Hugh and Mirabel Cecil have written many books and bibliographies including In Search of Rex Whistler His Life and His Work, published in 2012. Mirabel Cecil has also written for The Times, started a design page for Country Life and was one of the first contributors to The World of Interiors. Historian Hugh Cecil is an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Leeds and trustee and co-founder of the Second World War Experience Centre in Leeds. His numerous publications include The Flower of Battle: How Britain Wrote the Great War, At the Eleventh Hour, and Facing Armageddon: The First World War Experienced. The renowned artist Rex Whistler (1905-44) painted what would be his final large-scale mural at Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire. Between 1938 and 1939 he worked in the imposing drawing room of the house for the owners Mr and Mrs Gilbert Russell. He created a memorably romantic 'Gothick' mural, covering every part of the walls with subtle decorations; the climax is the trompe l'oeil 'smoking urn'.