Gillian Elizabeth Tindall (born 4 May 1938) is a British writer and historian. Among her books are ''City of Gold: The Biography of Bombay'' (1992) and ''Celestine: Voices from a French Village'' (1997). Her novel ''Fly Away Home'' won the
Somerset Maugham Award
The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors
The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to ...
in 1972. From the 1960s to the early 1990s, Tindall worked as a journalist, writing stories for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', the ''
Evening Standard
The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'', ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', and ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' – and for many years she was a regular guest on the
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
arts discussion programme, ''Critics' Forum''. Since 1963 she has lived in
Kentish Town
Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath.
Kentish Town likely derives its name from Ken-ditch or Caen-ditch, meaning the "bed of a waterw ...
, North London.
Family and education
Tindall's mother,
Ursula Orange
Ursula Orange (1909 – 1955) was a Twentieth-century English literature, mid-20th-century British novelist who is known for focusing her books on the domestic lives and career aspirations of young women.
Biography
She was born Ursula Margueri ...
, was a novelist in the 1930s and 1940s. Ursula's father was Hugh William Orange, who received a knighthood for contributions to
education in India
Education in India is primarily managed by the state-run public education system, which falls under the command of the government at three levels: Government of India, central, States and Territories of India, state and Local government in In ...
. Hugh's father was physician
William Orange
Orange is a surname and a given name.
Surname
* Anthony Orange (born 1988), Canadian football cornerback
* Bud Orange (Robert John Orange; 1926–2007), Canadian politician, civil servant and economist
* Claudia Orange, Dame Claudia Orange (born 1 ...
, second superintendent of
Broadmoor Hospital
Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England.
It is the oldest of England's three high-security psychiatric hospitals, the other two being Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Rampton Secure ...
.
Gillian Tindall was born in Park Village East in
Regent's Park
Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden (and historical ...
Limpsfield
Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25 road, A25. She was unhappy at the school and felt "sickening dread" passing the building as an adult; "it figured in incidental ways in the novels and short stories that I wrote".
Career
Beginning as a writer of fiction, she made her initial move into non-fiction with a biography of the ''
fin de siècle
"''Fin de siècle''" () is a French term meaning , a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom '' turn of the century'' and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without co ...
'' novelist
George Gissing
George Robert Gissing ( ; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. In the 1890s he was considered one of the three greatest novelists in England, and by the 1940s he had been ...
. She wrote books about Londoners as separate in time as
Rosamond Lehmann
Rosamond Nina Lehmann (3 February 1901 – 12 March 1990) was an English novelist and translator. Her first novel, '' Dusty Answer'' (1927), was a ''succès de scandale''; she subsequently became established in the literary world, and intimat ...
, a novelist contemporary of the
Bloomsbury Group
The Bloomsbury Group was a group of associated British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20th century. Among the people involved in the group were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, a ...
, and
Wenceslaus Hollar
Wenceslaus Hollar (23 July 1607 – 25 March 1677) was a prolific and accomplished Bohemian graphic artist of the 17th century, who spent much of his life in England. He is known to German speakers as ; and to Czech speakers as (). He is partic ...
, a Czech
etcher
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
of the seventeenth century. Another of Tindall's works, ''The Journey of Martin Nadaud: A Life And Turbulent Times'' (1999), reconstructs the life and voyage of a 19th-century Frenchman from the
Limousin
Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...
region – a master stonemason-builder, who became a French political figure, revolutionary, republican Member of Parliament, and then an exile in England for eighteen years. Following this book's publication, Tindall was awarded in France the title of Chevalier of the
Order of Arts and Letters
The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...
.
Tindall specialised in the genre of miniaturist history (see, by way of comparison,
Portrait miniature
A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting from Renaissance art, usually executed in gouache, Watercolor painting, watercolor, or Vitreous enamel, enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illumin ...
in art). Her book ''The Fields Beneath'' (1977) explores the history of the London neighbourhood of Kentish Town and the spread of great cities in general, and is regarded as a seminal work of urban
historical geography
Historical geography is the branch of geography that studies the ways in which geographic phenomena have changed over time. In its modern form, it is a synthesizing discipline which shares both topical and methodological similarities with histor ...
Bankside
Bankside is an area of London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. Bankside is located on the southern bank of the River Thames, east of Charing Cross, running from a little west of Blackfriars Bridge to just a short distance befo ...
in London in 1710 and the buildings that preceded it on the site. The house has served as a home for prosperous coal merchants, an office, a
lodging house
A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodgers rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, s ...
, and once again as a private residence in the later 20th century. It has been erroneously assumed to be where Sir
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS (; – ) was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England. Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was ac ...
lived during the construction of
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...
; other fantasy residents of older buildings on the site include
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine,
historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...
and
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
. The house still stands, in the shadow of the
Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre was a Theater (structure), theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 at Southwark, close to the south bank of the Thames, by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It was ...
.
Later books by Tindall's include ''Footprints in Paris: a Few Streets, a Few Lives'' (2009), which deals with the author's ancestors and their various connections to Paris over the generations; ''The Tunnel Through Time: A New Route For An Old London Journey'' (2016), which explores the layers of history that lie beneath the route of London's newest underground line,
Crossrail
Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...
; and ''The Pulse Glass and the Beat of Other Hearts'' (2019), a reflection on the links that exist between valued objects and human memories.
Bibliography
Novels
*''No Name in the Street'' (1959, Cassell & Co, ASIN B0000CKDE1)
*''The Water and the Sound'' (1961, Cassell & Co, ASIN B002G3FW5W)
*''The Edge of the Paper'' (1963, Cassell & Co, ASIN B0031JPUCK)
*''The Youngest'' (1967, Secker & Warburg, ASIN B001AIVBTA)
*''Someone Else'' (1969, Walker & Company, )
*''Fly Away Home'' (1971, Hodder & Stoughton, )
*''The Traveller and His Child'' (1975, Hodder & Stoughton, )
*''The Intruder'' (1979, Hodder & Stoughton, )
*''Looking Forward'' (1983, Hodder & Stoughton, )
*''To the City'' (1987, Hutchinson & Co, )
*''Give Them All My Love'' (1989, Hutchinson & Co, )
*''Spirit Weddings'' (1992, Hutchinson & Co, )
Short stories
*''Dances of Death: Short Stories on a Theme'' (1973, Walker & Company, )
*''The China Egg and Other Stories'' (1981, Hodder & Stoughton, )
*''Journey of a Lifetime and Other Stories'' (1990, Hutchinson & Co, )
Biography
*''The Born Exile: George Gissing'' (1974, Temple Smith, )
Non-fiction
*''A Handbook on Witches'' (1965, Castle Books, ASIN B000JG9ESE)
*''Rosamond Lehmann: An Appreciation'' (1985, Chatto & Windus, )
*''Countries of the Mind: The Meaning of Place to Writers'' (New edition 2011, Faber & Faber, )
*''City of Gold: The Biography of Bombay'' (1992, Penguin Books Ltd. Travel Library, )
*''Célestine: Voices From a French Village'' (1995, Sinclair-Stevenson; 1997, Henry Holt & Co., )
*''The Journey of Martin Nadaud: A Life and Turbulent Times'' (1999, St Martin's Press, )
*''The Man Who Drew London: Wenceslaus Hollar in reality and imagination'' (2002, Chatto & Windus, )
*''The House By The Thames: And The People Who Lived There'' (2006, Pimlico, )
*''Footprints in Paris: A Few Streets, A Few Lives'' (2009, Chatto & Windus, )
*''The Fields Beneath'' (1977) (New edition 2011, Eland Press, )
*''Three Houses, Many Lives'' (2012, Chatto & Windus, )
*''The Tunnel Through Time: A New Route for an Old London Journey'' (2016, Chatto & Windus, )
*''The Pulse Glass and the Beat of Other Hearts'' (2019, Chatto & Windus, )