Peter Christian was born and grew up in London. After study at Clare College, Cambridge and the University of Marburg, he returned to London to lecture in German first at Queen Mary College and later at Goldsmiths College. He now works as IT Documentation & Training Officer at Goldsmiths College.
He has been researching his genealogy for almost 30 years and is a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists. From 1996 to 2001 he was Editor of the Society's computer journal Computers in Genealogy, and was also responsible for designing and setting up the Society's first Web site. He regularly lectures on the use of the Internet for genealogy and is one of the Trustees of Genuki.
He is the author of the best-selling genealogy book The Genealogist's Internet, and is a regular contributor to the National Archives' Ancestors magazine.
Books
- Web Publishing for Genealogy, 2nd ed. (UK: David Hawgood, 1999; US: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2000)
- Computer & Internet Consultant for Readers' Digest Explore Your Family's Past (Reader's Digest, 2000)
- Finding Genealogy on the Internet 2nd ed. (David Hawgood, 2002).
- The Genealogist's Internet (Public Record Office, 2001; 3rd edn National Archives 2005)
- Internet Consultant for Readers' Digest The Story of Where You Live (Reader's Digest, 2005)
- Consultant for Readers' Digest How to Trace Your Family History on the Internet (Reader's Digest, June 2008)
- Census: The Expert Guide (National Archives, September 2008), with David Annal
Articles
- Monthly articles in Ancestors, April 2001 to the present
- National press
- Genealogy Site Test, Sunday Times, 25th April 2004
- Family History Site Test, Sunday Times, 15th January 2006
- The 50 best websites, Guardian, 14th April 2007
- Computers in Genealogy
- Genealogical publishing on the World Wide Web, Vol 5 Nos 10/11 (March/June 1996)
Mailing list basics, Vol 6. No. 3 (September 1997)- Can Soundex be improved, Vol 6 No. 5 (March 1998), with additional material in Soundex Update, Vol 6 No. 6 (June 1998)
- Genealogy & the Search Engines, Vol 6 No. 12 (December 1999)
- The Society of Genealogists' Data On-line, Vol 7 No. 2 (June 2000)
- The NGS' Guidelines for publishing Web pages on the Internet, Vol 7 No. 3 (September 2000)
- Family Tree Magazine
- What surname distribution can't tell us, Vol. 13 No. 8 (June 1997)
- A number of articles in Family History Monthly
Bookmarks
- My public bookmarks at del.icio.us