One day teacher, whole life father
On 16th November the Sheffield School of Architecture held an event to celebrate Peter’s life and work. It was an amazing evening, attended by around 200 people. Peter’s ex-students, some of them professors themselves now, came from places as far afield as Korea and Taiwan. It was intensely moving to hear what an influence he had had […]
Remarkable memoir: A Chelsea Concerto
Frances Faviell wrote A Chelsea Concerto some years after living through the Blitz. She was a privileged young woman, earning a living as an artist, and sufficiently well off to have a housekeeper, the splendid Mrs Freeth. Simply as a social document of a slightly Bohemian, but respectable middle-class way of life it would be fascinating, […]
Feeling low? How about a nice murder?
There are many occasions in life – maybe you are in bed with flu, or the dog has died, or the sheer effort of keeping up with everyday life has defeated you – when a good murder is just what’s needed. Of the fictional variety, of course, perhaps the kind of thriller or crime novel that is so […]
Mixed emotions
Today my new novel is out. I am delighted with the great job that my publishers have done and it was a thrill to get my advance copy. What a terrific cover! I couldn’t be more pleased with it. I turned to the acknowledgements and there at the end was this: ‘and last but not […]
The only Arts and Crafts fridge in Britain
Or anywhere else, possibly. In Footfall, the third of my Cassandra James novels, Cassandra’s husband opens the fridge and one of the plastic racks on the inside of the door comes away. A bottle of milk, a jar half full of olives, and a glass containing sticks of celery crash to the tiled floor. In […]
Something sensational to read in the train.
‘I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.’ In that respect and in that only I am like Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest. I first began to write a journal when I wrote my first novel. I am now onto notebook 25. I don’t […]
Should writers marry other writers?
Writing is a solitary activity, involving long periods alone and periods of distraction even when you’re not alone. Thurber’s wife used to say to him ‘Dammit, you’re writing!’ when he sat abstracted at the dinner table. Other writers understand this. When it was one of his days for working at home, Peter and I would retreat […]
So touched by all the tributes and kind messages and emails
after the death of my husband, Peter Blundell Jones. Thank you to everyone. On the day of his funeral the blinds were drawn in the windows of the Architecture Department in the Arts Tower: a wonderful tribute. This obituary by Jeremy Till for the Architect’s Journal sums him up so well: www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/obituary-peter-blundell-jones-1949-2016/10010072.article#.V78Wi9pRaOw.twitter
Devastation
My dear husband, Peter Blundell Jones, father, writer, architect, scholar, died on Friday after a short illness.