Robert Elms

Robert Frederick Elms{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} was born in Hendon and educated at Orange Hill Grammar School for Boys, a state grammar school in the north-west London suburb of Burnt Oak, after passing the 11-plus examination for state school pupils.Meades, Jonathon (1984). "[http://www.clivejames.com/jonathan-meades/robert-elms Carving a Career in Style: Robert Elms]", CliveJames.com. Retrieved 28 April 2009, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090929020226/http://www.clivejames.com/jonathan-meades/robert-elms archived] 28 April 2009. From there, Elms studied at the London School of Economics (LSE) in Central London.

While still at the LSE, Elms became deeply involved in the "club scene" that was developing in London suburbs. He became a columnist for both The Face and NME, writing on both music and fashion. According to Elms, he was "almost a member" of the band Spandau Ballet. He championed them, having suggested their name, and introduced the group at early concerts by declaiming a brief verse.White, Jim. "Review", The Independent, 8 January 1996, p. 20. Band member Gary Kemp later commented that Elms was their "spin doctor", and said he "inspired" songs such as "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)", a number 3 UK Singles Chart hit for the band in 1981.{{cite web |last1=Harries |first1=Rhiannon |title=How We Met: Gary Kemp & Robert Elms |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-we-met-gary-kemp-robert-elms-1792563.html |website=The Independent|location=London |access-date=7 April 2021 |language=en |date=23 October 2011}} Elms also worked as a DJ at clubs including the Palladium in New York.Todd, Bella. [http://www.timeout.com/london/music/features/5518/Norman_Jay_on_Robert_Elms.html "Norman Jay on Robert Elms"], Time Out, 20 August 2008. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090629035221/http://www.timeout.com/london/music/features/5518/Norman_Jay_on_Robert_Elms.html archived], 28 April 2009.

Elms was a chronicler of the New Romantic movement of the early 1980s, which saw him become a popular interview choice for the broadcast media. Elms then developed a broadcasting career of his own, working in both radio and television. He was a contributor to Loose Ends (BBC Radio 4) and presented the Channel 4 travel series Travelog during the 1990s.[http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/0-9/4travel/perfect-getaway/robert-elms-biog.html "Robert Elms Biography"] Channel 4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20040404141303/http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/0-9/4travel/perfect-getaway/robert-elms-biog.html archived] 28 April 2009. In 1989, his first novel, In Search of the Crack was published by Penguin Books.

In 2006 he published The Way We Wore: A Life in Threads, which charts the changing fashions of his own youth, linking them with the social history of the times.Pauli, Michelle. "[https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/jun/02/robertelmsthe Robert Elms: The Way We Bore"], The Guardian, 2 June 2005.Taylor, Laurie. "[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-way-we-wore-by-robert-elms-748675.html The Way We Wore, by Robert Elms"], The Independent, 15 April 2009.

He served as a patron for the Arts Council's Architecture Week, until the demise of the event in 2007."[http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/pressnews/press_detail.php?browse=recent&id=450 Tom Bloxham MBE appointed as Architecture Week Patron]", 11 May 2005, Arts Council press release. [https://archive.today/20070615133620/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/pressnews/press_detail.php?browse=recent&id=450 archived] 28 April 2009.

Since 1994, Elms has presented a long-running radio show on BBC Radio London, in 1999 being referred to as "its top presenter".Robinson, Michael. "[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/its-a-london-thing-but-sadly-for-glr-londoners-are-not-listening-738889.html 'Its a London thing', but sadly for GLR, Londoners are not listening]", The Independent, 12 October 1999. The show features reports, discussions, and call-ins about Greater London, the history, architecture, geography, city planning and the language of London: in short, the minutiae of the city. Guests who are acknowledged experts in their fields of study appear on a regular basis, including architect Maxwell Hutchinson and film critic Jason Solomons. An extract of the shows is published as a podcast every week. Solomons often covers for Elms when he is on holiday.

Elms is a critic of The Beatles, and refuses to play the band on his BBC London daily radio show. He has been quoted as saying "I just think they are either childlike and simple or rather leaden and pompous – one or the other all the time. For me they turned something that was once sexy and raw and had roots, into something that was totally soulless, playground sing-along music. I think everything that is over-inflated deserves a pin-prick in it occasionally. How can they be above criticism? That's ludicrous."{{cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8246313.stm |title= Help! I'm a Beatles hater |first=Stephen |last=Robb|publisher=BBC News |access-date=26 June 2013 |date=10 September 2009}}

His memoir, London Made Us, was published in 2019.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/23/london-made-us-robert-elms-review|title=London Made Us by Robert Elms – a love letter to the capital|first=Fiona|last=Sturges|newspaper=The Guardian|date=23 March 2019}}

In the 1980s, Elms squatted with singer Sade Adu in Tottenham.{{cite news| last= Mahoney| first=Elisabeth|title=Radio review: From Frestonia to Belgravia – the History of Squatting|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/nov/22/from-frestonia-to-belgravia-review?newsfeed=true|newspaper=The Guardian|date=22 November 2011}}

He is married to Christina Wilson and has three children. The family lived in Camden, an area of London he promotesDowling, Stephen. "[http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ifs_news/hi/newsid_7238000/7238820.stm Camden – Britain's musical Mecca?]", BBC, 11 February 2008. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160305174620/http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ifs_news/hi/newsid_7238000/7238820.stm archived] 28 April 2009. and where he has renovated a Georgian house.Canessa, Joey. "[https://www.independent.co.uk/property/house-and-home/my-home-robert-elms-6108002.html My Home: Robert Elms"], The Independent, 1 March 2006. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090316102352/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/my-home-robert-elms-468030.html archived] 28 April 2009. Elms is a Queens Park Rangers F.C. fan.{{cite web|title=Saturday Talks Tom Hunter in Conversation with Robert Elms 8 January|url=http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2011/01/saturday_talks_tom_hunter_robert_elms.html|access-date=26 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617193338/http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2011/01/saturday_talks_tom_hunter_robert_elms.html|archive-date=17 June 2013|url-status=dead}}

In 2021, Elms and his wife moved from their home in Camden to a flat at the Barbican Estate, Central London.{{cite web | url=https://www.instagram.com/high_in_the_sky_2021/?hl=en | title=Robert Elms + Christina Wilson (@high_in_the_sky_2021) • Instagram photos and videos }}

• {{Cite book |last=Elms |first=Robert |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/In_Search_of_the_Crack/8CIeAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiptaWS-LaMAxVWTGwGHVHLFd8QiqUDegQIExAL |title=In Search of the Crack |date=1988 |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-0-670-82328-4 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Elms |first=Robert |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Spain_a_Portrait_After_the_General/J1hpAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj56evZ-LaMAxXHVmwGHaO2OdsQiqUDegQIEBAC |title=Spain, a Portrait After the General |date=1992 |publisher=Mandarin |isbn=978-0-434-22824-9 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Elms |first=Robert |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Way_We_Wore/NRzQoQEACAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj56evZ-LaMAxXHVmwGHaO2OdsQiqUDegQIEBAK |title=The Way We Wore: A Life in Threads |date=2014-08-20 |publisher=Amazon Digital Services LLC - KDP Print US |isbn=978-1-78025-807-2 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Elms |first=Robert |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/London_Made_Us/HOmCygEACAAJ?hl=en |title=London Made Us: A Memoir of a Shape-Shifting City |date=2020 |publisher=Canongate Books |isbn=978-1-78689-213-3 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Elms |first=Robert |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Live_/C2O5EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjCut_5-LaMAxWBUWcHHVHSA3YQiqUDegQIExAG |title=Live!: Why We Go Out |date=2023-10-19 |publisher=Unbound Publishing |isbn=978-1-80018-283-7 |language=en}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7kb Robert Elms] (BBC Radio London)
• [http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/elms Robert Elms podcast] from BBC
• {{Discogs artist}}

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Category:Living people

Category:People from Hendon

Category:English male non-fiction writers

Category:English non-fiction writers

Category:English radio personalities

Category:English television personalities

Category:20th-century squatters

Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics

Category:20th-century English novelists

Category:Writers from the London Borough of Barnet

Category:1959 births