Souvenirs: Postcard, “Terence Donovan: The Eye That Never Sleeps”, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, 2002.

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Art, Art Galleries., black and white, exhibition, fashion photography, photographers, Photography, Postcard, Sheffield, Souvenirs, Ted, Terence Donovan, Terence Donovan: The Eye That Never Sleeps, The Graves Art Gallery Sheffield, Thermodynamic

I can’t recall if I read about this exhibition in BBC History Magazine, set my heart on going and then went to Sheffield to see it or if I visited in my free time during a college outing to Sheffield Hallam University, which is only a short walk from the Graves. Perhaps I read about it and then used the college trip as a pretext to get to Sheffield and see it [I certainly had no intention of enrolling at Sheffield Hallam or any other university at that time of my life]. Either way, it was the first exhibition I ever planned to visit and subsequently visited.

The post card features one of Terence Donovan’s iconic photographs, “Thermodynamic“, which is one of my favourites.

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Photo Archive: Inclement Weather Over Battersea Power Station, King’s Road, London, September 2013.

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Battersea Power station, clouds, dark, design, inclement weather, King's Road London, light, London, London landmarks, scale model, shoes, vintage fashion, Weather, window, window dressing, window shopping.

Photo Archive: The View from Shaftesbury, July 2012.

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countryside, Dorset, King Alfred The Great, scenic views, Shaftesbury, Sir Fredrick Treves "The Highways and Byways in Dorset", views

Shaftesbury is a very interesting place, but I must confess that I spent most of my time there with my back to the town, admiring the breathtaking views of the Dorset countryside afforded by the high ground [a certain on-line encyclopaedia informs me that Shaftesbury is one of the oldest and highest towns in Britain at 718 ft (219 m) above sea level]. I don’t often compare myself to illustrious figures from Britain’s past, but I’m sure Alfred The Great, who fortified the hilltop back in Anglo-Saxon times, did much the same back in 880. It is a place to stand still and to observe, as you can see, but it is also a place for action, a place to explore from [I’m sure Alfred The Great would have agreed with me, despite the fact he didn’t have the luxury of being driven around Dorset by my host and good friend, Mr. W].

To quote from Sir Fredrick Treves’ “The Highways & Byways in Dorset“: “There is no spot like it beyond the confines of Britain. It is so typical of the island that it might claim to be symbolic of the Heart of England“.  

Photo Archive: Nautical Stripes, Sutton Walk, London, August 2014.

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advertising, alcoholic beverages, beer, billboards, Food and Drink, Italian beer, Italy, London, nautical stripes, Peroni, Sutton Walk

Photo Archive: Life on Mars Exhibition, Stockport Art Gallery and War Memorial, Stockport, 2008.

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Annie Cartwright, architecture, cult tv series, exhibition, Gene Hunt, In Rememberance, John Simm, Life on Mars, Liz White, Neo-Classical, Philip Glenister, San Tyler, steps, Stockport, Stockport Art Gallery and War Memorial, television

Photo Archive: “The Escape” Pub Sign, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Spilsby, 12/06/14.

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Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Military History, Museums, Public houses, pubs, RAF, RAF Escaping Society, Royal Air Force, Second World War, signs, Whitbread, World War Two

Cheers!

To quote from the RAF Escaping Society Museum website, “The RAF Escaping Society Museum was first established in the mid 1960s at a Whitbread public house in Mabledon Place, off Euston Road in London. The pub – renamed The Escape – was in more of a student than a tourist area and attracted insufficient interest”; what a shame! But at least the sign has found a new home at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre.

Photo Archive: Small Scale Replica of The Wooden Horse, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Spilsby, 12/06/14

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Eric Williams, escaping, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Michael Codner, military museums, Museums, Oliver Philpot, Prisoners of War, RAF, RAF Escape Museum, RAF Escape Society, Royal Air Force, Second World War, The Wooden Horse, World War Two

I can’t recall the scale.

The story of the “Wooden Horse” escape from Stalag Luft III, during the Second World War, came to my attention via the 1950 film “The Wooden Horse” starring Leo John Genn [who also appeared as Mr. Starbuck in “Moby Dick“, 1956, and in “Green is for Danger“, 1946; two of my favourites] and David Tomlinson.

The film was based on the novel, “The Wooden Horse“, by Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams, RAF, who was one of the three men to escape from Stalag Luft III, a German Prisoner of War camp, located in what was then Lower Silesia, which is now in Poland, with the help of a vaulting horse, constructed by the prisoners of war. As I understand it, Williams, Flight Lieutenant Oliver Philpot MC, DFC, RAF and Second Lieutenant Michael Codner, Royal Artillery, successfully escaped captivity via a tunnel, the entrance to which was concealed beneath the horse. The tunnellers were carried out to the exercise yard hidden within the horse. Cover was then provided by the PoWs vaulting over the horse whilst the tunneller worked beneath them; the vaulting also confused the seismographs used by the camp guards to detect any digging. When the vaulters called it a day they carried the horse back inside, along with the tunneller hidden within it and the soil excavated from the tunnel. Following their escape the three men headed for the Baltic; Williams and Codner, with the help of the Danish Resistance, managed to reach neutral Sweden, whilst Philpot headed for Danzig, now Gdansk in Poland, where he stowed away on board a Swedish merchant vessel.

The Wooden Horse forms part of the RAF Escape Society’s collection, on display at the RAF Escape Museum, in the grounds of the Aviation Heritage Centre.

Photo Archive: The Library, Stoke-on-Trent, c.2007.

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architecture, Charles Lynam, Colin Minton Campbell, English Heritage, Grade II listed building, library, Library and Shakespeare Institute Stoke-on-Trent, Minton, Shakespeare, Stoke-on-Trent, The Potteries, Victorian., Victoriana

English Heritage Building ID: 384432.

To quote from British Listed Buildings. co. uk, “Library, purpose-built as library and Shakespeare Institute in 1878. By Charles Lynam. Brick with stone dressings, enriched
with tiled panels and mosaics. 2-storeyed over a basement, 5 bays, stepped in plan. Red brick to basement, then white brick above, with rubbed red brick pilasters and architraves to windows in the advanced 3-bay section to the SW. 3 oculi, with tiled panels over, and mosaic depicting Shakespeare in the central panel“.

The Stoke-on-Trent: Breaking The Mould website informs me that the Minton family, Colin Minton Campbell to be exact, donated the site for the Library. His other achievements, listed on The Potteries. Org, he introduced the “acid gold process“, served as Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent between 1880 and 1883 and served as a Captain in the Stoke Rifle Volunteers, amongst many other things.

According to the BBC News website “Stoke-on-Trent’s former library has been sold for £128,000 – £40,000 more than expected“.

Photo Archive: “Bottle of Notes”, Centre Square, Middlesbrough, 2010.

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Art, blue skies, Bottle of Notes, Captain James Cook, Claes Oldenbrough, Coosje Van Bruggen, journal, message in a bottle, Middlesbrough, MIMA, public art, sculpture, sky, words, writing

That’s the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) in the background.

This monumental work by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen was inspired by the writings of Middlesbrough born explorer Captain James Cook RN. According to an article I’ve found on the BBC News website the words that form the distinctive bottle shape are taken from Captain Cook’s journal from his first voyage on HMS. Endeavour and read, “We had every advantage we could desire in observing the whole of the passage of the Planet Venus over the Sun’s disc“.

A close up.

To quote the BBC News article again, “Now said to be “part of the landscape”, the sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen still arouses intrigue from visitors and is often used as a climbing frame“.

Viewed from the roof of MIMA.

Photo Archive: Charlie Chaplin, Gloucester Road, Cheltenham, c.2009.

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Art, black and white, bowler hat, Charlie Chaplin, Cheltenham, Cheltenham Spa, Gloucestershire Echo, Mural, paint, painting, Stephen Cowlishaw, Street Art, The Little Tramp

The Little Tramp.

The Gloucestershire Echo informs me that this portrait of Charlie Chaplin, which is part of a larger mural, was the work of community art teacher Stephen Cowlishaw and some local school children and dates from 1994. It appears to have fallen into disrepair since I photographed it in 2009 and the local newspapers seem to indicate that the mural is either in a worst state than it was then or restored to its former glory or it has been replaced with something completely different! The link to the Gloucestershire Echo above, which is from the 16th September 2014, is the latest reference to the mural I can find. I wonder if any decision has been made yet?