John Grundy
Encyclopedia
John Grundy is a television presenter and author. His work is mainly featured around North East England
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...

.

Biography

Strongly influenced by reading Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...

's The Buildings of England, architectural review of the country, Grundy has taught at north-east
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...

 schools since 1970.

In the late 1980s he worked for the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission before beginning a more widely-recognised career as an architecture writer and television presenter, especially in the north of England. He is a retired lecturer of English Literature at South Tyneside College
South Tyneside College
South Tyneside College is a large further education college in South Tyneside in North East England, with its main sites in the towns of South Shields and Hebburn. The college offers part-time and full-time courses for both young students and adults alike...

.

John Grundy does live commentaries aboard the Shields Ferry
Shields Ferry
The Shields Ferry operates across the River Tyne, England, between North Shields and South Shields. The service is operated by Nexus and is part of the Tyne and Wear Metro System...

, which cruises up and down the River Tyne
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...

 from South Shields
South Shields
South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...

 to Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

. He is also chairman of The Friends of Beamish.

Books

In the late 1990s Grundy co-wrote/edited the new edition of Niklaus Pevsner's Northumberland, part of Pevsner's Buildings of England series.

Television

Between 1987 and 1996, John Grundy appeared as a presenter on the BBC North East series, 'Townscape'. He presented the popular ‘Town Portraits’ which were later transmitted by BBC Two, and were amongst the first films transmitted on BBC International Satellite Television.

Steve Robins, who produced all of Grundy's TV programmes from 1999, left Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...

 in 2005 and founded the production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...

 Working Wonders TV which produced the last series of Grundy's Wonders
Grundy's Wonders
Grundy's Wonders is a Tyne Tees Television architecture programme presented by John Grundy, which began in 2000.On the programme, Grundy explores buildings in north-east England, as well as Cumbria and Yorkshire...

, and Grundy's Northern Pride
Grundy's Northern Pride
Grundy's Northern Pride is an ITV Tyne Tees/Granada series about architecture, presented by John Grundy. A follow-up to Grundy's Wonders, the series covers a wider area than that series ....

.

Grundy Goes... (1996–1999) broadcast on Tyne Tees
Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...

 partly involved Grundy becoming the interesting historical characters found in the histories of the buildings he visited.

Townscape was on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 North East & Cumbria
BBC North East and Cumbria
BBC North East and Cumbria is the BBC English Region covering Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Teesside and all but the southern part of Cumbria...

. Grundy's Wonders
Grundy's Wonders
Grundy's Wonders is a Tyne Tees Television architecture programme presented by John Grundy, which began in 2000.On the programme, Grundy explores buildings in north-east England, as well as Cumbria and Yorkshire...

another, longer-running Tyne Tees series, Grundy explored architecture in the north-east
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...

, as well as Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

 and Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

. Grundy's Northern Pride
Grundy's Northern Pride
Grundy's Northern Pride is an ITV Tyne Tees/Granada series about architecture, presented by John Grundy. A follow-up to Grundy's Wonders, the series covers a wider area than that series ....

has been broadcast since 2007 in the Tyne Tees and Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

 regions and covers the same area as Grundy's Wonders plus North West England
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...

.

Travels with Pevsner is a BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....

 series that involved Grundy visiting places visited by Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...

during his ambitious review of English architecture in the 1950s and 1960s.

From 2010 John Grundy has presented a regular series for 'Look North' called 'Grundy's North', aired from BBC North East And Cumbria
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