Mark Felton

Mark Felton (born 1974) is a British YouTuber, writer, and historian. He has written non-fiction books and is a YouTuber with channels on 20th and 21st century topics, mainly related to World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Felton has taught at the University of Essex and at universities in China, as well as being featured on television as a military history commentator.

Early life and education Felton was born in 1974 in Colchester, Essex, where he attended the Philip Morant School. Felton sat for a BA degree in history and English at Anglia Polytechnic University. He also holds a postgraduate certificate in political science, an MA in Native American studies, and a PhD in history, all from the University of Essex. Felton's doctoral thesis, titled "Resistance in exile: Sitting Bull and the Teton Sioux in Canada, 1876-1881", was in the field of Native American studies.

Career Felton taught at the University of Essex and worked in a junior role at the local Colchester facility of the Benefits Agency (a former social security agency of the British government) before moving to China for nine years, where he was a part-time English teacher at Shanghai University and Fudan University. In 2013, he was a volunteer for the Royal British Legion in Shanghai, helping to organise Poppy Appeals. Staff at the British Consulate in Shanghai and Felton were involved in identifying gravestones of British soldiers killed by Japanese military personnel in 1937.

Felton has appeared on television as a military history commentator, including in the series Combat Trains (History Channel), and Evolution of Evil (American Heroes Channel). His book Zero Night was about an escape from a German prisoner of war camp; Zero Night was optioned in 2016 by Essential Media for film development.

In October 2017, Felton started a YouTube show, titled Mark Felton Productions, which covers various 20th century topics.

In October 2019, Center Street released his Operation Swallow: American Soldiers' Remarkable Escape From Berga Concentration Camp, which covers illegal mistreatment by German personnel of US prisoners of war in Nazi captivity in the Battle of the Bulge. For the book, Felton referred to documents and witness accounts.

In 2022, Felton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Personal life Felton met Fang Fang, a Chinese law student, while she was studying at Essex University in 2002. They married the next year and live in Norwich with their son.

Selected publications