Tuesday 16 July 2024 · Stationers’ Hall

Rupert Allason | Nigel West

We returned to Stationers’ in July to welcome Rupert Allason, former Member of Parliament for Torbay in Devon (1987-1997) and who writes espionage novels and works of military history under the pen name Nigel West.

One of Rupert’s specialisms has been in tracking down former agents and persuading them to tell their remarkable stories. As a historian of security and espionage, he has lectured at both the KGB headquarters and the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

Early Summer Luncheon

Tuesday 14 May 2024 · Stationers’ Hall

Drinks in the lovely gardens of Stationers’ Hall followed by a delicious BBQ buffet luncheon in the magnificent company of our fellow Kindred Spirits. A fantastic book raffle in aid of the Charitable Trust. And a booklet celebrating the life of John Miles.

Our thanks to Becky Chilcott for the lovely photographs of the occasion.

Professor John Charmley

Winston Churchill: Man, Myth & Legend

Tuesday 23 January 2024 · Stationers’ Hall

On 23 January, Professor John Charmley joined us at Stationers’ Hall to talk on Winston Churchill: Man, Myth and Legend.

John Charmley is a former Professor of History at the University of East Anglia as well as Professor Emeritus and former Provost of St Mary’s University. He is an esteemed historian, author of numerous works of twentieth-century history and biography and one of the nation’s foremost historians on the life of Winston Churchill. 

Among the first to receive access to the Churchill archive, Professor Charmley is one of the nation’s foremost historians on the life of Winston Churchill. He revealed a fascinating portrait of the lesser-known Winston, the very human parliamentarian who supported his family primarily through his work as a prolific author. He described how, in masterminding the written account of Britain during World Wars I and II, Churchill was able to construct an enduring victory epic in which he became one of the main protagonists of history.

The talk was exceptionally well-received and there was not enough time to take all the questions from the audience! The excellent news is that Professor Charmley is planning to join us for the Society’s Summer Outing to Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham on 13 June.

Our menu, designed by Sally Theodosiou and printed by Typecast Colour, featured the speaker’s subject from his portrait on the five-pound note.

November Luncheon and AGM

Jon Gray & Jamie Keenan

Tuesday 14 November 2023 · Stationers’ Hall

In November we had our AGM at Stationers’ Hall, followed by a talk from two hugely talented book cover designers, Jon Gray and Jamie Keenan.

They’re each multi-award winning designers in their own right, but together they also created the Academy of British Cover Design, which celebrates the very best in book cover design each year.

Jon has worked under the name ‘gray318’ for the past 20 years. He has designed book jackets for all of the major publishers in the world. Amongst many others, his work can be seen on the covers of books by Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, Sally Rooney, William Gibson and Jonathan Safran Foer.

Jamie worked in-house at Jonathan Cape before turning freelance in 1998. He now works for a mixture of British, American and European publishers and has designed covers for Stephen King, Martin Amis, Jennifer Egan, Philip Pullman, Nick Hornby, Richard Dawkins, A M Homes, Iain Banks, Bill Bryson, Kazuo Ishiguro and thousands of others.

Jon and Jamie talked us through their ‘Ten Disputable Theories of Cover Design’, a light-hearted look at the ideas and techniques that underpin their design processes, and showcased a beautiful selection of their covers.

The menu for the Luncheon was designed by our Chair, Alistair Hall, in the form of a book jacket featuring the Ten Disputable Theories, and printed by F.E. Burman.

To mark the end of his chairmanship, Alistair was also presented with a beautiful commemorative paper weight, created by Fiona Boyd from the Kindersley Workshop (you can see it over on our Weights of Office page).

Quiz Night

ON BEHALF OF THE CHARITABLE TRUST

Tuesday 10 October 2023 · St Bride Foundation

Another fantastic quiz in aid of the Society’s Charitable Trust, hosted by the inimitable Colin McHenry, with questions set by the marvellous Catherine Dixon.

Postponed by a week due to a train strike, we still had a good showing.

Four teams took part: Extraordinary (with the staff from Martin Morgan’s Extraordinary Editions and friends), Paperwise (hosted by our Honorary Membership Secretary Justin Hobson, and with Vice-Chair Patricia Solomon, and St Bride Librarian Sophie Hawkey-Edwards), Gadzooks (with ex-Chairs Paul Harpin and Jeremy Tankard, aided by member Rian Hughes and guests), and Quizzy Pop (with current Chair Alistair Hall, ex-chairs Becky Chilcott and Margaret Willes, together with members Sallyanne Theodosiou and Peter Jones).

Competition was fierce, and it was neck and neck until the final round, when Extraordinary took the lead, and the prize of a bottle of prosecco each.

Colin McHenry also added in a few sweet spot prizes throughout, and the fantastic raffle raised a significant amount of money for the Charitable Trust.

Huge thanks to Catherine for setting the questions, to Colin for hosting so joyously, to Sue Dunk for arranging the event, to Martin Morgan for organising the raffle, to Sue Bradbury and Carol Kemp for helping out so well, and to everyone who donated to the raffle.

The Wynkyn de Worde Society Summer Outing

Thursday 6 & Friday 7 July 2023

2023’s Summer Outing saw a fine selection* of the Society’s members heading down towards the south coast, to visit a wonderful exhibition at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, and to explore the delights of the Design Archives at the University of Brighton.

The sun-blessed trip began at Ditchling, with the stunning Signs of the Seaside exhibition – featuring research and typographic works from Justin Burns; and new commissions from graphic artists, signwriters and illustrators, including Anthony Burrill, Amy Goodwin, Marion Deuchars and Emma Carlow. The layouts of Blackpool’s Comedy Carpet by Gordon Young and Why Not Associates drew a lot of attention – perhaps a topic for a future talk?

The exhibition was followed by a delicious lunch nearby at The Bull, before we made our way down to Brighton. Ex-chair Carol Kemp kindly invited us to join her in the luxurious surroundings of Brighton Beach House for pre-dinner drinks. We basked on the balcony in the late-afternoon sun before wandering into town for relaxed dinner at Côte. A few of us were staying in Hove, and we wandered back there along the promenade under a starlit sky.

On Friday morning we gathered at the University of Brighton’s Design Archives, where Sirpa Kutilainen and Jen Grasso from the university had pulled together a mass of gorgeous bits of design for us to rummage through. There were pieces by Barbara Jones, Willy de Majo, Anthony Froshaug, FHK Henrion, and many others, producing a gentle hum of appreciative ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the Society’s members, as well as more than a few remembered anecdotes.

We were then joined at a delicious lunch at nearby Tutto by previous speaker Matt Baxter from Baxter & Bailey.

Our minds and bellies full, we wandered down to the seafront, to ascend 138 metres into the sky on Brighton’s i360, to get a birds-eye view of the glories of the British seaside.

That was the end of the official trip, though members were later spotted riding the Galloping Horses on the seafront’s carousel…

* Members and guests who attended:

Alison Guy, Alistair Hall, Becky Chilcott, Carol Kemp, Clive Smith, David Sparrow, Derek Albiston & Ann Gavin, Emel Soylu, Lynda Brockbank, Matt Baxter, Paul Harpin, Rian Hughes, Robin & Phyllida Smeeton, Seb Lester, and Sue Dunk.

Chris Riddell

Illustrating Politics in the 21st Century (and Other Fantasy Worlds)

Tuesday 14 March 2023 · The Art Workers’ Guild

The unfeasibly talented illustrator, author, and political cartoonist Chris Riddell OBE joined us at The Art Workers’ Guild in March.

Riddell has won a heap of major awards, including the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal - awarded for illustration in books for children - an unprecedented three times. He was the 2015-2017 Children’s Laureate and in 2019 was awarded the OBE by the Queen for his services to children’s literature. His recent work includes a brand new illustrated edition of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and illustrated editions of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass – with title lettering by Carol Kemp, and book design by Becky Chilcott, both ex-Chairs of the Society.

A packed audience was enthralled and entertained as he recounted his journey. From being a young boy drawing for wine gums in his local church, to being taught by Raymond Briggs at Brighton Polytechnic – who described his work as “marvellous, marvellous, marvellous”. From there Riddell moved to London, working at The Economist as their in-house illustrator, before moving on to the Sunday Correspondent, The Independent, and then in 1995 The Observer.

During his humorous and entertaining talk, Riddell drew scenes from his life, using a visualiser (a sort of overhead projector) to show his beautiful illustrations.

As the Chair of our Charitable Trust, Colin McHenry, later commented: “Ding dong, bang on, a cracking evening.”

Society Chair Alistair Hall also produced a keepsake newspaper for the evening, featuring a selection of Riddell’s favourite cartoons from his 28 years at The Observer.

For those who couldn’t attend, Chris Riddell was on Desert Island Discs in March 2020 – you can listen to that here.

Tom Thomson

News in the Digital World

17 November 2022 · Stationers’ Hall

Tom Thomson spoke about his life as a foreign correspondent, beginning as a Reuters financial journalist and transforming into a war correspondent, including his period within the British newspaper industry and the challenges for print of a world switching rapidly to digital. His talk encompassed the rise of fake news and the value of trusted, branded content; and touched on his post-media life as a technology entrepreneur.

Tom was a foreign correspondent and senior executive with Reuters, the global media company. He was based in the Middle East, US, Asia and Africa and was latterly Global Managing Editor of the 2,500-strong news operation. He was then Managing Editor of Scotland’s main newspaper group. He is on the board of the British Academy’s Council for British Research in the Levant and is a Global Fellow of London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He has been founding chair of three technology start-ups ranging from ‘chemical weapons destruction’ to ‘recycled plastic construction blocks’. He served on the board of the British Council, the UK’s £1.2 billion international cultural relations organisation, chaired the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scotland’s main professional orchestra, and was awarded an OBE for Services to Classical Music.

Irene Friend

Know the Stop. How printed form can create drama.

20 September 2022 · The Art Workers’ Guild

Irene talked about the complexities of giving voice to print, and how influential women such as Isabella Whitney, Cicely Berry and Elise Fogerty have played significant roles in the arts of communication, voice and text dictation, in drama and audio presentation. It was an engaging talk that made us think more about how print translates to the spoken word, whether in speechor dramatic production.

James Boyle

‘Designed by chance: stories of unlikely successes’

21 July 2022 · Stationers’ Hall

James Boyle retired from the BBC as Controller of Radio 4. He has also been a U.K. Civil Service Commissioner. Since retiring he has been a Trustee of the British Council, Chair of the National Library of Scotland and Chair of the Scottish Government's Cultural Commission. He brought together the teams that made Edinburgh the first UNESCO City of Literature and brought to Glasgow the title UNESCO City of Music. He was educated at the University of Strathclyde and the University of East Anglia. He has three honorary doctorates. James Boyle was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's National Academy, where he has served as Fellowship Secretary. James has three sons and seven grandchildren.

John Mitchinson

Sterne Lessons – What an 18th century bestseller still has to teach us

15 March 2022 · The Art Workers’ Guild

John Mitchinson has worked in publishing for decades. He helped to found the television panel game show, QI, and has co-written all their books. He was Waterstones’ first marketing director and he has held senior publishing roles at Orion, Cassell and Harvill. He co-hosts Unbound publishing’s Backlisted podcast.

On its publication in 1759, Tristram Shandy became an instant sensation and Laurence Sterne, then an obscure 46 year-old clergyman living in rural Yorkshire, was catapulted to a level of fame that most contemporary authors can only dream of. But Sterne had carefully prepared his passage to celebrity. John Mitchinson explains how he did this using tricks of production and marketing from which modern publishers still have much to learn.

Amber Weaver

Femme Type

18 November 2021

Amber Weaver told us all about Femme Type, her wonderful book, website and social media campaign that promotes, supports and encourages women who design type, and who work with type.

Summer outing

Farley Farm and Gallery East Sussex

26 August 2021

Carol Kemp organised a wonderful lunch, and visit to the home of Roger Penrose and Lee Miller where former guests were Picasso and Man Ray. The English surrealist Penrose was the founder of the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts). He wrote Picasso’s monograph. Lee Miller was Man Ray’s muse and lover, a Vogue model, chef, and an outstanding war photographer.