Jasper Rees Explained

Jasper Rees is an English journalist and writer. He specialises in writing about the arts and is best known as the authorised biographer of Victoria Wood.^[1]

Life and career

Rees has been a journalist since 1988 and has written mostly for the Daily Telegraph and The Independent. He is also the author of five books, including Let's Do It, the authorised biography of Victoria Wood.^[2]

He has written about his Welsh heritage in his memoir Bred of Heaven. The book caused controversy when Rees was upset by a review by journalist Roger Lewis, who called Welsh a "moribund monkey language".^[3] His book I Found My Horn^[4] was adapted for the stage.^[5] He also wrote the biography of Florence Foster Jenkins, which was adapted into the film of the same name starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant.^[6]

Books

• A Devil to Play: One Man's Year-long Quest to Master the Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument (HarperCollins, 2008)
• I Found My Horn: One Man's Struggle with the Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument (Orion, 2010)
• Bred of Heaven: One man's quest to reclaim his Welsh roots (Profile, 2011)
• Florence Foster Jenkins, a biography written to coincide with Nicholas Martin's screenplay for the eponymous film starring Meryl Streep (St Martin's, 2016)
• Let's Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood (Orion, 2016)

Notes and References

1. News: Groskop . Viv . 2020-10-24 . Let's Do It by Jasper Rees review – Victoria Wood, perfectionist . 2024-07-27 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
2. Web site: Sturges . Fiona . 2020-11-12 . Victoria Wood biography Let's Do It is an acute analysis of a funny kind of genius . 2024-07-27 . inews.co.uk . en.
3. Web site: WalesOnline . 2012-06-06 . Author Jasper Rees "upset" by reaction to quest to discover his Welshness . 2024-07-27 . Wales Online . en.
4. News: Tomes . Susan . 1 February 2008 . Review: I Found My Horn By Jasper Rees . live . 28 July 2024 . The Independent.
5. News: Billington . Michael . 2009-11-12 . I Found My Horn . 2024-07-28 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
6. News: O'Keeffe . Alice . 2016-05-11 . Florence Foster Jenkins biography review – why did the singer expose herself to mockery? . 2024-07-27 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.