The late Jocasta Innes

There’s an interesting post over on Spitalfields Life about the writer Jocasta Innes, who has died aged 78. I always thought of her as an author of books espousing a very particular approach to interior design – one that, as a hair-shirt modernist, I personally can’t stand. What I hadn’t realised was that she started out writing cookery books, including one that is much more in my line, The Pauper’s Cookbook. Currently available from publishers Frances Lincoln in a very stylish edition with a cover illustration by the artist Mary Fedden, whose style is very much imitated these days.Spitalfields Life is one of the few blogs that keeps me coming back again and again; it’s a bit like rummaging in a well-stocked junkshop. If you’re at all interested in the East End, or London in general, or just in being fascinated by the surprising things that so often conceal themselves just beneath the veneer of everyday life, have yourself a good look.