The Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books lists around 425 writers who have written a book and lived in Chiswick W4, or written books about the area. See A Quick Guide.
We have tried to ensure that all those named on the Timeline have lived in, or written books about, Chiswick W4 – and that the list is comprehensive – but we are open to corrections and we welcome discussion. Some writers may not have lived here for very long or written their best-known works here; others regarded Chiswick as their home and an inspiration. The listings are still growing.
If you have suggestions for other authors you think we should include, please email admin@chiswickbookfestival.net.
We have used the following sources. We are very grateful to them, and to the individuals who are cited below these.
Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society. and its Chiswick Writers Research Group (CWRG)
Books about Chiswick – ChiswickW4.com
Who Was Who on Strand on the Green – Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society
Chiswick – Wikipaedia
History of Chiswick – ChiswickW4.com
Chiswick: Growth – British History Online (BHO)
Chiswick History: Gillian Clegg
Gill Clegg’s Chiswick History Web Pages: People – BCLHS
The Architects of Bedford Park – Bedford Park Society
History of the Suburb – Bedford Park Society
The Exhibition that saved Bedford Park – Bedford Park Society
Mainly About Bedford Park People – Christina Speight and Laurence Duttson (not online)
Romantic Mythologies – edited by Dr Ian Fletcher
London Remembers/Memorials/W4
Notable Abodes/Chiswick
English Heritage – Blue Plaques/ Chiswick
Gunnersbury Park & Museum
See also:
Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books: How it began and more names at:
Waterstones Local Authors Party 2018
Waterstones Local Authors Party 2017
Further notes below:
– We are adding more source links to the main listings pages, starting with Non-fiction.
– These are ‘work in progress’ and will be updated over time.
– We intend to list our sources for the information that: these writers lived in Chiswick;
or are so closely associated with Chiswick that they warrant inclusion (such as John Betjeman, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Erin Pizzey).
– Where people have written books about Chiswick or set scenes in Chiswick, we hope their inclusion is self-explanatory.
– Sources (marked in red below) include individuals such as Val Bott (VB), Torin Douglas (TD) and Paul Wade (PW), and works and organisations such as ChiswickW4.com (CW4), Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society (BCLHS) and its Chiswick Writers Research Group (CWRG), The Chiswick Calendar (TCC), Mainly About Bedford Park People (MABPP), Wikipaedia (Wiki) and Notable Abodes (NA). Several of the links on this page are to these sources.
– Where authors have been nominated by themselves or family members, these have been verified by Torin Douglas below (TD).
– Addresses (marked ‘Res’ in green): Where possible, we aim to include addresses (though not of living writers, for privacy reasons).
We start with the ‘Latest Names’ page, as at April 28th 2020, and more names will be added gradually.
Tony Aldous – Chiswick’s art, architecture, history – Illustrated London News Book of London’s Villages (chapter) TD
Kathy Arnold – travel – Thomas Cook, Frommer’s and other travel guides to countries and regions. See also Paul Wade below PW
Humphrey Arthure – Chiswick’s art, architecture, history – Life and Work in Old Chiswick
Elias Malke Assad – art – Pearls from Heaven TD
Magdalena Bak-Maier – science, education, health – Body Talk, Get Productive TD
KC Barnaby – business, industry – 100 years of Specialised Shipbuilding and Engineering; Some Ship Disasters and their Causes PW Res: The Hollies/Heron House, Chiswick Mall.
Colin Bamford – law – Principles of International Financial Law
Mary Berry (1763-1852) – journals – Social Life in England and France from the French Revolution PW
Alan Bignell – memoir – The Year I Became Al CW4
Fiona Brattle – fashion – The Model’s Handbook TD
Charles and Edward Bright (EB 1831-1913) – business and industry – The Life Story of Sir Charles Tilston Bright PW Res: 2 Bolton Road. Sir Charles is buried in St Nicholas graveyard (Charles was his son, Edward his brother)
Nick Brooks – novels, including crime – Betrayed TD
Ginny Brown (1941 – 2006) – memoir – Swans At My Window TD/PW Res: Houseboat on Thames
Carla Capalbo – cookery – Tasting George: A food and wine journey in the Caucasus PW
Jessie Childs – history – God’s Traitors TD
Cosmo Clark (1897-1967) – history, memoir – The Tin Trunk TD
Rev William Cotton (1813-1879) – environment – My Bee Book PW
Gary Critcher – sport – Shutter and Speed TD
Martin Daly – travel – Tonga, a Bibliography TD
Nelson Dawson (1859-1941) – design – Goldsmiths’ and Silversmiths’ Work PW Res: Swan House, Chiswick Mall, and The Guardship, Church Street
Brian Dobbs – sport – Black and White: The Birth of Modern Boxing CW4
Declan Donnelly – biography – Ooh! What A Lovely Pair: Our Story (with Ant McPartlin) TD
Claudia Flanders (1933-1998) – lyrics (compiler and introduction) – The Songs of Michael Flanders & Donald Swann TD Res: 63 Esmond Road
Robert Fortune (1812-1880) – horticulture, travel – A Journey to the Tea Countries of China PW
Ann Francke – business – Create a Gender-Balanced Workplace TD
Glenn Frankel – journalism – High Noon PW
Emma Forrest – novels – Namedropper, Royals TD
Sylvia Freedman – plays and biography – Poor Penelope: Lady Penelope Rich, an Elizabethan Woman PW
Suzy Grant – coaching, therapy – Alternative Ageing PW
Sir Percy Harris (1876-1952) – politics – Forty Years In and Out of Parliament, London and its Government PW Res: Morton House, Chiswick Mall
Ada May Harrison – poems, novels, children’s, travel books – The Adventures of Polly Peppermint PW Res: Lingard House, Chiswick Mall
Mary Cecil Hay (1839-1886) – novelist – The Squire’s Legacy PW
Simon Jenkins – Chiswick’s art, architecture and history – The Companion Guide to Outer London (chapter) TD
Thomas Kennedy – novels, scenes set in Chiswick – The Avery-Stripes TD
Michael Kerr – biography – Virtuoso (John Ogdon) TD
Vyvyan Kinross – diplomacy – Information Warriors TD
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lord (President of ArtsEd) – memoir – Unmasked TD
Patricia Lousada (1929-2019) cookery – Pasta Italian Style, American Baking and many others PW
Desmond Lynam – stage, screen, radio – I Should Have Been at Work PW
Virginia Makins – education – The Invisible Children TD
Mark Malloch Brown, Lord – politics, diplomacy – The Unfinished Global Revolution PW Res: Church Street and Chiswick Mall
Jose Manser – art – Mary Fedden and Julian Trevelyan PW
Robin Marris, Professor (1924-2012) – economics – Ending Poverty PW
Alec Marsh – novels – Rule Britannia TD
Ant McPartlin – biography – Ooh! What A Lovely Pair: Our Story (with Declan Donnelly) TD
Ralph Miliband (1924-1994) – economics, politics – Marxism and Politics, The State in Capitalist Society. See Ralph Miliband and Chiswick Library TD (info, Matt Myers) Res: not known but worked in Chiswick Library
Tim Moore – travel – Do Not Pass Go, Gironimo and many others PW
Matt Myers – politics – Student Revolt: Voices of the Austerity Generation TD
Rev Martine Oborne – children’s – Hamilton’s Hats PW
Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847) – politics – An Historical Memoir: Ireland and the Irish PW Res: Walpole House, Chiswick Mall (lodged as student)
Robert Oulds – history – Montgomery and the First War On Terror TD
Denis Postle – psychology – Fabric of the Universe PW
Patrick Riddell – plays – Defence in Depth and other BBC radio plays
Erin Pizzey – politics, campaigning, Chiswick Women’s Aid – Scream quietly or the neighbours will hear PW
William P Roe – Chiswick history – Glimpses of Chiswick’s Place in History
Sir Francis Ronalds (1788-1873) – engineering, science – A Description of an Electric Telegraph PW
Helen Sedgwick – novelist – The Growing Season, When the Dead Come Calling TD
Christine Shaw – Chiswick history – The Rebuilding of Chiswick Vicarage (1657-8)
Louise Silverton – medicine – The Art and Science of Midwifery TD
Rob Sprackling – screenwriter – Gnomeo & Juliet – and children’s – Born Again Ben TCC
Imogen Stubbs – plays – We Happy Few PW
Alison Taylor – environment, education – Guide to Education and the River Thames PW
Herbert Thorndike (1598-1672) – theology – Of the Government of Churches PW
Alan Toop – business – Only £3.95?! TD
Carol Townend – romantic novels, history – Shattered Vows and many more PW
Roger Tredre – fashion – The Great Fashion Designers TD
Thomas Harrington Tuke (1826-1888) – science, medicine – journal papers PW
Liz Vercoe – journalism – Where to live in London? TD
Professor Fred Vine – science – journal papers PW
Paul Wade – Travel – Thomas Cook, Frommer’s and other travel guides to countries and regions. See also Kathy Arnold above. And Sport – Sports Injuries PW
Jutta Wagner – gardening – The Family Kitchen Garden TD
Martin Wainwright – travel, biography, environment – Guardian Book of the Countryside and others PW
Frederick Walton (1834-1928) – business – The Infancy and Development of Linoleum PW
Gordon Wansborough-White – military – Names with Wings PW
Commodore Ronald Warwick – shipping – QE2: The Cunard Line Flagship, Queen Elizabeth 2 PW
Annette Wendland – gardening – The Family Kitchen Garden TD
James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) – artist, wit – The Gentle Art of Making Enemies PW
Roderick White – business – Advertising: What it is and How to do it TD
Stephanie White – Chiswick history – Down Memory Lane
Christopher Wilk – design, furniture – Modernism PW
Lewis Pinhorn Wood (1848-1918) – children’s – Harry Goodchild’s Day Dream PW