Norman Hudson

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Norman Hudson OBE (1945 - ) is an English publisher, founder of Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens annual guidebook, and advisor to owners of historic houses on tourism and location filming.

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[edit] Career

Norman Hudson holds an MSc (Recreational Land Management) and BSc (Estate Management), and is a management development consultant, advising on Historic House and Tourism Management. From 1977 he was retained as Technical Adviser to the Historic Houses Association (HHA) whose 1,500 members are the private owners of the most important historic houses and gardens in Great Britain. Hudson is also a member of the HHA’s Tourism and Commercial Development Committee.

From 1987 until 2007, Hudson published, via his publishing company Norman Hudson & Co, 20 annual editions of Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens guidebook.[1] From 2001 Hudson’s guidebook became the only publication of its type, when Johansens annual Historic Houses, Castles & Gardens ceased publication, having first been published in 1954 (with house details subsequently only available on Johansens website).

In September 2007 Hudson sold the Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens title to Heritage House Media Limited (HHMI), staying on to help produce the 2008 edition, and thereafter acting as a business consultant. HHMI is a newly formed company run by Kelvin Ladbrook and Peter Diggles with £3.6m from venture capital funds IBIS Media, Foresight and Neptune Calculus. At the same time HHMI bought Heritage House Group Limited, and in December 2007 purchased Jarrold & Sons Limited’s guidebook contract publishing business from Alan Sutton’s NPI Media Limited (subsequently The History Press). HHMI has become the largest UK supplier of contract publishing (e.g. guidebooks), gifts and souvenirs to the heritage sector.

Hudson also assists his wife, Jane, with Presents for Men, one of the principal gift mail-order companies in the UK, started by Jane in 1990. Catalogue titles include Gifts for the Girls, Travel Paraphernalia, and Essentials.

In the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours list, Hudson received an OBE for services to the heritage tourism industry. In 2005 Hudson became a Trustee of the Country Houses Foundation, an historic buildings preservation grant-giving charity.[2] He is married to Jane, with two children, and lives in Upper Wardington, Oxfordshire.

[edit] Books – Author/Editor

  • Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens (1987-2007) Norman Hudson & Co, annually, totalling 20 editions, starting with title dates 1987-8, then 1989 and so on annually. There are also identical USA editions, but with a different cover highlighting Great Britain and Ireland, and a separate ISBN through Globe Pequot Press. See the section below for further details.

[edit] Books – Published by Norman Hudson & Company

[edit] Books – Editions of Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens

The year listed below is that shown on the book cover, not the date published (which is usually at the end of the year before the cover year). The property name is of that featured on the front cover. For each year, the UK edition is listed first, then the US edition.

[edit] References

  1. ^ 20th Anniversary article by Norman Hudson, Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens 2007, UK edition, pages 64-5,
  2. ^ Charities Commission listing for the Country Houses Foundation retrieved 7 February 2008

[edit] External links