England: The Last Hurrah - Dafydd Jones (Hardback)
Dafydd Jones (author)Published: 13/04/2023
"...the panorama of a self-forgotten milieu." — Monopol
"Toffs behaving badly: 1980s high society in photos." — The Times
“The pictorial equivalents of Evelyn Waugh’s sentences.” — The New Yorker
"Modest though he is, Dafydd’s photographs will endure for having perfectly captured a society on the brink of decline. Unmissable listening." — Country & Townhouse podcast
"Wonderfully ironic, every point in the picture ignites and knows how to entertain very well." — Lovely Books
“Dafydd catches those moments of genuine exhilaration, wealth and youth.” — The Hollywood Reporter
“I wondered if the party guests I’d photographed were just re-enacting a nostalgic fantasy, an imaginary version of England that already no longer existed.” – Dafydd Jones
Throughout the 1980s, award-winning photographer Dafydd Jones was granted access to some of England’s most exclusive upper-class events. Now, the author of Oxford: The Last Hurrah presents this irreverent and intimate portrait of birthday parties and charity balls, Eton picnics and private school celebrations.
With the crack of a hunting rifle and a spray of champagne, these photos give an almost cinematic account of high-society England at its most riotous and its most vulnerable. Against the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain, globalisation, the Falklands War, rising stocks and dwindling inherited fortunes, Jones reveals the inner lives of the established elite as they party long into the night-time of their fading world.
Praise for Oxford: The Last Hurrah
‘Sublime vintage photographs...’ – Hermione Eyre, The Telegraph
‘In The Last Hurrah...we see familiar faces from British high society poised on the brink of adulthood.’ – Eve Watling, Independent
Publisher: ACC Art Books
ISBN: 9781788842198
Number of pages: 144
Weight: 738 g
Dimensions: 230 x 190 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
"...the panorama of a self-forgotten milieu." - Monopol
"Toffs behaving badly: 1980s high society in photos." - The Times
"Society photographer Dafydd Jones on the special edition of his book capturing the Oxford of the 1980s." - Tatler
“The pictorial equivalents of Evelyn Waugh’s sentences.” - Tina Brown, The New Yorker
"In England: The Last Hurrah (ACC Art Books), photographer, Dafydd Jones, provides an inside look at the fan- tastical pomp and promenading of England’s upper crust from a bygone era." - Flaunt Magazine
"Photo London offers a host of panels, book signings, workshops, and exhibitions—don’t miss Dafydd Jones’s “England: The Last Hurrah,” photographs that document the Eton picnics and tony birthday parties attended by the country’s upper echelons in the 1980s." - Airmail
"Modest though he is, Dafydd’s photographs will endure for having perfectly captured a society on the brink of decline. Unmissable listening." - Country & Townhouse podcast
"The image, along with others from the time, appears in a new book, England: The Last Hurrah (ACC Art Books), by photographer Dafydd Jones, who has worked for The Times, The Daily Telegraph and Tatler in a career that started in the 80s." - Waitrose Weekend
"A nostalgic remembrance of things past, Jones's newest photo book, England: The Last Hurrah, is a brilliant pre-social media feed of saucy snaps that are sure to entertain." - Guest of a Guest
"Dafydd Jones has been photographing the great and good at play for five decades…we sat down with Jones to discover more about his candid photography." - Digital Camera World
"…presents this irreverent and intimate portrait of birthday parties and charity balls, Eton picnics and private school celebrations." - Antique & Collectors Trader
"Learning on the job, Jones developed his signature style, blending charm, mayhem, and wit into a whirlwind tour of balls, regattas, hunts, polo matches and weddings. Now, Jones looks back one that pivotal era in the new book, England: The Last Hurrah (ACC Art Books)." - Huck
"The photos taken by Dafydd Jones during his Tatler years are now brought together in a collection, England: The Last Hurrah, published by the English house ACC Art Book. We see teenagers smoking cigars, students throwing young women into fountains, splashing themselves with whipped cream and doing just about anything that comes to mind." - Vanity Fair France
"Are the 'Bright Young Things' still enjoying the limelight? The party exploits of the gilded generation lit up the 80s with some even catching the attention of Hollywood - but as CLAUDIA JOSEPH finds out, for some those days now seem a world away." - The Mail on Sunday
"With the empire mired in deep Brexit doldrums, perhaps a nostalgic dose of time travel is in order. Please, have a gander at The Last Hurrah." - Vanity Fair
“Parties are a theater,” the photographer Dafydd Jones says. “And I just try to take photographs of the characters in that theater.” - Airmail
“Photographer Dafydd Jones’s latest book, England: The Last Hurrah is a fly-on-the-wall account of eighties upper-class England at its most riotous and vulnerable.” - Amateur Photographer
"...irreverent and intimate portrait of birthday parties and charity balls, Eton picnics and private school celebrations." - All About Photo
"With a new volume of photos having just been published, we sat down with Jones to discover more about his candid photography and what has changed since he attended high society events in the early 1980s." - Digital Camera
“Jones manages to flatter his subject in sometimes totally absurd situations, particularly because he photographs exclusively in black and white.” - Citizen K Magazine
"Wonderfully ironic, every point in the picture ignites and knows how to entertain very well." - Lovely Books
"Dafydd was at the heart of the social scene at Oxbridge and shows an indulgent and drunken crowd in the 80's. He appears to be entirely unnoticed and it is a great documentation of a wreckless age." - Photo Book Store
"Photographer Dafydd Jones’ book, released earlier this year, takes stock of England’s ruling classes in all their champagne-soaked vulnerability." - CNN Style
“Dafydd catches those moments of genuine exhilaration, wealth and youth.” - The Hollywood Reporter
"But in the Vanity Fair pantheon, no one has documented black-and-white nightlife with greater flashes (pun intended) of wit, yarbles, and gonzo brio than the British lensman Dafydd Jones." - Vanity Fair
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