Jocasta Innes (1934-2013) was born in China, took a degree in Modern Languages at Cambridge and worked on the London Evening Standard before publishing her first book, The Pauper's Cookbook,in 1971. The Country Kitchen followed in 1979. Restoring a derelict brewery in Spitalfields, East London, led to her next book, Paint Magic, published in 1981. This and subsequent books were to influence the nation's interiors as profoundly as her earlier recipe books had influenced our tables.
