a controversial silent disco to reach out to younger people and raise the large sums the place of worship now requires to survive.

The event, at which headphone-wearing party-goers danced to tracks from the likes of All Saints and bought drinks from a licensed bar, attracted attention for all the wrong reasons. As crowds entered the holy building, Christian protesters faced the rain to sing hymns and to call for an end to the “absurd” idea, declaring that they did not want “a rave to Eminem in God’s house”.

Says Alice: “I have massive sympathy for people who are trying to keep the cathedral going, it’s a huge job and credit to anyone who raises money for this. I can understand why a lot of people were disappointed at a sacred space being used in this way, away from its essence, but kudos to Canterbury for thinking outside the box.”

So how does Alice, who grew up in a musical family with history-loving parents, project topics such as Georgian satire to a more youthful audience? While studying history at Edinburgh University, her tongue-in-cheek history magazine The Plague won a national student journalism prize. It featured tabloid-style newspaper headlines blended with the satirical knowingness of Private Eye.

Notable front-page screamers included: “Rameses: Nude Statues Force Twitter into Meltdown” and “Rude Raiders Strike Again: Vikings Lack Manners, Moan Monks”.

“That was a long time ago,” she says, slightly embarrassed. After finishing her four-year history degree at Edinburgh, Alice applied for a job at History Hit TV, television historian Dan Snow’s production company. She stayed for three years, learning about all aspects of TV production.

“It was a wonderful time and I was exposed to every possible creative endeavour. Dan is so eloquent and knowledgeable. He is masterful at conveying history in a really engaging way.”

Dan calls her “the next big thing in history”, so the admiration is clearly mutual. In 2020, he asked to start the company’s TikTok channel. “We were ahead of the game, and then I started making them myself. My first viral post was filmed in Covent Garden about hand-blown glass windows. That one did really well [5.2 million views and counting].

“I like to find quirky, strange things that people are aware of, and reveal their history – like the iron bollards in London that are actually cannons from the Napoleanic wars. I’m in the videos but most of the time you’re watching the object. I always try to edit the videos so you can see the thing I am talking about.”

She dreams of writing screenplays and going into the movies as a director or producer. “I’d love to be the brains behind a film,” she admits. In a world of ever-shortening attention spans, Alice is a pioneer who has found a way to make history relevant to a generation raised on instant gratification.

“I’m working in a job that didn’t exist when I left school 10 years ago,” she says.

It may be history, but it’s not all horrible.

• Uproar! by Alice Loxton (Icon, £11.99) is published today. Visit expressbookshop.com or call Express Bookshop on 020 3176 3832. Free UK P&P on orders over £25