Jonathan Meades is a man of many words - some of them long or obscure. His phraseology and lexical acrobatics can make the mundane into something that somehow means more - or at least has people reaching for a dictionary, or sometimes wondering if something has just been praised or criticised.

The language he uses is not simplified to the lowest common denominator, and a rare example of how language can be both expressive and exact.

Meades is a writer, journalist and critic. His main subjects are architecture, travel and gastronomy. He also writes about the consequences of history and politics, the power of language and advertising, and issues surrounding modern culture and society. He often uses word-play and a mix of common vernacular with high-brow prose, all with a touch of poetic surrealism.

Meades is well informed and knows his subjects. He expresses himself and his beliefs with clarity, and offers questions or adds humour to his essay-style scripts and monologues. Nothing is dumbed-down, nothing is generalised, and it's no holds barred when it comes to opinions. He can be acerbic and relentless in his criticisms.

His approach to architecture is similar to journalist and critic Ian Nairn (now deceased), who was passionate and opinionated about architecture and was not afraid to criticise, unconcerned about the consequences of doing so. Like Nairn, the strong opinions and independent approach of Meades make good viewing and he went into documentary film-making for television in the eighties, often working with director and producer Francis Hanly. He is no stranger to performance (he studied at RADA during the late sixties), and is at ease in front of a camera.

In his earlier film work, Meades often narrated directly to camera using a persona - a man with deadpan expression, dark suits and permanently attached dark glasses (even indoors) - a ubiquitous verbal hit man who walked in and out of shot as he spoke, or just stood there saying nothing, or shouted at the camera from a distance. Creative camera work and visual interludes with characters and props presented an enigmatic and sometimes surreal fixture that runs as a theme through much of his work. This production style connected and branded his output, and elements of this are still apparent in his current work.

Off-screen, Meades hangs up the shades and continues to write. In 2017 he wrote a cookbook, The Plagiarist in the Kitchen (published by Unbound) which explores recipes and the origins around them. He wrote in a style that was an antidote to most offerings by celebrity chefs and culinary experts in that he put forward that all recipes are plagerised, and wrote about cookery with no regard for purist notions or pompous cookery-fakery.

Meades studied cooking for his own pleasure (French cuisine in particular), and was a restaurant food critic for The Times during the eighties and nineties. He also has a friendship with top British chef and restaurateur, Marco Pierre White, who made an appearance in a film Meades made for television entitled 'Surreal Film'. In a satirical scene, White, wearing a suit and hat, produces eggs from his pocket and proceeds to demonstrate how to fry them (followed by a tasting session).

Jonathan Meades now lives in France and doesn't seem to encourage celebrity, and although he has written and produced autobiographical pieces, he is more likely to take part in debates or discussions rather than talk about himself. He does run a website, but there is no activity with social media. His film work is curated by The Meades Shrine which is maintained by a fan, and there are DVDs available as the The Jonathan Meades Collection - a three disc set released by the BBC.

If you are an aspiring journalist or writer, Jonathan Meades is a great example of a particular style, and how spoken presentation and written work can stand out and carry an independent theme in terms of writing style and visual content.

Matt Sheen MMXX
mattsheen (at) webstar.tv

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