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| James Norbury knitting hero |
I’ve been getting great value from my vintage copy of Odham’s Encyclopedia of Knitting and I have been trying to find out more about James Norbury, his books and to put a face to him. I can understand why so many people speak so highly of him, he just made knitting appear so simple and his knowledge and passion for the craft is contagious.
To date I have only come across one photograph and when I first saw it I was a little taken aback. I think I was expecting a version of the sort of suave fifties chap you see on vintage knitting patterns. It was not just the bald head and beard rather akin to the Philip Harben, Clement Freud look; it was the incredibly strong, pebble thick lenses of the glasses he was wearing which struck me most. Taken in 1951 he would have had much of his writing and broadcasting career ahead of him, I wonder if he had damaged his eyes with so much knitting or if he had poor eyesight from early on?
As head designer at Patons, for many years after the World war II he was a highly influential and engaging teacher and spokesman on the subject. Apparently equally at home delivering a lecture to the Royal Society of Arts (1959) or writing knitting books for children.
In the fifties and sixties he was the face of knitting on television. I have been trying to work out why I can not remember him. But now I know he was on the screen as early as 1951 when I would have been a baby in arms. We did not have a televison at home until 1958 but that should have allowed us to see him on BBC2 in the late1960’s but I don’t recall seeing him.
He must have been quite a striking character. Sir David Attenborough, talked warmly about him in 2009 to Jenni Johnston.
"There is a telling moment when he tells me of one of the few times in his life where he found himself in a job he 'didn't much care for' - the stint he spent as controller of BBC 2 in the late 1960s.
Even here, though, he found things to marvel at. 'The knitting intrigued me,' he says. Knitting? 'Absolutely. There was a chap called James Norbury, who had his own knitting show on the BBC . I sat in on some of the programmes, and good stuff it was, too. I learned lots of racy stuff about "knit one, purl one"."
I can not wait to get my hands on more of his work. Last time I checked out EBay I had just missed a lovely copy of The Penguin knitting book (1957) by minutes. I know there are about 25 titles out there by him, one or two on embroidery and sewing too, which I will list on a page here as soon as I get time.
If you want to take a peek at the photo try
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/JG8198-001/Hulton-ArchiveWoolly Facade
