The Guardian: "Nikolaus Pevsner: The Life by Susie Harries - review"

Link to The Guardian

"There was much more to Nikolaus Pevsner than the guidebooks that bear his name. The proper name for a 'Pevsner' is the Buildings of England series – the 46 county-by-county architectural gazetteers that constitute one of the great enterprises of 20th-century scholarship. Pevsner started them in 1951, and their 60th anniversary has sparked a renewed interest in the man himself.

"He undertook the series for Allen Lane and quickly established an exhausting routine. He would take month-long trips twice a year, covering 2,000 miles at a time in a clapped-out Wolseley, and would visit as many of each county's buildings of note as possible, writing up his notes in dingy B&Bs in the evenings."

(picture: Richard london traveller)

"Turning up unannounced at grand houses, he was frequently refused entry. When trying to get in to examine Colney Hatch asylum, with its huge Italianate façade, he told the recalcitrant doorman: 'I am Professor Pevsner'. 'That's a new one,' was the response."