Olivia Williams

Olivia Williams

Author

Olivia Williams is a journalist and author. She graduated with a scholarship and a master’s degree in modern history from Oxford University. In her final year she won a Rupert Murdoch student scholarship before working as a graduate trainee at the Daily Mail. She left to write her first book, Gin Glorious Gin: How Mother’s Ruin Became the Spirit of London (2014)

Her second book, The Secret Life of the Savoy, was published in 2020.

Olivia has been a guest on Radio 4, Bloomberg, Sky Arts and CBS News. She often contributes to The Economist, Country Life, House & Garden, and the Evening Standard.

Click here to buy Gin Glorious Gin: How Mother’s Ruin Became the Spirit of London

Click here to buy The Secret Life of the Savoy

Olivia Williams @tweetingolivia

Made some substantial pug chums @cuppapuglondon

The place that started me on my second book 👀 @NTRiviera

You look at the new Orient Express La Dolce Vita and think: what a train. I look at it and see my new life. My escape. Open shirts and vests. Cream linen trousers. Slicked back hair. Dog-eared Umberto Eco novels. Glasses of Mille e una Notte. Bye!

A young David Cameron listening in the background?

Michael Flatley’s James Bond cosplay #Blackbird looks sensational. The only London cinema who can see the potential seems to be @ThePCCLondon though https://youtu.be/xU7UEhapn1I

It’s 1979 and Assistant Purser on the TITANIC - Frank Prentice - describes how he managed to cheat death whilst 1,500 poor souls didn’t.

It's so hot a Tennessee Williams play just broke out in my room

Two hundred years ago today, the romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley’s body was cremated on the beach at Viareggio in northern Tuscany, having drowned at sea.

He’d been staying with Mary Shelley in the beautiful Ligurian bay now known as the Golfo dei Poeti. Morning run 🏃‍♂️ 🇮🇹🇬🇧

One of the best music documentaries ever is now on Netflix

Candle-lit vigil for Tiananmen, Victoria Park, Hong Kong, 4 June 1997, weeks before the handover. Hong Kong people exercising the freedoms they were promised would continue under the Joint Declaration for 50 years after 1997. Tonight, Victoria Park is empty, the vigil banned

This review made me laugh so much, I might be buying my first novel of the year

The idea of ‘official pudding’ makes me happy

If you’re curious about Claridge’s boardroom drama (niche, granted) you could also skim through my book ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1472269802/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr= ) https://on.ft.com/3xeLUBZ

Not sure @AppleNewsUK thought through their story placement tonight