Julie Summers (born 1960) is an English author, historical consultant and writer, best known for the book ''Jambusters.'' The book focuses on several women who were members of the Women's Institute during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and who were inspiration for the ITV series Home Fires. She is the granddaughter of

Philip Toosey Brigadier Sir Philip John Denton Toosey (12 August 1904 – 22 December 1975) was, as a Lieutenant Colonel, the senior Allied officer in the Japanese prisoner-of-war camp at Tha Maa Kham (known as Tamarkan) in Thailand during World War II. Th ...

and the great niece of Sandy Irvine.

Early life and career

She was born at

Clatterbridge Clatterbridge is a hamlet (place), hamlet on the Wirral Peninsula, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is to the south-west of Bebington and close to the M53 motorway. Clatterbridge is also the name of Clatterbridge (w ...

on the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

in 1960. She attended Culcheth Hall School, Altrincham;

Howell's School, Denbigh Howell's School Denbigh ( Welsh: ''Ysgol Howell Dinbych'') was an independent girls only school located in Denbigh, Denbighshire. The school taught girls from the age of 3 up to 18 and contained a pre-preparatory , preparatory, senior and six ...

and

Wycombe Abbey School , motto_translation = Go in faith , established = 1896 , type = Independent boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Headmistress , head = J. Duncan , chair_label = Chair ...

. She was at

Munich Business School Munich Business School (MBS) is a private international business school located in Munich (Bavaria, Germany). Munich Business School confers degrees exclusively in business administration. It offers one undergraduate Bachelor program, 4 graduate ...

1978-80 and spent one year at

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

. She then studied German and History of Art at

Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

;

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

: Medieval Architecture. At the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

was secretary 1986-1989 to

Norman Rosenthal Sir Norman Rosenthal (born 8 November 1944) is a British independent curator and art historian. From 1970 to 1974 he was Exhibitions Officer at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. In 1974 he became a curator at the ...

, then she was Deputy Curator for the

Henry Moore Foundation The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore. The charity was set up with a gift from the arti ...

1989-1996, a freelance exhibition organiser 1996-2000 and Head of Exhibitions at the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

, Oxford 2000-2004.

Books

* ''Fearless on Everest: The Quest For Sandy Irvine'' (2001). * ''The Colonel of Tamarkan, Philip Toosey and the Bridge on the River Kwai'' (2005). This is the true story of the events of

The Bridge on the River Kwai ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the 1952 novel written by Pierre Boulle. Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943, the pl ...

* ''Remembered: The History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission'' (2007) - with Brian Harris * ''Stranger in the House: Women's Stories of Men Returning from the Second World War'' (2009) * ''British and Commonwealth War Cemeteries'' (2010) * ''When the Children Came Home'' (2012) which focused on the evacuees who returned home from the war. * ''Rowing In Britain'' (2012) A brief history of the last 200 years of rowing in Britain * ''Jambusters: the story of the Women's Institute in the Second World War'' (2013) was the inspiration for the ITV Series Home Fires, in which Summers has a cameo appearance. The series began in May 2015 and following successful ratings ITV commissioned a second series. The book has also been published as ''Home Fires'' * ''Fashion On The Ration: Style In The Second World War'' (2015) The book focuses on the fashion style during the 1940s.

Other notable work

Summers was also the research consultant on the popular film '' The Woman in Black: Angel of Death''.

External links

YouTube lecture by Julie Summers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Summers, Julie 1960 births Living people British women historians English women writers British writers People from Merseyside People educated at Wycombe Abbey