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Dunstable 2022
Season 22, Episode 6
Kevin McCloud meets retired racehorse breeder John and his wife Helen in Dunstable. The couple met at Newbury races in 2005 and wed two years later, living in a 17th-century farmhouse until illness struck in 2018. Helen had a stroke, severely affecting her mobility and leaving her with aphasia, which affects her ability to communicate. With his wife constrained by the steep stairs, narrow doorways and changes in level of their current home, John resolved to make a big change by purchasing a nearby two-acre plot. Following the demolition of an old, dilapidated house on site, a new hi-tech accessible pavilion, complete with wildlife garden, will be built in its place for £1.3million
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Leisure Hobbies
Property
Cast & Crew
Kevin McCloud
(Presenter)
Edward Sunderland
(Director)
John Lonsdale
(Executive producer)
John Comerford
(Executive producer)
More Information
Did You Know..
Kevin McCloud
(Presenter)
Born:
May 08, 1958
in
Frome, Somerset
Best Known For:
Hosting Grand Designs.
Early-life:
Born in Bedfordshire on May 8, 1959, Kevin has always had a fascination for how things work, partly thanks to his engineer father. He has two brothers. Kevin pursued a career in music before studying languages at Cambridge University. Deciding that wasn't for him, he changed to philosophy, and then again to the history of art and architecture. He retrained as a designer, and later got a job in the theatre while also arranging people's home interiors. One of his other commissions involved the painted rococo-style ceiling in Harrods food hall.
Career:
McCloud's first tome, Kevin McCloud's Decorating Book, was published in 1990. The Techniques of Decorating and Kevin McCloud's Lighting Book hit the shelves five years later. The Complete Decorator followed in 1996. He went on to present Home Front, Home Front in the Garden, and Don't Look Down. His big break came in 1999 when he hosted the first edition of Grand Designs, and helped turn it into one of Channel 4's most popular lifestyle shows; various spin-offs have also been produced, including the hugely popular Grand Designs Live show. He's also fronted Demolition and coverage of the Riba Stirling Prize. McCloud has designed lighting for Ely Cathedral, Edinburgh Castle, two European palaces and the Savoy and Dorchester hotels. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Design from Oxford Brookes University in 2005.
Quote:
On his family: 'I'm the most aesthetic and the least engineer-minded of all of us, but nevertheless a lot of it rubbed off.'
Trivia:
In August 2013, McCloud participated in the Blue Anchor to Minehead RNLI Raft Race. Footage of him in action featured in his Man Made Home series.
Edward Sunderland
(Director)
John Lonsdale
(Executive producer)
John Comerford
(Executive producer)
