PETER AND LENI GILLMAN
A 50-year writing partnership
WRITERS, JOURNALISTS, TRAINERS
We are a writing partnership with a long track record of articles and books to our name. We were regular contributors to the Sunday Times and other national titles for 40 years and have written books on diverse topics. You can find out more about our writing activities on this website. We also run highly regarded training courses which win outstanding testimonials. See: https://petergillmantraining.com/
Our contact details are at the foot of this page.
AUDREY SALKELD
2 November 2023
Audrey Salked
AUAUDTRY DALKELD
tHE
The widely-respected mountaineering author and researcher Audrey Salkeld died on 11 October 2023. Peter, who had known and worked with Audrey for more than 40 years, was asked to write her obituary for the Guardian. It was published on 2 November 2023, the same day as Audrey's funeral in Bristol. Peter and Leni attended the funeral, as did the Alpine Journal editor Ed Douglas and the adventurer and film-maker Leo Dickinson.
Link to Peter's Guardian obituary here: Audrey Salkeld obituary | Mountaineering | The Guardian
EVEREST IN WORDS AND PICTURES
1 June 2021
CARMINA BURANA: A NAZI CELEBRATION?
14 June 2023
In June 2023, Peter wrote an article about Carmina Burana, the popular and widely-presented choral work by the German composer Carl Orff (photo below). Peter's curiosity about the piece was aroused when he was rehearsing it for a concert by the Croydon Philharmonic Choir and learned that its first performance was in Germany in 1937 - at the height of the Nazi era. He resolved to find out more, and his inquiries led to a fascinating piece which appeared in the New European. Link here: Casting Orff: was the composer of Carmina Burana a Nazi? - The New European
EVEREST IN WORDS AND PICTURES
2 June 2022
The Folio Society and Royal Geographical Society have published a new anthology of photographs and writings from Mount Everest, which we edited. It includes the evocative and poignant shot below, taken by Noel Odell, of George Mallory (left) and Sandy Irvine as they prepare to depart on their final, fatal summit attempt in June 1924. The book is a magnificent two-volume production, with some 250 photographs and 75,000 words from five expeditions: 1921, 1922, 1924, 1933 and 1953. Peter wrote the introductions and commentaries to each volume, and there are further prefaces by Wade Davis and the late Jan Morris. Here is a link to the book: https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/non-fiction/new. The price may look high but the book has remarkable production values and is likely to become a prized collector's item.
JOHN DALBY: A MEMOIR
5 May 2020
Leni has just published a memoir on the actor, musician, composer and tutor John Dalby, who died in 2017. It is based on a diaries which John wrote or dictated over a period of several years, which Leni encouraged. As well as editing the diaries, Leni has written an endearing introduction to the memoir, which is copiously illustrated. It has already attracted numerous tributes and praise. The photo shows John with Sir Alec Guinness during the filming of A Passage to India in 1984. It is signed: For John, with appreciation, Alec - thanking John for teaching him to sing.
October 20 2019
EIGER EXTREME
Our book Extreme Eiger was published in a French edition in October 2019. It is a beautiful production by Editions du Mont-Blanc, the publishing company of the supreme Alpinist Catherine Destivelle.
