Nikolaus Pevsner revisited

After my post on Pevsner and Rothwell Congregational Chapel I received an email from Susie Harries, who is writing a biography of the great man - Bringer of Riches: A Life of Nikolaus Pevsner.

She wrote to me:

Pevsner was aware of his weakness where Nonconformist churches were concerned. Part of the problem was that his county trips were limited to university vacations and he worked to a fairly hectic schedule, based on research from existing sources, which were much more comprehensive for the CofE ...

His wife was indeed a fast and erratic driver; in one car (a Ford Prefect) the horn sounded every time she turned right, and she nearly killed them during the tour of Essex, when they were towing a caravan. But it would have been much worse if he had been driving himself: he failed his driving test so often that the driving school were embarrassed into offering him a discount.

You can read more from Susie Harries on her blog about Pevsner.

Another good introduction to Pevsner and his series The Buildings of England is Jonathan Meades's 2001 programme Pevsner Revisited. The first part is at the top of this post and Youtube will offer you the subsequent ones automatically.