Gavin Weightman

Gavin Weightman is the author of more than 20 books including The Frozen Water Trade, Signor Marconi’s Magic Box and The Industrial Revolutionaries. His Children of Light: how electricity changed Britain forever (2011) was described by Dominic Sandbrook in the Sunday Times as ‘lucid and fascinating’. His most recent publication was The Case of the £5 Virgin: the true story of a Victorian scandal. He is currently completing a book for Yale University Press provisionally entitled Eureka: how invention happens.

Gavin began work as a journalist on local newspapers before taking a degree in sociology at London University. He was a feature writer on New Society magazine in the mid-1970s. In 1978 he joined London Weekend Television and as a producer-director made a series of acclaimed wildlife and historical documentary series which included The Making of Modern London, The River Thames and City Safari. For two years he presented The London Programme. He has also broadcast on radio. The Frozen Water Trade was read as Book of the Week on BBC Radio Four.

His productions as an independent film-maker include A Taste of Victory, an oral history of VE Day, and Rescue, a modern history of the emergency services. Gavin’s journalism includes pieces for the Guardian, Sunday Times and History Today. He lives in north London with the illustrator Clare Beaton.