In 1975 a close friend became the curator of a small art gallery in Accrington, Lancashire, where surprisingly the biggest collection of art nouveau Tiffany glass in Europe had been stored away since the Second World War. It was the gift of a local man called Joseph Briggs, who emigrated to the USA in 1891, joined Tiffany Studios in New York, rose to be the boss, and sent the collection back home in the 1930s.

In 1976 the glass went on show to wide acclaim – but as a journalist I was more fascinated by Joseph Briggs, about whom little was known. My Fellowship enabled me to trace his remarkable life story, leading in 2015 to a book (Mosaic: The Story of Joseph Briggs, the English 'Tiffany'). I have since given many talks on Briggs and Tiffany, and continue to do so.