Denis Crispin Twitchett (23 September 1925 – 24 February 2006) was a British Sinologist and historian, and is well known as one of the co-editors of The Cambridge History of China.
Denis Twitchett was born on 23 September 1925 in London, England, the son of an architectural draughtsman, and attended Isleworth County Grammar School.
Having won a scholarship to read Geography in 1943 while still a school pupil, he then took up his place at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, whence he graduated with a first-class degree in Oriental Studies in 1950.
Starting in 1966, Professor Twitchett and historian John K. Fairbank (who taught at Harvard) began plans for the first comprehensive history of China to be published in the English language.
Drawing upon the most respected living historians for individual chapters of the books, the series (though still missing one volume as of 2022) is very highly regarded as an authoritative history of China.