For The Fence: How My Dad Poisoned Himself Making Spitting Image Puppets

For this piece for The Fence I asked my dad to cast his mind back 40-odd years to one of the many weird and chaotic occurrences of his special effects career that spanned the 1970s-2010s and was extremely (and almost exclusively) weird and chaotic. This is how he poisoned himself while making the prototypes for the original Spitting Image… CLICK HERE.

Illustration by Viz cartoonist Davie Jones.

 

 

Article For The Guardian

For The Guardian, I wrote about how the rural housing crisis  has been exacerbated by the pandemic. This stretches all the way from Devon and Cornwall to the Hebrides. It’s so much worse than I thought it was, and I knew it was bad. Second homes have become a major problem—if you have a second home in an area where there’s a housing crisis you should be renting it (affordably) to the people who are currently being made homeless. Let’s hope something changes, fast. To read it, click here.

 

Weird, Wild and Wonderful Poetry and Art Collection

Inspired by the myth and folklore of where I grew up, Weird, Wild and Wonderful is a poetry collection I have written in collaboration with The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon, accompanied by artworks by the most celebrated artists in the area. From white witches and mysterious stones to shipwrecked sailors and whistling ghosts, each poem and artwork brings the stories of North Devon to life.

Available  to purchase in softcover and hardback. Click here to purchase online.

I had the privilege to research these poems through the museum’s Oral History Archives and collections, along with the myth and folklore of North Devon that has inspired the poems. There will be an accompanying exhibition at the museum, in which the art works and poetry will be able to be seen in real life. The exhibition will open to the public at the museum on the 18th May 2021 until 17th July 2021. 

 

The poetry and art collection is available to purchase online and in the museum gift shop. We’ve priced it so that the books remain accessible to everyone, including those on low incomes.
Cover illustration by John Hurford.
Available to purchase online here. Worldwide shipping.  https://weirdwildandwonderful.bigcartel.com/