Jonathan Foyle

Jonathan Foyle is a British architectural historian, broadcaster and advocate for heritage sites. He is also an artist.

Foyle with the foundation stone from Deptford Dockyard

Background

Foyle grew up in Market Deeping in Lincolnshire and attended The Deepings School. He has a Master of Arts from the Courtauld Institute of Art, and later worked for a year surveying the architectural details and structure of Canterbury Cathedral. He then became Curator of Historic Buildings for Historic Royal Palaces for eight years. During this time Foyle produced a thesis on the early history of Hampton Court and received a doctorate from the University of Reading in 2002. He also has an honorary degree in Conservation and Restoration from the University of Lincoln.

Career

Foyle has written many scholarly papers and additionally contributed articles for a number of newspapers and popular magazines.

He is perhaps best known as a communicator on history. He has taught and lectured in Britain and around the world and has appeared and presented a number of television broadcasts.

Since 2002, he has presented films for Channel 4, the BBC, the History Channel, ITN, Lion and Discovery Channels. In 2009 he presented a series on Henry VIII as art patron. In 2010 he presented a television series Climbing Great Buildings.

In 2007 Foyle accepted the position of Chief Executive of World Monuments Fund Britain, the UK arm of a global charity, which aims to secure imperilled architectural sites for future generations.

Television

BBC One

• Inside Out (Feb. 2010), reporter on Gloucestershire’s pyramids
• The One Show (2009), reporter on historic architecture

BBC Two

• Climbing Great Buildings (2010), presenter, 15-part series, along with climber Lucy Creamer
• The People’s Museum (2006), reporter
• History Mysteries (2005), series co-presenter
• Meet The Ancestors: The Lost Palace Of Hampton Court (2002), specialist

BBC Four

• People’s Palaces: The Golden Age Of Civic Architecture (2010) 2 x 1 hour, presenter
• Henry VIII: Patron Or Plunderer? (2009) 2 x 1 hour, presenter

Channel 4

• Time Team Special: Henry VIII's Lost Palaces (2009), specialist contributor
• Time Team Special: The Arcadian Garden (2007), specialist contributor
• Time Team Special: The Royal Palaces: Buckingham Palace (2006), specialist contributor
• Time Team (2003– ), specialist contributor, including Kew Palace, Syon House, Greenwich Palace, Queenborough Castle, Hunstrete House, Chenies Manor

History Channel US

• Lost Worlds: The Pyramids (2008), investigator
• Lost Worlds: The Sphinx (2008), investigator
• Lost Worlds: The Vikings (2007), investigator
• Lost Worlds: Henry VIII (2007), investigator

Five

• County Secrets (2008) 10-part series, presenter

History Channel UK

• Hidden House History (2006), co-presenter

Professional history

• 2007–present: Chief Executive, World Monuments Fund Britain
• 2003–2007: Freelance historian, teacher, presenter, consultant
• 1996–2003: Curator of Historic Buildings, Hampton Court and Kew Palaces, Historic Royal Palaces
• 1995–1996: Assistant to the Surveyor of the Fabric, Canterbury Cathedral

Publications

• The Architecture of Canterbury Cathedral Scala (2012)
• ‘Conservation areas in China: the case of the Juanqinzhai in Beijing’ with Henry Tzu-Ng

English Heritage Conservation Bulletin 62 (2009)

• ‘Some examples of external colouration on English brick buildings, c. 1500–1650’

Bulletin du Centre de recherche du château de Versailles ‘Couleurs de l'architecture’(2002)

• 'A Reconstruction of Thomas Wolsey's Great Hall at Hampton Court Palace'

Architectural History Vol 45 (2002) pp. 128–58

Illustrations for:

• ‘Interpretations of the Rebuilding of Canterbury Cathedral, 1174–1186: Archaeological and Historical Evidence’

Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1997, Peter Draper

See also

• Climbing Great Buildings
• University of Lincoln

External links

• "Dr. Jonathan Foyle". jonathanfoyle.com. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
• "Built – Jonathan Foyle's website on Britain's historic environment". built.org.uk. Archived from the original on 25 July 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
• "Jonathan Foyle". IMDb.
• "World Monuments Fund, Britain". wmf.org.uk.