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?

Why is it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism?

This is the question addressed by the artist & agent provocateur Jake Chapman in my latest commission ‘Accelerate or Die!’, a thought-provoking documentary directed by Mike Christie and conceived by Jake, half of the Turner-prize nominated Chapman Brothers. Think Adam Curtis on steroids (as if Adam isn’t already on steroids).

The film will be broadcast in July on Sky but in the meantime I have organised a special screening at The Barbican with help from my old friend Will Gompertz, formerly of that parish. You can get tickets here After the screening, Jake will be talking with Elfie Reigate, probably the only top model with expertise in Accelerationism, the philosophical movement underlying the film, and philosopher/psychoanalytic theorist Dr Isabel Millar.

‘Accelerate or Die!’ focuses on the meeting point of technology, Capitalism and the climate crisis. Featuring the likes of Jeanette Winterson and Will Self, Jake engages with a rich mix of writers, philosophers and cutting-edge thinkers to answer that headline question.

It looks and sounds great on the big screen so do try and get to the Barbican event on 17th July and accept Jake’s invitation to “buckle up and enjoy the ride” in a thrilling visual assault of art, generative AI and fresh, thought-provoking perspectives.

The Beat Hotel (Day 53 and a half)

Since I’ve been working so hard on the Ginsberg chapter (my model chapter) it was a real pleasure to go find the Beat Hotel while I was in Paris visiting Arte and my old friend Marcelino Truong (whose current book, Une Si Jolie Petite Guerre, is named after Joan Littlewood’s Oh What a Lovely War). The hotel, where Ginsberg stayed and nearly picked up a drug habit thanks to Burroughs and Corso, is a literal stone’s throw from the Seine by Notre Dame and two blocks from Shakespeare & Co. whose owner, Sylvia Beech, is still on my radar (though a long shot) as a potential case study.

I saw the best minds of my generation run out of space

Ginsberg in the Beat Hotel in the Beat Hotel