Chiswick Timeline of Writers: Non-fiction

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.

Below we list the Non-fiction writers, by subject area:
1. Chiswick’s art, architecture & history;  2. History, journalism, memoirs, biography; 3. Business, economics, coaching; 4. Education, science, technology, statistics, medicine; 5. Travel; 6. Stage, screen and radio; 7. Music; 8. Diplomacy, politics, law, military, marine; 9. Food and drink; 10. Architecture, gardens, nature, environment; 11. Art, design, fashion, photography, literary criticism; 12. Sport.

Most links on the authors’ names below connect to their book(s), their own website or the Writers Trail. Where other links are indicated, click ‘Life’ or ‘Career’ to read more about them – and ‘W4’ for a published connection with Chiswick (we are adding more details). CWRG stands for Chiswick Writers Research Group.

– See also: Chiswick Timeline of Writers: Novels, poems or plays.
– Chiswick Writers: Year by year (those no longer living)
– Read more stories and anecdotes via the Writers Tales page.
– In April 2020, we added 75 more names, listed on the Latest names page, with others to be added.
– See Notes and sources: We have tried to ensure that all those named have lived in, or written about, Chiswick – but are open to corrections.

Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books: non-fiction

1. Chiswick’s art, architecture & history 6. Stage, screen and radio   See also  7. Music (below) and more: Chiswick’s theatres, playwrights and performers
Tony Aldous  John Abbott
Humphrey Arthure  Life (CWRG) Eamonn Andrews (1922-1987)   Life (Wiki)  W4
Sheila Binns Gareth Armstrong  Career   W4
Margaret Jones Bolsteri (b. 1931)  Life (CWRG) Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1853-1917)   Life (Wiki)  Life (CWRG)   W4
Val Bott Michael Billington   Career   W4
Michael Broom  W4 Peter Brook   Career + W4 (Wiki)   W4
David Budworth (1934-2019) & Sandra Grant   W4 Sir Charles (CB) Cochran (1872-1951)  Life (Wiki)   W4
Gillian Clegg   Life  Appreciation  W4: People William Cook  W4
Reginald Colman (1903-1995) & Shirley Seaton (1932-2019)  (Beyond W4) Tommy Cooper (1921-1984)   Life (Wiki)  Life (CWRG)   W4
Anthea Craigmyle (1933-2016) and Molly Rich   Life (CWRG) Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966)  Life (Wiki)   Life (CWRG)
Sarah Cruz & Karen Liebreich Declan Donnelly   Career (Wiki)   W4
Warwick Draper (1873-1926) Richard Evans   Career   W4
Dr Ian Fletcher (1920-1988) Fenella Fielding (1927-2018)   Life (Wiki)  Life (CWRG)  W4
Mark Girouard John Guillermin (1925-2015)   W4
Roderick Gradidge (1929-2000)  Life (CWRG) Sheila Hancock   Career (Wiki)    W4
T Affleck Greeves (1917-1997) Rachel Kempson (1910-2003)  Life (CWRG)
John H Grigg Rula Lenska  Career (Wiki)    W4
Carolyn & Peter Hammond Desmond Lynam    Career (Wiki)   Life (CWRG)  W4 
John Harris Dame Gillian Lynne (1926-2018)     Life (Wiki)  Life (CWRG)  W4
Simon Jenkins  Life (CWRG) Ant McPartlin  Career (Wiki)   W4
Sybil Pearce Pete Murray   Career (Wiki)   W4
WPW Phillimore (1853-1913)  Life (CWRG) Richard Osman    Career (Wiki)   W4
William P Roe  Life (CWRG) Christine Ozanne
Andrew Saint Mark Edward Perugini (1876-1948)
Christine Shaw  Life (CWRG) Giles Playfair (1910-1996)   Life (CWRG)
Christina Speight & Laurence Duttson (deceased) Sir Nigel Playfair (1874-1935)
Stephanie White Corin Redgrave  (1939-2010)  Life (CWRG)
Lynn Redgrave (1943-2010)  Life (CWRG)
Michael Redgrave (1908-1985)  Life (CWRG)
Vanessa Redgrave  Life (CWRG)
2. History, journalism, memoirs, biography Lynn Seymour
Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904) Wayne Sleep
Clare Balding Julia Smith (1927-1997) 
Helen Batten Susan M Stanley
Mary Berry (1763-1852) Brian Tesler
Alan Bignell Patrick Tucker
Julian Borger Will Wyatt
Henry Fox Bourne (1837-1909) Sir Jimmy Young (1921-2016)
Isa Bowman (1874-1958)  Eric Morecambe & Ernie Wise (EM: 1926-1984); EW: 1925-1999)
Ginny Brown (1941 – 2006)  Life (CWRG)
Deborah Cadbury
Sir John Chardin (1643-1713)  Life (CWRG)
Jessie Childs 7. Music
Adrian Chiles Julian Bream
Cosmo Clark (1897-1967)  Tales Phil Collins
Lady Mary Coke (1727-1811)  Life (CWRG) Roger Daltrey
James Cracknell Bruce Dickinson
Kate Colquhoun Mark Ellen
Hugh Cudlipp, Baron Cudlipp (1913-1998) John Entwistle
William Dalrymple Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lord (President of ArtsEd)
Ian Davidson Alan Smith
Polly Devlin Pete Townshend
Mora Dickson (1918-2001) Steve Turner
Mark Ellen Midge Ure
Siobhan Ferguson
Jerramy Fine
Glenn Frankel  8. Diplomacy, politics, law, military, marine
Sylvia Freedman Leo Abse MP (1917-2008)  Life (CWRG)
Tanya Goodin Llewelyn Atherley-Jones (1851-1929)
Bryony Gordon KC Barnaby (1887–1968)  Life (CWRG)
RALPH GRIFFITHS (1720-1803) Colin Bamford
Bill Hagerty Frank Field MP
Jane Hayward Jo Grimond MP, Baron Grimond (1913-1993)   Life (CWRG)
Mary Hockaday David Hannay, Lord Hannay of Chiswick
Ralph Hoddinott (1913-2007) Sir Percy Harris (1876-1952)
Martin Hoffman (1929-2018) Vyvyan Kinross
Roger Ingpen (1867-1936) Mark Malloch Brown, Lord
Fergal Keane Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery of Alamein  (1887-1976)     W4  Chiswick in WW2
Jane Kelly William Morris (1834-1896)   Timeline   W4
Michael Kerr Sir Alan Munro
Robin Knight  Matt Myers
Julia Langdon Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847)
Thomas Layton (1819-1911) Sir Craig Oliver
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lord  Erin Pizzey Life (CWRG)
Karen Liebreich Sir Michael Rose
Dr Sara Lodge Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Tom Mangold Gordon Wansborough-White
Tim Marshall Commodore Ronald Warwick
Peter Oborne Sir George Young MP
James O’Brien 
Rageh Omaar
Robert Oulds
Frederick York Powell (1850-1904) 9. Food and drink
James Ralph (1705-1762) Marian Armitage 
Goronwy Rees (1909-1979)  Life (CWRG) Lindsey Bareham
Laurence Rees Carla Capalbo
Cathy Rentzenbrink Lucy Cufflin
Dan Rider (1869-1945) Gillian Flower
James Rodgers Richard Johnson
James Sime (1843-1895) Paul Keers
Jessie Georgina Sime (1868-1958) Rowley Leigh
Jenny Smith Patricia Lousada (1929-2019)
Joan Smith Lucy McDonald
JC Squire (1884-1958) Rick Stein
Alfred Spalding (1850-1923)
SERGIUS STEPNIAK (1851-1895)
Beverley Turner
Liz Vercoe 10. Architecture, gardens, nature, environment.  See more: Chiswick’s gardeners: Kent, Lindley, Paxton and the RHS
Queen Victoria (1830-1901) Search ‘Chiswick’ Maurice B Adams (1849-1933)   Life   W4
Jeremy Vine Fenja Anderson (Gunn)
Avalon Weston CJ Cornish (1858-1906)  Life (CWRG)
Trish Williams Rev William Cotton (1813-1879)
Humphry Berkeley Life (CWRG) Robert Fortune (1812-1880)  Life (CWRG)
Andy Garnett and Polly Devlin
Professor Peter Hall (1932-2014)  Life (CWRG)
3. Business, economics, coaching Dr Karen Liebreich
Kristina Bill John Lindley (1799-1865)
Clive Bingley (1936-2017) Life (CWRG) Roddy Llewelyn
Charles and Edward Bright (EB: 1831-1913) Jessie MacGregor (1853-1919)  Life (CWRG)
Philip Coggan Peter Murray
Dharshini David Joseph Paxton (1803-1865)
Torin Douglas Richard Bowdler Sharpe (1847-1909)
Ann Francke David Shreeve
Andy Garnett (1930-2014) Alison Taylor
Professor Simon Goldsworthy Jutta Wagner
Suzy Grant Martin Wainwright
Cath Kidston Annette Wendland
Judie Lannon (1942-2019) Kim Wilde
Professor Robin Marris (1924-2012)
Beezy Marsh
Louella Miles
Ralph Miliband (1924-1994) 11. Art, design, fashion, photography, literary criticism
Michael Parker Professor Francis Ames-Lewis
Ian Peacock Marthe Armitage
Maggie Pigott Elias Malke Assad
Dr Josephine Perry Dr Pamela Bickley
Tony Porter Thomas Bolas (1848-?)
Hamish Pringle Fiona Brattle
Professor Robert Skidelsky Lindsay P Butterfield (1869-1948)
Alan Toop Sir Sydney Cockerell (1867-1962)
John Vaizey, Lord (1929-1984) Nelson Dawson (1859-1941)  Life (CWRG)
Roderick White Polly Devlin
Ralph Edwards (1894-?)
Professor Robert Hewison
William Hogarth (1697-1764)   Life (CWRG)
4. Education, science, technology, statistics, medicine Professor Graham Holderness
Neil Ardley (1937-2004) Sandra Lousada
Magdalena Bak-Maier Jose Manser
MS Bartlett (1910-2002) William Morris (1834-1896)
Alec Dickson (1914-1994)  Plaque Bob Osborne & Carrie Reichardt
Brent Furnas Robert Stevenson (1847-1900)  Life (CWRG)
Adam Kay Roger Tredre
Professor Jeremy Levy Marina Vaizey
Professor Archibald Low (1888-1956) James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)   Life (CWRG)
Virginia Makins Christopher Wilk
Denis Postle Anthea Craigmyle (1933-2016)   Life (CWRG)
Sir Francis Ronalds   Life (CWRG)
Louise Silverton
Robert E Smith 12. Sport
John Sutton (1919-1992) Clare Balding
Herbert Thorndike (1598-1672) James Cracknell
Thomas Harrington Tuke (1826-1888)   Life (CWRG) Gary Critcher
Professor Fred Vine Brian Dobbs
Frederick Walton (1834-1928) Patsy Hendren (1889-1962) 
Michael Miles
Sir Matthew Pinsent
Daley Thompson **
5. Travel Beverley Turner
Kathy Arnold
Sue Bryant
Sir John Chardin (1643-1713)   Life (CWRG)
Martin Daly  Life (CWRG)
Andrew Eames
Robert Fortune (1812-1880)
Helen Martin
Tim Moore
James Tickell
Paul Wade

See also:
Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books: How it began
Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books: Latest names
Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books: Beyond W4

Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books: Notes and sources: Thank you to everyone who has submitted more names for inclusion. To be included, authors must have lived in Chiswick and written and published a book. We check all references but are happy to make corrections if you know more than we do! If you would like to give further suggestions, comments or information, please email: admin@chiswickbookfestival.net.

See also:
More names at:
Waterstones Local Authors Party 2018
Waterstones Local Authors Party 2017

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