About

Jayne lives in London. She spends a lot of time commuting / squished into armpits on the tube.

Her published work to date (links and scans to appear shortly)

Fiction

Shortlisted Asham Award

Non Fiction

I specialise in articles on London’s ‘hidden’ history, and, after many years compiling quirky What's On diary dates and guides for various media outlets, can always be counted on to come up with something unusual...

Matchbox magazine:
Notting Hill hippodrome: The tale of a forgotten racecourse
Going underground: Below the streets of London
Death road: The story of a west London serial killer
Spy games: Undercover at Brompton Oratory
Chelsea swagger: Collecting your pension
The Knight’s tale: Knights out in St John’s Wood
Bella Bello: A stroll down memory lane

The following were all pitched as part of an idea called 'Get Involved...', which saw me joining various social / hobby clubs that were at the time advertised within the newspaper. Until the scans of these articles appear, I'm afraid you'll have to imagine what on earth I was up to with that glorious header: 'My irrational pleated skirt fear proved unfounded'! 

Guest columnist: Enfield Independent:
Fun that won’t break the bank
Harder than you imagine, but you’ll feel great
Body MOT got me eating better
My irrational pleated skirt fear proved unfounded
I learnt how to repulse monkey
Life coach can help you reach your ambitions
An extra’s life isn't so glamorous

Hm. Am I still scared of pleated skirts? Is it irrational, I wonder? 

Interviews

Some of these were face-to-face, some email/telephone, some as part of a four-journalist-round-robin, one as a tiny cog in a mighty press junket that should have been renamed The Will Smith Show. (He was amazing, by the way. Handsome as his pictures, beautiful voice. Took over the room and every journalist loved him. The film - I, Robot - not so much.)

Oh, and Ryan Reynolds was super lovely, too. They all were. In fact, if we go from the basis that each of them were lovely, then those who achieved super lovely status were Ryan Reynolds, Mark King from Level 42, Adam Garcia, Helen Dallimore, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Marti Pellow, and Bananarama.

Actors
Will Smith
Ryan Reynolds
Josh Harnett
Adam Garcia
Helen Dallimore

Directors
Vicki Psarias
Gerald McMorrow
Raina Haig
Damian O’Donnell
Jean-Jacques Annaud

Musicians/Singers/DJ
Katie Melua
Level 42
Ocean Colour Scene
Bananarama
Lisa Stansfield
Marti Pellow
Myleene Klass
Akon

Gordon Mac (Kiss UK)

When I was at University (studying Illustration), one of our course projects was to contact someone who inspired us. I chose Martin and Tanis Jordan, a talented artist (Martin) and writer (Tanis) who together have created gorgeous books such as Amazon Alphabet, Angel Falls, and the absolutely fab travel biography Out of Chingford. Not only were Martin and Tanis lovely to meet; they are also a simply amazing couple who have had adventures all around the world, and I'm happy to say we are still friends. 

I contacted the others on this list also while at University, and was so thrilled that they all took time to reply with letters or phone calls. To this day I'm so touched by their generosity and encouragement. 

Writers/Artists
Martin and Tanis Jordan
Jane Hissey
Jason Cockcroft
Jill Barklem

Shirley Hughes

Costumer and Prop Maker

I had two jobs to get me through University. One was working every weekend at a little-known boutique (cough-Woolworths-cough), and the other was during the summer holidays at a Costume and Prop house in Hackney, London. The main productions I worked on are below.

Costumes for The Lion King at The Lyceum Theatre
Theatrical props for Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre
Theatrical props for Jesus Christ Superstar at The Lyceum Theatre
Costumes for the Hunchback of Notre Dame ‘Festival of Light’ parade at Euro Disney

Want to contact me? Email jayneferst AT yahoo.com