For at least 150 years, Thomas Chippendale has been synonymous with beautifully made eighteenth-century furniture in a variety of styles - Rococo, Chinese, Gothic and Neoclassical. Born in Otley, Yorkshire, in 1718, Chippendale rose to fame because of his revolutionary design book, The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director, published in 1754. That same year he set up his famous workshops in St Martin's Lane, creating some of the most magnificent furniture ever made in Britain. This beautifully illustrated history focuses on Britain's most famous furniture maker and designer, including the worldwide phenomenon 'Chippendale style' that became popular in Europe, North America and Asia after his death in 1779. Today, his influence lives on with the ongoing production of 'Chippendale' furniture, while the eighteenth-century originals are selling for millions at auction.

‘Go on, Freddie, tell the whole story. Remember that last night when you were together. You knew then that your love had made you both immortal: here’s your chance to tell it.’ Suddenly confronted by memories of his first great love, Freddie McNaughton recounts how, together, they surmounted all obstacles until fate intervened. It’s the 1960s and the world is changing, identities being redefined and loyalties challenged. At his single-sex Catholic public school the volatile sixteen year-old Freddie is discovering things about himself which he doesn’t know how to handle. But falling in love with the beautiful Paul changes all that: they bond, and dream of a life together. They adopt Walt Whitman’s famous poem ‘We Two Boys Together Clinging’ which becomes their ‘national anthem’. Their intensity spills over in their response to art, music and poetry. Telling his story through a series of letters written fifty years after the event and discovered after his death, Freddie remembers the struggles that they had to overcome: not least those of faith, identity and loyalty. Yet, even as heartbreak lies in wait, this absorbing tale does not have a tragic end: the two firmly believe that their love for each other has made them immortal.