The Codex Seraphinianus, originally published in 1981, is an illustrated encyclopedia of an imaginary world, created by Italian artist, architect and industrial designer Luigi Serafini between 1976 and 1978. It is approximately 360 pages and written in an imaginary language.
Stephen Moss is an English natural historian, birder, author, and television producer.
Combat Rock is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Clash. It was released on 14 May 1982 through CBS Records. In the United Kingdom, the album charted at number 2, spending 23 weeks in the UK charts and peaked at number 7 in the United States, spending 61 weeks on the chart. The album was propelled by Topper Headon's "Rock the Casbah" which became a staple in the newly launched MTV. Combat Rock continued the influence of funk and reggae like the previous albums, but also featured a more radio friendly sound which alienated some Clash fans. The recording and producing process of the album was tiring and full of infighting between Mick Jones and Joe Strummer. Headon's heroin addiction grew worse and he slowly became distant from the band. The band had disagreed on the creative process of the album and called in Glyn Johns to produce the more radio friendly sound of Combat Rock.
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country. However, the term also encompasses houses that were, and often still are, the full-time residence for the landed gentry who ruled rural Britain until the Reform Act 1832. Frequently, the formal business of the counties was transacted in these country houses, having functional antecedents in manor houses.
Tymon Dogg is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Dogg's career started early with shows at the Cavern and Peppermint Lounge in Liverpool when he was 15. As well as pursuing a solo career, he collaborated with many bands and musicians including The Clash, and was a member of Joe Strummer's last band, The Mescaleros.
John Martin Robinson FSA is a British architectural historian and officer of arms.
Henry Dermot Ponsonby Moore, 12th Earl of Drogheda, is a British photographer known professionally as Derry Moore. He inherited the title of Earl of Drogheda from his father, The 11th Earl of Drogheda. He had the right to use the courtesy title Viscount Moore from November 1957 until December 1989.
Michael David Sorkin was an American architectural and urban critic, designer, and educator. He was considered to be "one of architecture's most outspoken public intellectuals", a polemical voice in contemporary culture and the design of urban places at the turn of the twenty-first century. Sorkin first rose to prominence as an architectural critic for the Village Voice in New York City, a post which he held for a decade throughout the 1980s. In the ensuing years, he taught at prominent universities around the world, practiced through his eponymous firm, established a nonprofit book press, and directed the urban design program at the City College of New York. He died at age 71 from complications brought on by COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thomas Spight Hines is a professor emeritus of history and architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he taught cultural, urban and architectural history for many years.
Marcus Hugh Crofton Binney is a British architectural historian and author. He is best known for his conservation work regarding Britain's heritage.
John Frederick Harris OBE was an English curator, historian of architecture, gardens and architectural drawings, and the author of more than 25 books and catalogues, and 200 articles. He was a Fellow and Curator Emeritus of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects, founding Trustee of Save Britain's Heritage and Save Europe's Heritage, and founding member and Honorary Life President of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums.
Dr Eileen Joyce Harris is an American/English architectural historian and author. She is an expert on Robert Adam and is Honorary Librarian and Consultant to the Adam Project at Sir John Soane's Museum in London.
Gavin Mark Stamp was a British writer, television presenter and architectural historian.
Jeremy Musson is an English author, editor and presenter, specialising in British country houses and architecture.
Martin Wainwright MBE is a British journalist and author. He left The Guardian after 37 years at the end of March 2013.
Henri Stierlin was a Swiss journalist and writer of popular works on art and architectural history.
Woodhouse Copse is an Arts and Crafts style house in the village of Holmbury St Mary, Surrey, England. It is a Grade II listed building, with gardens originally planted by garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. Country house opera is performed by Woodhouse Opera at the annual Woodhouse Summer Opera Festival.
Munstead Wood is a Grade I listed house and garden in Munstead Heath, Busbridge on the boundary of the town of Godalming in Surrey, England, 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of the town centre. The garden was created by garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, and became widely known through her books and prolific articles in magazines such as Country Life. The Arts and Crafts style house, in which Jekyll lived from 1897 to 1932, was designed by architect Edwin Lutyens to complement the garden.
Piers Bizony is a science journalist, space historian, author, and exhibition organiser. Bizony specialises in the topics of outer space, special effects, and technology. He has written articles for The Independent, BBC Focus and Wired. His 1997 book The Rivers of Mars was shortlisted for the Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award. His book 2001: Filming the Future is an authoritative reference about Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey. His 2017 book Moonshots was inspired by Michael Light's 1999 book Full Moon.
The Laines is an 18th-century country house in Plumpton, East Sussex, near Lewes in England. It was the childhood home of Camilla, Queen Consort.