My mother, Irene Schwab, was an archaeologist, academic and teacher who was committed to radical leftwing projects.
Born in Colindale, north London, she was the middle child of Mia (nee Hirschberg) and Peter Schwab, Jewish refugees who fled Germany in the 1930s and became co-directors of a small costume jewellery business in London. After attending Copthall County grammar school in Barnet, Irene studied archaeology at Birmingham University. She went on to excavate sites in Southwark, Orkney and the Middle East, and later led the Inner London Archaeology Unit.
