Research & Writing

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. I never stop searching and researching. As well as contributing to widely-published exhibition catalogues for the V&A and other institutions, I have my own book out in July 2019. In a capacity as a consulting expert, I have researched and written on everything from the general (e.g. the social history of 20th Century London) to the particular (e.g. Russian stage design for an auction house, and Modern British art, which is in fact the subject of my next book).

Murray's Cabaret Club: Discovering Soho's Secret

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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Murrays-Cabaret-Club-Discovering-Secret/dp/0750991321

Summary

Today, 16-18 Beak Street is a burger bar. But don’t let the muddy grey of the whitewashed oak walls deceive you – they once shimmered as they reflected the sparkle of costumed showgirls dancing. For this was Murray’s Cabaret Club, a West End club that, night after night, forged fantasies for deadened aristocrats, served a dish of dreams to Arab businessmen, and provided refuge for the hounded celebrity. In that intimate nightspot, sexy was never sordid, and nude never naked. That is, until the Profumo Affair – a sex-and-spying scandal that involved a love triangle between Murray’s showgirl Christine Keeler, the UK’s Minister of War and a Soviet spy, all at the height of the Cold War. Soho's Secret tells of Murray's visitors (Jean Harlow, Princess Margaret, Winston Churchill, Stephen Ward…), its dancers (Kay Kendall, Gertrude Lawrence, Ruth Ellis…), and – for the very first time – reveals the recently-discovered costumes and designs worn in London’s most glamorous floorshow. Close your eyes and imagine…

You Say You Want a Revolution?: Records and Rebels 1966-1970

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https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Say-Want-Revolution-1966-1970/dp/1851778918

Summary

The late 1960s were a time of rapid social and political change. Those few short years of unbridled optimism and experimentation brought to the fore issues that continue to dominate the headlines today: inequality, globalization, and environmentalism. Examining music, fashion, film, design, counterculture, mind-altering experiences, festivals, and politics, this book, published to accompany a major touring exhibition, investigates the cultural upheavals of those five revolutionary years. Punctuated by the music that provided the soundtrack to the era, from Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” to The Who’s “My Generation” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” and focusing on defining moments and movements such as Woodstock, communes, and the Paris protests of May 1968, this new book looks at how the revolutions of the 1960s changed the way we live today – and shaped the way we imagine the future.