Academic Career
Following his two year nation service, he worked for a short time with the History of Parliament Trust as a research assistant. The next four years were spent as a Fellow at the University of Birmingham's Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon. From 1961, he was a lecturer in Modern History at the University of Liverpool. In 1967, he returned to the University of Birmingham as a history lecture. In 1987, he was appointed Professor of English History and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, a position he retained until his retirement in 1997. From from 1989 until 1993 he was also pro-vice-chancellor, an important position in the overall running of the university. He was head of the Modern History department from 1994 until 1997.
He was particularly noted for his work on the life of Anne Boleyn, the second wife and queen of King Henry VIII of England. His theories on her life have drawn him into fierce debate with the American historian Retha Warnicke, who wrote The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn in 1989 to challenge Ives's findings. He began researching Anne Boleyn about 1979, publishing the results in 1986. The biography, Anne Boleyn, was modified and expanded for re-publication in 2004 under the new title of The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn. In 2009, he published a study of Lady Jane Grey and the circumstances of her accession and downfall.
He also wrote extensively on the History of Law and the development of modern higher education. His biographical writing on Tudor courtiers covers the Welsh land-owning magnate William Brereton, who was unjustly condemned to death in 1536 on the false charge of being Anne Boleyn's lover. In 2000 the University of Birmingham Press published The First Civic University: Birmingham, 1880-1980 - An Introductory History, which he co-authored with Diane K. Drummond and Leonard Schwarz.
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