The Age of Innocence: Football in the 1970s

Brit reviews 'The Age of Innocence - Football in the 1970s' a stunning new photographic book published by TASCHEN... Golden Age-ism ­‑­ the idea that in a particular era the stars shone brighter, the greats were greater and the men were real men instead of spoilt prima donnas or professional drones ... Read More...

Dabbler Diary – The Lives of Others

Like Kim Wilde I was in the nineteen-eighties much attracted to the kids in America. I had a hankering to join them in gang bike rides around their capacious Californian neighbourhoods, and to eat delicious junk food in their diners, and to outwit their Fratellis and other incompetent bandits and ... Read More...

Pavement Panto™ – A Beginner’s Guide

Why is it so hard to turn around on the street without indulging in some meaningless ham acting? Here at last is Brit's complete Beginner's Guide to the phenomenon known as Pavement Panto™... Well, he couldn't keep walking north forever. At the next corner he stopped, looked indecisive, then patted himself all ... Read More...

Dabbler Diary – The Bristol Face

I have lately become preoccupied with the desolate brown eyes of Jose Carreras. They star in this footage of his attempt to record the soundtrack to West Side Story under the pitiless direction of Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein, as Mahlerman showed us, is a real mensch. Also a bullying bastard. But who ... Read More...

Dabbler Diary – Bombay Duck

I was twelve when we moved from the city to the country, and soon after that deracinating adventure my father drove us to the National Canine Defence League kennels at West Down, where we acquired a dog. My parents had already secretly sussed out the prime candidate, a mongrel pup ... Read More...

Gustave Verbeek, Upside-down Cartoonist

Brit's Dabbler Diary will return next week. In the meantime, here's a piece discovered deep within the archives about a very unusual cartoonist... I have in my possession a little book, subtly entitled: FOUR CONFUSING TALES each illustrated by six UP-TURNABLE PICTURES from the incredible TOPSY-TURVY world of GUSTAVE VERBEEK. It has to be ... Read More...