I said: “Hong Kong, South China Morning Post, during the Handover”. I still remember the street we were walking along in south London, as my answer, quite unplanned, would change my life. When I was there, being told just how hard it would be to find a job, a fellow student asked me where, if I could choose any newspaper or magazine in the world, I would most like to work. So I left to study journalism for a three month diploma at the London College of Printing.

My first job was as a management trainee with Reuters, in London and Scandinavia, but I had a dream to be a real news journalist, writing about people’s lives at times of drama and trauma. I studied Social Anthropology at St Andrews University, Scotland and William & Mary College, Virginia, after spending time in Himalayan India, teaching in a Tibetan refugee camp and realising how amazing it was to learn about different cultures. Her most famous book is Colour: Travels Through The Paint Box. When I was there, being told just how hard it would be to fin Victoria Finlay is a writer and journalist, known for her books on colour and jewels. (from Wikipedia) I studied Social Anthropology at St Andrews University, Scotland and William & Mary College, Virginia, after spending time in Himalayan India, teaching in a Tibetan refugee camp and realising how amazing it was to learn about different cultures.

On her travels she visited remote Central American villages where women still wear skirts dyed with the purple tears of sea snails learned how George Washington obsessed about his green dining room while he should have been busy with matters of state and investigated the mystery of Indian Yellow paint, said to have been made from the urine of Indian cows force-fed with mango leaves.įrom mascara to nomadic carpets and pillar boxes, the story of colour is the story of the efforts of artists and artisans to reproduce the rainbow - and the impact their work has had on the world.Victoria Finlay is a writer and journalist, known for her books on colour and jewels.

'Both picaresque and picturesque, it's a rich read.' Evening StandardĬolour tells the remarkable story of Victoria Finlay's quest to uncover the many secrets hidden inside the paintbox. 'It's pure pleasure to join this gutsy arts reporter-cum-scholar on her quest for historical pigments and dyes around the world' Independent

Colour victoria finlay