Stephen Bayley

Stephen Paul Bayley (born Cardiff, Wales, 13 October 1951) is a British design critic, cultural critic and author.

Childhood and Education

Bayley spent his childhood years in Liverpool. He attended Booker Avenue County Primary and Quarry Bank High schools. The latter was also attended at an earlier date by the late Beatle John Lennon.

He was later educated at Manchester University and the University of Liverpool School of Architecture.

Career

He has worked as a museum curator. In the 1970s he was a lecturer in the history of art at The University of Kent but first became famous in the 1980s as an authority on style and design when Sir Terence Conran chose him to head up the Boilerhouse Project cite web|title = V&A profile|url = http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/contemporary/past_exhns/beauty/bayley/index.html|accessdate = 2008-08-02] , at the Victoria and Albert Museum, "the V&A", in London. This was Britain's first permanent exhibition of design and it was host to more than 20 exhibitions in five years including Ford Motor Co, Sony, Issey Miyake, Coca Cola and Taste. He then became Chief Executive of the Design Museum in London which grew out of the Boilerhouse Project.

In 1989 he was made a Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France's top artistic honour, by the French Minister of Culture and in 1995 he was Periodical Publishers' Association Columnist of the Year.

However, he only became nationally famous when he was appointed as creative director of the exhibition at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich. After a series of disputes he resigned in 1998 citing ministerial interference. On his resignation he said of the dome that: " 'it could turn out to be crap' " and accused government minister Peter Mandelson of: " 'running the project like a dictator' ". Mr Mandelson said that: " 'he had not been a dictator but had been decisive and had got a grip on a project that was suffering from drift' ". Mr Mandelson also said that: " 'Mr Bayley's other remarks did not merit a response' "cite web|title = Mandelson rejects dictator comment - BBC News, 11 January 1998|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/politics/46547.stm|accessdate = 2008-08-03] . Chief Execuitve of the Dome Project Ms Jennie Page gave evidence to a House of Commons Select Committee which included the issue of his resignationcite web|title = Jennie Page evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee includes reference to Bayley's resignation|url = http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmcumeds/578/0061502.htm|accessdate = 2008-08-03] .

From 2007, Bayley became The Observer's architecture and design correspondentcite web|title = Stephen Bayley's column in The Observer from February 2007|url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/stephenbayley|accessdate = 2008-08-03] .

In July 2008, Bayley, described as a "design guru", became the first of three non-executive directors to join the management board of Sidhu & Simon Communications, a public relations & sponsorship agencycite web|title = Joins public relations & sponsorship agency
url = http://www.sidhuandsimon.com/news/stephen-bayley-joins.htm|accessdate = 2008-08-03] .

He is also the 'style director' of Guest Hotelscite web|title = Hotel buildings to be arts canvas - BBC News, 1 May 2008|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7375917.stm|accessdate = 2008-08-07] .

Publications

He writes for several newspapers and is a contributing editor of GQ. He is also a regular columnist in British CAR Magazine where he offers a critique of contemporary motoring design from a philosophical perspective. He has also appeared on television series such as "Have I Got News For You" and "Grumpy Old Men".

He has also written several books, including "A Dictionary of Idiocy" and "General Knowledge", ISBN 186154086X. His latest book, "Life's A Pitch"cite web|title = Life's a Pitch website including pictures of the authors"|url = http://lifesapitch.uk.com/#|accessdate = 2008-08-02] , ISBN 0593056434, co-authored with Roger Mavity, was published in March 2007.

Personal life

He lives in his south-west London house with his wife, Flo, and their two children, Bruno and Coco. He has lived there for 25 years and says that the house still isn't finished: ' "doing up a home is like food and sex: it should never be rushed" ' and that the sole purpose of the garden is: ' "a place to sit with a book and a glass of wine" ' cite web|title = A work in progress: At home with design expert Stephen Bayley, The Independent, 6 August 2008|url = http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/interiors/a-work-in-progress-at-home-with-design-expert-stephen-bayley-885841.html|accessdate = 2008-08-07] .

References and External links

*imdb name|id=0063060|name=Stephen Bayley