Love London

The Fitzroy Tavern, Fitzrovia, London

There’s real pleasure to be found in special places. Last night we repaired, as is our habit, to the Fitzroy Tavern after the Charles Peake Ulysses Seminar at Senate House, University of London. It was a favourite of Welsh artist Augustus John.

Augustus John

It was also much loved by all kinds of artists and writers including Walter Sickert, Jacob Epstein, Dylan Thomas, George Orwell (plus the great Kenneth Williams and Tommy Cooper). The pub, formerly a coffee house, was rebuilt in 1897 and retains its Victorian style thanks to a modern refresh.

The Fitzroy gave its name to this area of London, Fitzrovia. It is not a difficult place to love and London is dotted with all kinds of resonant places like this which add to the experience of the city and to quality of life. Why not really FEEL a special place you are in today?

Valuing the Wild(e)

Today I stumbled across this quotation in the environment – on board Word on the Water, the London book barge moored between King’s Cross and Islington. One of London’s treasures with its open fire and brilliant playlist providing a cool, laid-back soundtrack to this wintery, watery corner of the city.

I recently saw a rather overwrought production of Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ in St Martin’s Lane, featuring Stephen Fry, who played Wilde in the eponymous 1997 movie. It slightly dented my love of Oscar but this quote reverses that to some degree. Appreciating Beauty in the world is one of life’s great pleasures. I do believe Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so a work of graffiti along the canal is as good a source as the refined architecture in the back streets of Islington or a delightful tall, thin beer glass.

Finding beautiful meanings in such sights and objects is particularly the realm of artists and the artistically minded. Much though I appreciate such cultivated tastes and sensibilities I also value the wild and the raw. Both Art and Nature are vital Simple Pleasures and fortunately in this country we have free access to both in abundance.

The Pilgrimage of Gilbert & George (tonight 21.00 Sky Arts)

“We want our art to bring out the bigot from inside the liberal and conversely to bring out the liberal from inside the bigot”

Tonight at 21:00 on Sky Arts (free to air)
‘The Pilgrimage of Gilbert & George’

Director: Mike Christie
Commissioning Editor: Adam Gee
EP: Greg Sanderson
Producers: Michael Bracewell, Michael Collins