1923 – Geoffrey Scowcroft Fletcher born in Bolton, Lancashire on 3rd April. Scowcroft is an unusual name. According to HouseOfNames.com:
The surname Scowcroft was first found in Lancashire, in the mid-13th century. A mix of the old Norse “skali” and the old English “croft,” meaning “Dweller by the croft with a hut,” this name is topographical in its origin.

1945
– Geoffrey turns 22.  Arrives in London to study at the Slade School of Art, living in a boarding house in Bloomsbury. He studied with Randolph Scwabe (Fine Art) and with Sir Albert Richardson, a professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Richardson would later write the introduction to Geoffrey’s first book, Town’s Eye View.

Painting “The Paying Guest” dated 1945, held in the UCL Art Museum

1948
– Geoffrey turns 25.  Geoffrey wins the Abbey Major Scholarship to study art at the British School in Rome.

1950
– Geoffrey turns 27.  His work begins to appear in the Manchester Guardian

1958
– Geoffrey turns 35. – Begins contributing drawings to illustrate the London Day By Day column.

1960
– Geoffrey turns 37.   Town’s Eye View published. Introduction by Sir Albert Richardson his former teacher at the Slade.

 1962
– Geoffrey turns 39. Joins the Daily Telegraph as an employee. The London Nobody Knows  published, Popular Art in England published

1963
– Geoffrey turns 40.   City Sights published

1964
– Geoffrey turns 41.  London Overlooked published

1965
– Geoffrey turns 42. London’s River published, Pearly Kingdom published

1966
– Geoffrey turns 43. Elements of Sketching published, Down Among The Meths Men published, Offbeat In the City of London published

1967
– Geoffrey turns 44.  London’s Pavement Pounders published, Sketch It In Colour published. The film of The London Nobody Knows by Norman Cohen and narrated by James Mason is released.

1968
– Geoffrey turns 45. Sketching In Colour published, Geoffrey Fletcher’s London published

1969
– Geoffrey turns 46. Changing London published, London After Dark published,
Pocket Guide to Dickens’ London published

1970
– Geoffrey turns 47. London published, The London Dickens Knew published, Sketching at Home and Abroad (Pitman Correspondence College) published

1973
– Geoffrey turns 50. London Souvenirs published, Paint it Yourself in Oils published

1974
– Geoffrey turns 51. Italian Impressions published, Paint it in Watercolour published

1975
– Geoffrey turns 52. Sketch it in Black and White published

1978
– Geoffrey turns 55. Figure and Portrait Drawing published, Portraits of London published

1980
– Geoffrey turns 57.   London At My Feet published1981
– Geoffrey turns 58.

1982
– Geoffrey turns 59. Beginner’s Guide to Painting, Drawing and Sketching published 1983

1990
– Geoffrey turns 67. London: A Private View published. Leaves the Daily Telegraph after 28 years.

1992
– Geoffrey turns 69. According to the Bolton News, he and wife Jean buy a house in Smithills in Bolton as a base to capture the town’s industrial heritage before it is demolished.

1999
– Geoffrey turns 76. According to the Bolton News, he had two pictures of buildings in Bolton (and 11 other paintings) exhibited at Guildhall Art Gallery in London.

2004 Geoffrey Scowcroft Fletcher dies in Bolton, Lancashire, aged 81 on 22 June. He died without a will as this notice in The Gazette evidences. His last address was 4 Harpers Lane, Bolton BL1 6HR. His executor was Derek Smith & Co., 20 Great Moor Street, Bolton BL1 1NP

2006  Spitalfields Life – article on Pavement Ponders

2010 Spitalfields Life – article In Geoffrey Fletcher’s Footsteps

2011 Spitalfields Life – article on Down Among The Meths Men