Julia Jones

Julia Jones, formerly also known as Julia Thorogood, is an English writer, editor, book publisher and patient advocate.

Early life Julia Jones was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk in 1954. When she was three years old, her father George Jones bought the wooden sailing ketch Peter Duck, a yacht originally commissioned and owned by children's novelist Arthur Ransome and named for a character in one of his novels. This nautical connection with Ransome, along with numerous pony books, helped to shape a lifelong enthusiasm for books.

Writer and publisher Jones opened a bookshop in Ingatestone, Essex, which she then developed into a small-scale local publishing business, reissuing a Second World War autobiography by crime writer Margery Allingham. Jones hoped the trilogy would inspire a new generation of children to mess about in boats. Jones was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 2023 King's Birthday honours "For Services to People with Dementia".

Personal life Jones has five children. She was previously married to Chris Thorogood; in 2019 she married Francis Wheen, a writer, journalist and broadcaster who was deputy editor of Private Eye.