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New book Iconicon – can you help?
Very excited that my new book, Iconicon, was announced today by Faber and Faber. It's a sequel to Concretopia, covering the period 1980–2017. Here's the press release. It will be published in 2020, and...
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The Battle for Docklands: the story of the LDDC
Here's a film made in 1998 to help wrap up the London Docklands Development Corporation. Called The Battle for Docklands, the title is a little misleading, as it's a pretty rollocking 50 minute ride...
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Outskirts – Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize
Two weeks ago I was amazed to discover that Outskirts, my book on growing up on the edge of the green belt, had been shortlisted for the UK travel and nature writing award The Wainwright Prize.Find out...
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Interview with The Brutal Artist
I've been getting a lot of questions about The Brutal Artist, the mysterious illustrator whose work has so enlivenedHow To Love Brutalism. So we conducted this email interview. Follow The Brutal Artist...
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Interview with Outskirts illustrator Eleanor Crow
In 2017 Eleanor Crow provided ten illustrations for my book Outskirts. Her work may be familiar to you from her celebrated cover illustrations for books such as Golden Hill or Grief is the Thing with...
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Sweeney on the South Bank
The Sweeney is one of the best places to view 1970s London. More often than not taking advantage of all the remaining derelict bomb sites and unreconstructed parts of the city, the show features...
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My books...
Clever me, after all these years I still haven't managed to round up my books in one place on my own website. So here goes.My first was Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain,...
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Pimlico, no passport required
Here's a charmer from 1950, a film of the construction of Churchill Gardens estate in Pimlico, one of the first bits of postwar rebuilding in London.It was designed by a couple of architects fresh from...
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Coventry in the 1960s
Here's a couple of films of Coventry from the early 1960s, when the pioneering shopping precinct and cathedral were newly open.The first is from 1961 and shows the pedestrianised shopping precinct in...
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Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi in conversation, 1984
This is a great interview with those pioneering postmodernists, Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi. Recorded in 1984, it's part of a series of interviews by Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel. They...
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Eames House
Here's a record of Charles and Ray Eames' house, recorded by the designers after 5 years of living there. As befits their jaunty infographic style the whole film is a montage of shots of the buildings...
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Sydney 1973-75
Given we're living IN THESE TIMES I thought I'd start posting a bit more regularly on here again, a bit of escapism to the postwar world.Here's two cinefilms made in Sydney between 1973 and 75. The...
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The Living City: London 1970
Here we are in the City of London in 1970, the year I was born. This is a film made by the Corporation of London, and this print via the London Metropolitan Archives is great, if a bit wobbly.Treats in...
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TV Cream Pocast – Signs of the Times: That Little Bit Different
Travel back to the heady days of 1992 in this TV Cream podcast where novelist Rose Ruane and I chat about the Martin Parr-led documentary series Signs of the Times where residents describe their home...
View ArticleIt is the end, but the moment has been prepared for...
I've not posted on here for a long time, sorry about that. I am closing the blog now, dear old pal that it has been. Thanks so much for everyone who has read and shared posts, I really appreciate it. I...
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Follow my new writing on Substack
The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that I stopped writing this blog a few years back. But I've been looking for somewhere to post new articles in its place, and have created a Substack email,...
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