The Latest Books About Britain

Public Sculpture of the City of London, by Philip Ward-Jackson, Liverpool University Press, distributed by International Specialized Book Services, Inc., Portland, Ore., 800-944-6190, www.isbs.com. &dollar;99.95 hardcover, &dollar;50.95 paperback. 520 pages.

PHILIP WARD-JACKSON HAS CREATED A fascinating compilation of all the significant public sculpture within the bounds of the City of London. While the term “public” excludes works in art galleries, museums, cathedrals, and churches, there’s plenty left over, as anyone who’s ever visited the roughly one-mile-square City knows.

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This wonderful book answers the questions of who, why, when, and the sometimes necessary what, particularly in the case of recent works. A crisply detailed black-and-white photograph shows each work, accompanied by the artist, date, material, dimensions, listed status, and condition. A description leads the eye to details that might be overlooked and gives information on the creation of the work, its subject, an itinerary for pieces that have had more than one venue, and, for many works, interesting stories about them. It’s organized alphabetically by the names of streets, buildings such as the Public Record Office, and places such as Trinity Square. Each entry is coded to one of five area maps in the front of the book, making it easy to find any given sculpture in the City or in the book.

Ronald Neame, Director of Cinematography for the wartime film In Which We Serve and one of the great names in British film-making, tells the story of his first-hand associations with many screen legends in this behind-the scenes look at the making of some of the classic films of the 1920s through the 1960s.

Neame worked on such films as Great Expectations, Brief Encounter, Oliver Twist, The Odessa File, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Poseidon Adventure, and the film from which the book borrows its title, The Horse’s Mouth. His plentiful anecdotes feature entertainment industry giants of the likes of Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith, Walter Matthau, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jean Simmons, Noel Coward, and dozens of others.

While calling itself an autobiography, this volume is more accurately an inside story, not about one man, but about the entire fascinating industry in which he worked.
—BRUCE HEYDT

Though it has some heft and its 9x10-inch dimensions would hardly fit into a pocket, this is a book I’d really like to carry around with me the next time I’m in London, so I can satisfy my curiosity whenever some especially fine or puzzling work of art catches my eye. I could stroll around the Bank of England and learn the significance and background of every frieze, ornamented door, and statue, and I could walk along Queen Victoria Street and find out about that sculpture that resembles a totem pole of heads (it’s The Seven Ages of Man, sculpted by Richard Kindersley in 1980), and in St. Paul’s Churchyard I could identify the figures at the base of the statue of Queen Anne.
Books covering West, East, and South London are being prepared. They’re part of an ambitious plan by the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association to document works throughout Britain. The six published to date cover Liverpool; Birmingham; North-East England; Leicestershire and Rutland; Glasgow; and Warwickshire, Coventry, and Solihull.
Ward-Jackson is a historian at the Conway Library in the Courtauld Institute of Art, which has long assisted the Association in its work.
—JUDY P. SOPRONYI
William: The People’s Prince, by Ian Lloyd, Pavilion, distributed by Trafalgar Square, No. Pomfret, Vt. 05053, 800-423-4525. &dollar;29.95 hardcover. 192 pages.

A PREVIOUS PRINCE OF WALES, the future Edward VIII, refused to celebrate his coming of age. He was fighting in World War I then, close to death. He later told his father, George V: “It was a real eye opener to me; now I have some slight conception of all that our officers and men have to go thro!!”
The current Prince of Wales and his sons had a real eye opener of their own when Diana, “The People’s Princess,” died in a Paris car crash in the early morning hours of 31st August 1997. No one could have expected her to die so young, at 36, and so beloved by the nation and especially by her sons.
Charles and Diana’s eldest son, William, second in line to the British throne, is every bit as beloved as his mother was. He clearly has a look of greatness no Brit has had since his parents wed in the summer of 1981.
William has inherited both parents’ sensitivities, and author Ian Lloyd covers this well. Lloyd has written about and photographed the Royals for 15 years, with his work finding its way not only onto covers of leading dailies, but also into the pages of magazines like Hello!, Majesty, Saga, Women’s Weekly, and People’s Friend. In this book, which includes many charming photos, both candid and more formal, William, his family, and the world he thrives in are well-revealed.
Prince William is naturally shy, like his mother; personally aware, like his father; and environmentally interested, like both. He also has inherited his sense of Royal Duty from his paternal grandparents and his great-grandparents. William’s goals focus on a life of public service and being a credit to his country. Capable of mingling positively with all types of people, plus possessing keen intelligence, a nice sense of humour, and athletic good looks and ability, he earned his way into St. Andrew’s University, having made 12 GCSE’s and three A-Levels at Eton. Though officially he is studying the history of art, he is also learning other elements of life, too—at University, on the streets, in the forests, and in the pubs, palaces, stadiums, churches, and other gathering places of this world.
There’s much talk, at this writing, about which young lady will win his affections permanently, but if he uses the same good sense as his paternal grandparents— Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip—did in choosing a mate, both couples will prove the value of only a few Royal marriages—the ones that are positive and long-lasting. And after the Queen, and then Prince/King Charles, no longer rule, many people hope the new King and his Queen-to-be will live and rule happily ever after.
—DAVID J.MARCOU