DON’T LOOK BACK

If someone shouts, ‘don’t look’ or ‘don’t look back,’ the natural instinct is to turn and have a good look. When the Sea God Poseidon caught a glimpse of Medusa, it was a disaster. She was a beautiful young priestess with golden curls falling over her pretty shoulders and served in the temple of Athena […]

Cactus flower shows Message From a Cactus

Message From a Cactus

The other night we received a message from a cactus and I laid in bed unable to sleep thinking about it. The cactus stands in the narrow passage at the back of our house in Cadaqués in an old pot among several plants we don’t always remember to water. Who do they belong to? They […]

The First Movie Ever Made illustrated by poster from A Trip to the Moon

The First Movie Ever Made

The first movie ever made was Le Voyage Dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) by the French pioneer Georges Méliès in 1902. He had shot more than 100 short films to prepare himself for the 14-minute one-reeler and left audiences aghast with a rocket voyaging into space, circling planets and alien life forms […]

Dylan poses illustrate the album The Times They Are a-Changin’.

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’

In 1964 I was sixteen. I bought a black rollneck sweater and a pair of Cuban heeled boots from Anello & Davide in Coven Garden. I read The Outsider (L’Étranger) by Albert Camus. I learned how to talk with a cigarette balanced in the corner of my mouth and heard The Times They Are A-Changin’ […]

SALVADOR DALÍ AND RAQUEL WELCH illustrated the Raquel Welch portrait.

SALVADOR DALÍ AND RAQUEL WELCH

Salvador Dalí and Raquel Welch had absolutely nothing in common. He admired beautiful women without wishing to own them and saw nothing in their curves and charms to excite his surreal and original mind. Still, Dalí and Raquel were put together in 1965 as a publicity stunt by film director Richard Fleischer when he was […]

Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney illustrate the song She Belongs To Me.

SHE BELONGS TO ME

When Paul McCartney was asked in HMV’s ‘My Inspiration’ campaign to name the songwriter who had most inspired him, he chose Bob Dylan and said his favourite track was She Belongs To Me. It was an incisive choice. As young guys – before they were famous – they must have had similar experiences with those […]

Clifford Thurlow in art gallery illustrates the incurious eye.

THE INCURIOUS EYE

The incurious eye misses the obvious, the subtle, the subtext. The incurious eye is glazed in a cataract of ignorance and indifference. The incurious eye is neither blind nor myopic. It is empty. If there were a God his great gift to mankind would have been curiosity. Curiosity invented fire, tools, hunting and gathering. Nuclear […]

Rishi Sunak with red case illustrates what is capitalism?

WHAT IS CAPITALISM?

What is capitalism? The corner shop baker selling his bread is capitalism. The rock singer uploading music to Spotify is capitalism. The taxi driver with his own car taking fares is capitalism. I write books. A book that sells for £10 costs £2 to print; the publisher takes £3 and the bookshop £4. That leaves […]

THE TRAGIC MYTH OF THE ANGELUS OF MILLET illustrated by Millet's painting.

THE TRAGIC MYTH OF THE ANGELUS OF MILLET

In his essay The Tragic Myth of The Angelus of Millet, Salvador Dalí interprets Jean-Francois Millet’s 1859 painting of a farmer in the fields with his wife as a depiction of male castration in the shadow of female sexuality and death. Was this Dalí being playful? Surreal? Provocative? Or was there more to Millet’s work than […]

Photo shows DALI AND PICASSO together

DALÍ AND PICASSO

In the land of small minds and minor talent, Dalí and Picasso were giants. They were men with visions wider than the horizon and the stamp they left on the 20th century remains indelible. Twenty years older and already the toast of Paris, Picasso one spring morning in 1928 opened the door to his studio in […]