SOCIAL HISTORY

Jane specialises in British social history. She is best known for her fashion histories for Vogue and for her history of Madresfield Court, the English Country House upon which Evelyn Waugh based his novel, Brideshead Revisited. In it she traces 1,000 years of English life through the lens of the Earls of Beauchamp and their home in the Malvern Hills. Jane has lectured at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, Oxford University, delivered the Royal Oak Lecture Tour to five US cities and the Soane Annual Lecture in London. 

From 1997 to 2002 Jane taught an MA course in Fashion Journalism & Criticism at Central St Martins School of Art, now part of University of the Arts, London (UAL). She was a TV presenter and reporter for British Satellite Broadcasting, known as BSB, during its inaugural year (1990). Working on their evening show First Edition, Jane presented three 7-minute pieces per week. She was resident historian at Vogue UK for eight years, where she wrote two definitive books on the history of fashion. She was the fashion editor at The European, has written a column for the Financial Times, and over 40 obituaries for The Independent.