Gavin Weightman (4 March 1945 – 18 December 2022) was a British journalist and documentary filmmaker who specialised in the

social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

from the 18th century. His books included ''The Making of Modern London'', co-authored with Steve Humphries (recently re-issued by The Ebury Press); ''The Frozen Water Trade''; ''Signor Marconi's Magic Box''; and ''The Industrial Revolutionaries''. His journalism included many articles for ''

New Society ''New Society'' was a weekly magazine of social inquiry and social and cultural comment, published in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1988. It drew on the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, psychology, human geography, social history and so ...

'' magazine in the 1970s.

Early life

Gavin Weightman was born on 4 March 1945 in

Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish ...

, Northumberland to Doreen (née Wade), a teacher and translator, and John Weightman, a broadcaster. The family lived in

West Hampstead West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden in north-west London. Mainly defined by the railway stations of the same name, it is situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottag ...

, but spent the summers in Northumberland. He attended

Haberdashers' Boys' School Haberdashers' Boys' School (also known as Haberdashers', Habs, or Habs Boys), until September 2021 known as Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, is a Independent school (United Kingdom), public school for pupils age 4 to 18 in Elstree, Hertfo ...

with a scholarship, but left there aged 17 to start a career as a journalist. In 1967, he started a degree in sociology at

Bedford College, London Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a lead ...

Career

After leaving school, Weightman worked on the Brighton and Evening Angus and the

Richmond and Twickenham Times The ''Richmond and Twickenham Times'' is a weekly local newspaper that was established in 1873 and is published on Fridays. It covers the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south-west London and surrounding areas. It is delivered free to ...

. In 1974, he began work for ''

'' magazine. From 1978–1982, he worked as a reporter and presenter for ''The London Programme''. For

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 ...

, he produced and directed ''The Making of Modern London (1815–1914)'', ''The River Thames'', ''Bright Lights Big City'', ''Brave New Wilderness'', and ''City Safari'', among other series.

Personal life

Weightman's first marriage to Myra Wilkins ended in divorce. Together they had two children. In 2009, Weightman married Clare Beaton, a children's author and illustrator after a long term relationship. They had one son. Weightman lived in

north London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nor ...

and latterly concentrated on writing social history books. He died at the

Royal London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and ...

on 18 December 2022, at the age of 77.

Publications (selected)

*1983: ''The Making of Modern London, 1815-1914'' with Stephen Humphries (Sidgwick & Jackson) *1984: ''The Making of Modern London, 1914-1939'' with Stephen Humphries (Sidgwick & Jackson) *1986: ''City Safari: Wildlife in London'' with Mike Birkhead (Sidgwick & Jackson) *1987: ''Christmas Past'' with Stephen Humphries (Sidgwick & Jackson) *1990: ''London River: The Thames Story'' (Collins & Brown) *1991: ''The Seaside'' (Collins & Brown) *1991: ''Picture Post Britain'' (Collins & Brown) *1991: ''London Past'' (Collins & Brown) *1992: ''Bright Lights, Big City: London entertained, 1830-1950'' (Collins & Brown) *1992: ''Rescue: the history of Britain's emergency services'' (Boxtree, Channel Four) *1998: ''Polar Explorers'' (Explorers and Exploration series, Grolier Educational) *1998: ''North America'' (Explorers and Exploration series, Grolier Educational) *2003: ''Signor Marconi's Magic Box: The Most Remarkable Invention of the 19th Century & The Amateur Inventor Whose Genius Sparked a Revolution'' (Da Capo Press) *2003: ''What the Industrial Revolution Did for Us'' (BBC) *2003: ''The Frozen-Water Trade: a true story'' (Hyperion) *2005: ''London's Thames: the river that shaped a city and its history'' (St Martin's Press) *2007: ''The Industrial Revolutionaries: the creation of the modern world, 1776-1914'' (Atlantic) *2007: ''The making of Modern London: a People's history of the Capital from 1815 to the present day'' (Ebury Press) *2011: ''Children of Light: how electricity changed Britain forever'' ( Atlantic) *2011: ''Restoration Home:the essential guide to tracing the history of your house'' (BBC Books) *2012: ''Secrets of a Titanic Victim: the story of the Real My Fair Lady'' ( backstory.la) *2015: ''Eureka: how invention happens'' (

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univer ...

) *2020: ''The Great Inoculator: The untold story of Daniel Sutton and his medical revolution (Yale University Press)

References

The

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

has many faculty reading lists.

Gavin Weightman's Official Website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weightman, Gavin 1945 births 2022 deaths English male journalists Historians of the British Isles 20th-century British male writers 21st-century British male writers Alumni of Bedford College, London English directors English documentary filmmakers People educated at Haberdashers' Boys' School People from Gosforth People from West Hampstead Writers from Northumberland Journalists from London