Contributors

Sir Charles Saumarez Smith is a British cultural historian specialising in the history of art, design and architecture. He was the Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2007 until he stepped down in 2018. He was previously director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1994 to 2002 and director of the National Gallery from 2002 to 2007. He has published various articles and books, his latest book John Vanbrugh: The Drama of Architecture is published by Lund Humphries. Sir Charles has delivered a number of lectures on Vanbrugh and is a member of the festival’s Steering Group. He has also curated the Sir John Soane’s Museum’s forthcoming exhibition, Vanbrugh: The Drama of Architecture, running from 4 March to 28 June 2026.

Rory Fraser is an historian, documentary presenter and co-host of the Country House Podcast. He developed a passion for Vanbrugh whilst writing his first book Follies: An Architectural Journey. It received praise from The Times, Wall Street Journal, Spectator, Apollo Magazine and RIBA Journal, before being adapted into an award winning documentary. Rory went on to study Vanbrugh’s time in Mughal India and its impact on his work as part of an MPhil under Dr Frank Salmon at Cambridge University. He is now writing a forthcoming biography of the life and times of Vanbrugh to be published by William Collins. Rory has delivered a number of lectures on Vanbrugh and has contributed content to the Georgian Group’s Vanbrugh300 exhibition across the partner houses participating in the festival.

Ophelia Field is the author of two critically acclaimed historical biographies featuring John Vanbrugh: a life of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1744) titled The Favourite (2002), re-published in a revised edition by Weidenfeld & Nicolson to coincide with the film’s release in 2018; and a group biography, The Kit-Cat Club (HarperCollins, 2008), which recounts the long-lasting friendships between Vanbrugh and his fellow club members. She is currently Director of a postgraduate programme in Biography, taught in London for the University of Buckingham. In addition, Ophelia has worked for over thirty years as a policy analyst and communications consultant for a wide range of refugee and human rights organisations around the world. Ophelia will discuss, as part of a lecture at Stowe House, the Club’s under-appreciated centrality to Vanbrugh’s eclectic career and to British culture.

Anya Lucas is Director of The Georgian Group which is the organisation presenting Vanbrugh300. She is an architectural historian with a particular interest in the period covering Vanbrugh’s life and work.

Dr Liz Green, FSA, is the National Trust’s Senior National Curator for Architectural History. Following an early career in architecture and historic buildings analysis, Liz has worked with the Trust for 23 years, principally in Wales and Northern Ireland. In 2023 she published 60 Remarkable Buildings of the National Trust and is co-author of the forthcoming 60 Remarkable Rooms of the National Trust. Liz is a Trustee of the Friends of Friendless Churches and has a particular interest in mediaeval and vernacular architecture. Liz is a member of the Vanbrugh300 festival’s Steering Group.

Writer and oral historian, instigator of Architects’ Lives, National Life Stories' oral history project at the British Library. A long-time admirer of John Vanbrugh, chief nagger/advocate in encouraging his celebrations in 2026.

Born in Stroud, half Hungarian and brought up in the middle of nowhere, Alys Torrance told her first (poorly researched) story when she was six, about an Eskimo shepherd. She tells stories to adults and young people all over the country and terrifying myths to school children in inner-city London primary schools. Alys and Lucy co-run Story Jam, producing riotous storytelling shows and playful workshops. They will present a fast-paced, interactive family storytelling performance exploring the life and work of Sir John Vanbrugh during the Vanbrugh300 Weekends at each of the houses.

Lucy Lill is a performance storyteller based in London. She has told stories at venues including The British Museum, Kew Gardens and The Wellcome Collection. She has performed in the West End as an actor and has toured theatres, arts centres and festivals around the UK. She works in primary schools across London for the educational charity The Latin Programme and has run workshops for the National Theatre, GB Cycling, GB Aquatics, The Drive Project and Premier League football coaches. Alys and Lucy co-run Story Jam, producing riotous storytelling shows and playful workshops. They will present a fast-paced, interactive family storytelling performance exploring the life and work of Sir John Vanbrugh during the Vanbrugh300 Weekends at each of the houses.

Jeremy Musson is an architectural historian, writer, consultant, and lecturer. His consultancy roles cover heritage advice on major historic buildings, projects have included St Paul’s Cathedral, Hardwick Old and New Halls and Castle Coole (working with Caroe Architecture Ltd), and St Mary Le Strand (working with Nick Cox Architects). He is an affiliate lecturer department of architecture, University of Cambridge, where he teaches on the Building History Master’s and also adjunct lecturer for New York University in London, teaching on the Master’s on Historical and Sustainable Architecture. He is author of many books including The Country Houses of Sir John Vanbrugh: from the archives of Country Life in 2008. He is Chairman of the Historic Houses Foundation and a former trustee of the Stowe House Preservation Trust. He will be delivering a number of lectures on Vanbrugh.

Christine Stevenson is the author of Medicine and Magnificence: British Hospital and Asylum Architecture, 1660-1815 and The City and the King: Architecture and Politics in Restoration London. Vanbrugh is a great passion for her, and he has a star role in her next book, Building in Bits: The Production and Consumption of English Baroque Architecture. She will be delivering a number of lectures on Vanbrugh.

Dr Annette Rubery is an independent scholar who specialises in the 18th century. She is a member of the Biographers’ Club and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is currently writing a group biography about John Vanbrugh and his theatrical circle, with a special focus on the Queen’s Theatre. She will be doing a talk at Seaton Delaval as part of the Vanbrugh300 lecture series, and will be contributing to the Vanbrugh300 newsletter.

Born and brought up at Castle Howard, Nick Howard has been absorbing its unique aesthetic for his whole life. As a photographer he’s had the pleasure and the privilege of making images which express that aesthetic, and, with each click of the shutter has moved a fraction closer to the mind of the man who created it, John Vanbrugh. 

Dr Simon Thurley CBE is a distinguished historian and heritage leader. He serves as Chair of the Delivery Authority for the Restoration and Renewal of the Houses of Parliament, is a member of the British Library Capital Programme Board, and is Chair of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. From 2002 to 2015, he was Chief Executive of English Heritage, where he was responsible for the National Heritage Collection of 420 sites, and in 2021 was appointed Chair of The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Dr Thurley will deliver a lecture as part of the Vanbrugh300 Festival lecture series. His and the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s support has been invaluable to the project.

Francis Terry is a leading figure in contemporary British classical architecture, widely praised for his deep understanding of historic tradition and his ability to reinterpret it for modern use. His architectural sensibility was shaped early by drawing and by close exposure to historic buildings, particularly during his education at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. Set within one of England’s greatest Georgian houses and landscapes, Stowe immersed Terry in the architecture of Vanbrugh, fostering a lifelong devotion to Georgian design that continues to underpin his work. His drawings of Stowe have been generously contributed to the Vanbrugh website, and he will also be speaking at the Vanbrugh: From Stage to Stone symposium, where he will present on Vanbrugh’s design for Stowe. He was also involved in the new Tapestry Drawing Room at Castle Howard, destroyed by fire in 1940, restoring the room to what Vanbrugh would have done.