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Lucinda Lambton, Architectural Writer, Photographer and Broadcaster
She has researched, written and presented some fifty films for the BBC as well as approximately twenty five films for ITV. The subjects span an astonishingly diverse range – from ‘On the Throne – The History of the Lavatory’ to ‘A Cabinet of Curiosities’ – of strange collections – such as fleas dressed up as ballet dancers alongside the tongue of an ant – that were the foundations of Britain’s Museums. ‘Sublime Suburbia’ – on the architectural and historic delights to be found in London’s suburbs won the Regional Television’s award for the best documentary series of 2003, as well as the nomination for the best Television Presenter. Lucinda has written and taken the photographs for nine books including: ‘Temples of Convenience’ - the best selling, thrice revised history of the lavatory; ‘Beastly Buildings’ - on architectural splendours for animals, and ‘Lucinda Lambton’s A-Z of Britain’; the best selling elaboration of the twenty six television programmes for the BBC. She has also made several series for BBC Radio 4, including ‘Bringing the House Down’ – fighting for buildings about to be wrongfully demolished; ‘Elevations and Revelations’ – on extraordinary houses and ‘Hidden Treasures’ – revealing architectural and historic beauties that are to be found amidst the bland. Lucinda gives talks throughout the British Isles, and in America; for the National Arts Collection Fund, as well as the annual talks for The National Trust at The Queen Elizabeth Hall. She also speaks aboard The Queen Elizabeth II for The National Trust and The Royal Oak Foundation. She regularly opens new buildings and museums, as well as ‘hosting’ prize giving events. TalksTemples of Convenience - The History of the LavatoryBased on the best selling book ‘Temples of Convenience’, as well as the BBC film ‘On the Throne’, this is a pungent historic survey of the lavatory and of two thousand years of sanitary and unsanitary habits in the British Isles! From the Roman twenty-seater latrine in Northumberland, on through the centuries to the 21st century stainless steel ‘Butterfly’ urinal, opening its wings at night for men’s relief, this is a rich subject that proudly proclaims the British invention of the lavatory. Illustrated with over a hundred slides, Lucinda reveals jewels of sanitary splendour such as the red velvet and brass studded 'close stool' that is known to have been used by James II; twenty black marble urinal stalls on the Scots Isle of Bute; Queen Victoria's sumptuously appointed water closet on the Royal Train and Wigan’s College of Technology’s urinals emblazoned with a bee - the Latin for bee is ‘A pis’ ! Architecture for Animals – Beastly Buildings …When building for animals, the wildest flights of architectural fancy could be enjoyed. The occupants could never complain, however idiosyncratic their dwelling and the whim of the builder could flourish unbridled, often with scant observance to architectural convention ….! In this delightful talk, Lucinda unveils some extraordinary buildings – many built by architects of note - such as Robert Adam’s ‘castle’ for cows and oxen. She takes us on a whistle stop tour of Britain, and introduces us to such delights as pyramids built for poultry, four Chinoiserie pagodas for bees, Indian temples for pheasants, a Chinese house for monkeys and even an obelisk built for a pig! With an excellent excuse for building indulgence, fuelled by eccentricity and extravagance, animals have been both lavishly housed and commemorated throughout the United Kingdom, as this wonderfully illustrated talk reveals. A Celebration of Curious HousesThis talk acclaims and applauds a collection of curious houses and their builders. They are all remarkable architectural flights of fancy - some of them are beautiful, a few are hideous, but all have been chosen for their high-spirited exuberance, oddity and originality. A gothic bungalow on wheels – to get past planning permission - was built in Brighton; in Scotland a giant stone pineapple was designed for the Earl of Dunmore’s gardener to live in. At Witley Park in Surrey, an underwater smoking room survives from the turn of the c.18th century, while in Shropshire you can still see an ornate gothic timber-framed house that has perched in the branches of a lime tree for over three hundred years. These houses emit a shaft of pleasure that remain seared into one’s mind, long after the memory of more conventional splendours have faded away … Lucinda Lambton’s A-Z of Britain‘The Alphabet of Britain’ is a trawl of the most tremendous architectural, historic and most particularly curious and unexpected treasures in the British Isles. It was originally commissioned as a series of films for the BBC. These were developed further into a best-selling book and then distilled into this hour long talk. Here then are the richest pickings of a scrumptious mix that had been brewing for years, with a veritable cauldron of delicacies that have been flung into the pot! From a first glimpse of a mural of Lady Thatcher sitting watching Buddha ascending into Heaven, surrounded by a townscape of the world’s most famous buildings, one realises that there are surprises in store! The variety is endless; from the ravishing beauty of a c17th painted and panelled library in Slough, within the walls of a church, and reached only via a covered pew; to a lavish Art Deco theatre - rendered bomb proof and air tight - and reached only by crawling through a bomb shelter tunnel. Under ‘W for Wax’ you see the terrifying sight of the mottled skinned Sarah Hare, a waxen funeral effigy of 1744, sitting in a classical cabinet in a chapel in Norfolk. ‘U is for Underground’ shows shimmering splendours beneath the sod; from the c.19th Duke of Portland’s underground ballroom, to the glittering c.20th grottos that have been gouged into the ground at Leeds Castle today. Altogether a heady mix! Old New World – The Old Fashionedness of AmericaWhereas most of those who go to the United States expect to see a vision of the future, of a country still pioneering a path into the great unknown, what few of us realise is that that same energy and optimism that makes America so successful in shaping things to come, also revels in cultivating the continuities and customs of the land; offering an unique combination that is at once both exhilarating and nostalgic. In Philadelphia, the Wagner Free Institute of Science still thrives as much today as when it was founded in 1859. 100,000 of the original hand written labels - including one for the ‘mouth parts of a domestic house fly’ - are still in place, while in the lecture theatre, gents can still store their bowler hats in racks beneath their seats. In Massachusetts, the very essence of old England can be found in the Jeremiah Lee Mansion at Marblehead, with hand painted Rococo scenic wallpapers of 1768 - the only ones to survive in situ in the world. In St Louis, Missouri, 30 feet high chandeliers of writhing wrought-iron hop vines illuminate Anheuser-Busch’s great Gormenghastian brewery of 1891; in New Bedford Massachusetts, a pulpit on the form of a prow of a ship, stands proud in the Seaman’s Bethal of 1831. Most Americans come to Europe to find their ancestors, Lucinda went to America
to find hers: unearthing that Princess Pocahontas was her seven times great grandmother; that three
of her ancestors drew up the Declaration of Independence; as well as other extraordinary, personal
stories close to her heart.
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Lucinda Lambton is a writer,
photographer and broadcaster. Working both behind and in front of the lens, she delights in
nosing out historic and architectural flights of fancy, laced through with revelations that set out to give
astonishment, interest, laughter and pleasure!