Jasper Rees

Jasper Rees is an English journalist and writer. He specialises in writing about the arts and is best known as the authorised biographer of Victoria Wood. ^[1]

Life and career

Rees has been a journalist since 1988 and has written mostly for the Daily Telegraph and The Independent . He is also the author of five books, including Let's Do It, the authorised biography of Victoria Wood. ^{[2] [3]}

Rees has written about his Welsh heritage in his 2011 memoir Bred of Heaven. The book caused controversy when Rees was upset by a review in the Daily Mail by journalist Roger Lewis, who called Welsh a "moribund monkey language". ^[4] Member of Parliament Jonathan Edwards also referred the review to both the Press Complaints Commission and the police. ^[5]

In 2010 Rees released his book I Found My Horn , ^[6] which was adapted for the stage. ^{[7] [8]} He also wrote a biography of Florence Foster Jenkins in 2016, which was adapted into the film of the same name starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. ^[9]

Books

• A Devil to Play: One Man's Year-long Quest to Master the Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument (HarperCollins, 2008 ISBN   9780061979712)
• I Found My Horn: One Man's Struggle with the Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument (Orion, 2010 ISBN   9780753826430)
• Bred of Heaven: One man's quest to reclaim his Welsh roots (Profile, 2011 ISBN   9781847654229)
• Florence Foster Jenkins, a biography written to coincide with Nicholas Martin's screenplay for the eponymous film starring Meryl Streep (St Martin's, 2016 ISBN   9781250115966)
• Let's Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood (Orion, 2016 ISBN   9781409184126)

References

1. Groskop, Viv (2020-10-24). "Let's Do It by Jasper Rees review – Victoria Wood, perfectionist". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-07-27.
2. Sturges, Fiona (2020-11-12). "Victoria Wood biography Let's Do It is an acute analysis of a funny kind of genius". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-07-27.
3. Purves, Libby (23 October 2020). "Let's Do It by Jasper Rees review — the comedy genius of Victoria Wood". The Times . Retrieved 30 August 2024.
4. WalesOnline (2012-06-06). "Author Jasper Rees "upset" by reaction to quest to discover his Welshness". Wales Online. Retrieved 2024-07-27.
5. "Daily Mail's Welsh 'monkey language' book review anger". BBC . 16 August 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
6. Tomes, Susan (1 February 2008). "Review: I Found My Horn By Jasper Rees". The Independent. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
7. Billington, Michael (2009-11-12). "I Found My Horn". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-07-28.
8. Hutera, Donald (2 February 2023). "I Found My Horn review". The Stage .
9. O'Keeffe, Alice (2016-05-11). "Florence Foster Jenkins biography review – why did the singer expose herself to mockery?". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-07-27.