Speake specialised in Anglo-Saxon art and iconography. As of 2016 he was working on the reconstruction of the more than 1,000 pieces of the
Staffordshire helmet, following work on the
Prittlewell burial, and teaching fine art and art history. In 2014 he coauthored a book on the
Staffordshire Hoard,
Beasts, Birds and Gods: Interpreting the Staffordshire Hoard, identifying among other characteristics an "eyeless, open-jawed serpent" depicted on the helmet's cheek guard. A paper on the helmet was due to be published in 2018. He was also an Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology at Oxford. Speake's 1980 work
Anglo-Saxon Animal Art and its Germanic Background, written as the basis for his Ph.D., is considered "a major break-through in Anglo-Saxon style studies". It provided a comprehensive look at "
style II" art, the form of zoomorphic decoration used in
Northern Europe from the middle of the sixth century AD to the end of the seventh. Hitherto the least understood style of Anglo-Saxon and
Scandinavian animal art, style II is thought to have been reserved for the upper classes and is found prominently on the objects found in the
Sutton Hoo ship-burial and in the
Vendel boat graves. Speake's work was credited with discussing every known example of the style through 1974—the date of his Ph.D.—and with proving that it was introduced to England from
Denmark,
Norway, and
Sweden. == Personal life ==