Category: United Kingdom

The New York Times (as well as every other major media source) recently announced that: “Sister Wendy Beckett, Nun Who Became a BBC Star, Dies at 88.” Sister Wendy became a television celebrity with her art history television productions in the 1990s, an unlikely presenter because she was a Catholic nun. What few knew was that she was also a hermit when not before the camera, living in a windowless trailer on the grounds of a Carmelite convent in England.

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/obituaries/sister-wendy-beckett-dead.html

This Guardian piece is an essay by a young British woman who consciously pursues solitude within her urban environment. The title is: “The pursuit of loneliness: how I chose a life of solitude.” The byline is: “Hayley Campbell quit her job and moved into an empty flat. Here she explains the tough but peculiar pleasures of seclusion.”

URL: https://www.theguardian.com/global/2017/sep/17/choosing-to-be-on-your-own

A brief article in Londonist titled “The Sad Story Of The Hermit Of Dulwich,” about an 18th-century hermit Samuel Matthews. He became a hermit when he became a widower, and was described as eccentric and deranged.

URL: https://londonist.com/london/history/the-hermit-of-dulwich

In this Guardian profile aptly titled “‘Truly, madly, deeply alone’ – embracing solitude,” a British woman (Max Riddington) reflects on her choice to pursue solitude.

URL: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/13/solitude-moving-new-home-loneliness