Jonathan Foyle


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

Background

Foyle grew up in Market Deeping in Lincolnshire and attended The Deepings School. Foyle has an M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art where he trained as an architect, he 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.

Education

Honorary degree in Conservation and Restoration University of Lincoln

Ph.D Archaeology, University of Reading

Dipl.Arch Canterbury School of Architecture

M.A. History of Art 1560–1660 Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London

B.A. 2:1 Architecture Canterbury School of Architecture

National Diploma in Art and Design Lincoln College of Art

Career

Foyle has written many scholarly papers and additionally Foyle has written for a number of newspapers and popular magazines.
He is perhaps best known as a passionate communicator on history. He has taught and lectured widely in Britain and around the world and has appeared and presented in many television broadcasts.
Since 2002, he has presented films for Channel 4, the BBC, the History Channel, ITN, Lion and Discovery Channels. His 2009 series on Henry VIII as art patron garnered praise. In 2010, Climbing Great Buildings captured his largest audience yet. He delights in working without a net, whether by dangling from an immense height in order to comment on the iron tracery of St. Pancras Station or by improvising a pencil sketch of the pyramids' surroundings in Egypt.
In 2007 Foyle accepted the position of Chief Executive of World Monuments Fund Britain, the UK arm of a global charity, which has achieved great success in securing imperiled architectural sites for future generations.

Television

BBC1

English Heritage Conservation Bulletin 62
Bulletin du Centre de recherche du château de Versailles ‘Couleurs de l'architecture’
Architectural History Vol 45 pp. 128–58
Illustrations for:
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1997, Peter Draper