Lorna Pegram born Lorna Gladys Hurst Woods (October 25, 1926 – May 16, 1993) was a British television producer and novelist. She produced ''

The Shock of the New ''The Shock of the New'' is an eight-part documentary television series about the development of modern art written and presented in 1980 by Robert Hughes for the BBC, in association with Time-Life Films. It was produced by Lorna Pegram, who als ...

'', a series about the development of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

for the BBC. Pegram wrote seven novels.

Life

Pegram was born in Ilford in 1926. Her parents were Sybil (born Hurst) and Reginald William James Woods. She obtained a first class degree at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

and then she worked for the BBC working on the radio programmes ''

Listen with Mother ''Listen with Mother'' was a BBC radio programme for children which ran between 16 January 1950 to 10 September 1982. It was originally produced by Freda Lingstrom and was presented over the years by Daphne Oxenford, Julia Lang, Eileen Browne, ...

'' and she read readers letters on ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...

''. In the fifties she worked on the TV programmes ''The Wednesday Magazine'' and ''Look of the Week''. In the late 1960s she began her association with Robert Hughes who was an art critic born in Australia. In 1969

Carmen Callil Dame Carmen Thérèse Callil, (15 July 1938 – 17 October 2022) was an Australian publisher, writer and critic who spent most of her career in the United Kingdom. She founded Virago Press in 1973 and received the Benson Medal from the Royal ...

, who was the publicity manager for

Panther Books Panther Books Ltd was a British publishing house especially active in the 1950s and 1960s, specialising in paperback fiction. It was established in May 1952 by Hamilton's Ltd and titles carried the line "A Panther Book" or "Panther Science Ficti ...

, persuaded Pegram to include

B. S. Johnson Bryan Stanley William Johnson (5 February 1933 – 13 November 1973) was an English experimental novelist, poet and literary critic. He also produced television programmes and made films. Early life Johnson was born into a working-class family, ...

to talk about his book ''

The Unfortunates ''The Unfortunates'' is an experimental "book in a box" published in 1969 by English author B. S. Johnson and reissued in 2008 by New Directions. The 27 sections are unbound, with a first and last chapter specified: the 25 sections between them, ...

'' for the BBC art series ''Release''. Johnson's book had 8 parts that could be read in many different orders. With barely any negotiation the interview was ready months before the book was ready for publication. The film included Johnson holding a mock-up of the book that was not at all similar to the final publication. She produced the BBC TV series ''

'' about the development of modern art with her frequent collaborator Robert Hughes. The series of eight programmes took three years to create and despite using archive film, Hughes had to travel about 250,000 miles to present his thoughts about particular places or people. The series was broadcast by the BBC in 1980 and by

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

the following year in the United States. It addressed the development of

since the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

and was accompanied by a book of the same name; its combination of insight, wit and accessibility are still widely praised. Hughes remembers being directed by Pegram with her saying, "It's a clever argument, Bob dear, but what are we supposed to be looking at?". In 1983 she produced and directed two films presented by the American art historian

Vincent Scully Vincent Joseph Scully Jr. (August 21, 1920 – November 30, 2017) was an American art historian who was a Sterling Professor of the History of Art in Architecture at Yale University, and the author of several books on the subject. Architect Phil ...

. The films were for the Met and

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...

based around art at the Met.

Writing

Pegram left the BBC in 1984 and took to writing her novels full time. None of them became best sellers but they were well regarded. Her 1969 novel ''Summer Fires'' was thought to be one of her best.

Private life

Pegram married twice, the first time was in 1947 to fellow student Roy William Pegram and after they divorced she kept the surname. In 1961 she married Geoffrey Charles Newton Golden who was in advertising. She had three sons - two with Pegram and one with Golden. Pegram died of lung cancer in

Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...

in 1993.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pegram, Lorna 1926 births 1993 deaths People from Ilford British women television producers British women novelists 20th-century British novelists