Memoirs of an Unjust Fella, first published in 1980, is the
autobiography of James Maude Richards (1907-1992): a personal
account from the heart of the twentieth century's high controversies
over modern architecture.
'The anonymity of a Times byline - 'Our Architectural
Correspondent' - was, in some ways, the crowning achievement of [J.
M. Richards'] public career. It made him the connection between
architecture and the Establishment, a role for which he was
peculiarly well fitted by background (Anglo-Irish, Church, Army and
some land), training (Architectural Association School, plus
practice in London, Ireland and North America) and professional
experience as the editor of the Architectural Review on and
off since 1935. And he knew absolutely everybody... Among the
illustrations to Unjust Fella, there is a group photograph of
the entire Modern Movement in architecture (the lot, bar
Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe), and there's Jim, modestly
in the back row but practically in the middle.'
Reyner Banham, London Review of Books
