Welcome to the first of our two special anniversary editions! To modify a very old song as memorably caterwauled by Peter Sellers, Albion and I have been together now for twenty years, and it don’t seem a day too much. In those far-off salad days in 2004 I could never have imagined that we would still be going strong two decades later. Prompted by my own feelings of Cockney sentimentalism on the subject, I have commemorated the occasion by interviewing the mysterious 'Gentle Author,' whose unique blog Spitalfields Life celebrates its own fifteenth anniversary this August. The blog was brought to my attention not long after it started by our own much-missed Alex Betts --also a member of the East End diaspora-- and much like my work on Albion, it has been a consistent source of uplift and illumination for me.
We have pulled out the stops for this special edition. Paul has turned his attention to a diverse range of subjects including cats (admirably, as he does not like them at all) in a review of a new book on the illustrator Louis Wain; the tragic, hugely important English female Pop artist Pauline Boty; and 'Tudor Liveliness,' which, contrary to what one might expect, turns out to have nothing whatsoever to do with ale, masques, or gavottes. Neil reports on a visit to the Pinter Theatre and Jez Butterworth's intriguing new play The Hills of California (which is nothing like Jerusalem), and reviews a new book by Iain Sinclair on one of the latter's long-standing preoccupations, the disreputable gaggle of Soho figures surrounding Francis Bacon, in this case focussed on the photographer John Deakin.
Mary's entertaining review of the 1934 Scarlet Pimpernel film starring the partly-Hungarian Leslie Howard goes well with Bloomsbury's new essay collection on Powell and Pressburger's cinema, which I much enjoyed and reassesses their legacy to finally highlight the disproportionate contribution to their oeuvre by the Hungarian refugee Emeric Pressburger. Anyone who thinks that poetry is elitist and inaccessible will be brought up short by Zaffar Kunial's work in Us and England's Green, with their profoundly moving meditations on family, the unique perspective conferred by a mixed cultural heritage, and love of the natural environment. It's no exaggeration to say that England has been waiting for this gentle, precise voice, and it is to be hoped that Kunial will continue on mining the extremely rich vein of experience that informs his poems.
As a teenager I was an avid fan of Stackridge's LP The Man in The Bowler Hat and its unique West Country drollery, which I found at a flea market and played probably too often for my family's comfort. James provides a retrospective of their discography as re-released by Esoteric, and also reviews the new offering from the Rushden band The Fierce & the Dead. In Classical, Em examines a new recording of Holst's Planets, along with music from Vaughan Williams, Philip Lane, and Delius, among others.
It only remains for me to thank my fellow contributors for their inspiring collaboration and friendship over so many years. I have had a most festive time with their wonderful copy in the garden, surrounded by spring sunshine and butterflies and soundtracked by Lonnie Donegan's Have A Drink On Me. (As can be gleaned from this editorial, my own taste in music is nothing if not sophisticated.) I look forward immensely to assembling the second special anniversary edition, which will publish in the autumn. Until then, take care and enjoy the warmer weather.--The Editor