Hockney on Turner... and smoking

The Tate Britain is hosting Hockney on Turner, its largest ever display of JMW Turner's watercolour masterpieces. Around 165 watercolours are being shown in six rooms, including The Blue Rigi (left) which was saved for the nation in April. At the heart of the show, Hockney presents his own selection of Turner's colour studies with his own commentary on the processes by which the artist constructed his perspectives of colour and light. Stephen Deuchar, director of Tate Britain, said Hockney had been approached to curate for his "artist's eye".

Speaking at the Clore Gallery yesterday, Hockney reminded the world that he may be one of Britain’s most highly regarded artists but he can also be irascible: during the course of his talk he launched a blistering attack on the impending ban on smoking in enclosed places (In England from 1 July)

"I might point out Turner smoked," he declared, adding it was a fairly common habit among great artists. "Monet smoked, and he died at 86. Picasso and Matisse smoked, and lived to a ripe old age. They didn't have dreary people telling them what to do..... I shall just carry on (smoking after the ban is in place). It won't make any difference to me. "I am appalled at it actually - they are treating us like children. I'm not a schoolboy. [Gordon] Brown thinks he's a prefect and I can't smoke behind the cricket pavilion. You will have lots and lots of people smoking in the street. And then they will start complaining again, that small group. It's not just smoking. People should start standing up for themselves. Where has the awkward squad gone? Where are the Arthur Scargills?"

I have heard Hockney talk about the smoking ban before and he came across like a whining p brat. Personally I won’t be sorry to see smoking banned in pubs, cafes etc, the idea of being able to have a drink and not smell like an ashtray appeals! As for Hockney, he has the right to say what he did of course (believe it or not we do have free speech here in the UK!) but similarly I have the right to think he’s talking through his arse! That said I am looking forward to taking a look at the exhibition.

They don't make ads like these any more

Into the Valley



Israelites

Well, I doubt they still make tapes (or not many of them anyway). These two adverts for Maxell cassette tapes were broadcast in the 80s. They amused me at the time and they stil amuse me now

Lewis Hamilton’s amazing rookie year continues

Lewis Hamilton’s astonishing debut season continues. Having come third in his debut and runner up in his next four races, he has now won his first Formula 1 Grand Prix (the Canadian GP on Sunday). He currently heads the driver’s world championship, eight points ahead of his McClaren- Mercedes team mate Fernando Alonso.

Veteran commentator (and gaffe generator) Murray Walker believes that Hamilton is capable of winning the World Championship in his first season. Walker, who commentated on the sport for 52 years, told the BBC: "He is quite astounding. It's more than feasible that he could win the championship this year, which would be incredible....It is unprecedented in the history of Formula One. I've been watching Formula One since it began and I have never seen anything like this in my life, it is quite incredible. “

Hamilton's incredible start to his career has prompted PR expert Johnno Spence to tip him to become one of the top-10 earning sportsmen in the world. Financial rewards from sponsorship deals alone could net the rookie driver up to £10m in his first season.

Hamilton said after his win in Canada, saying: "The next dream is to win the world championship but we have to be realistic. There'll be good days and there'll be bad days but at the moment I'm pretty consistent and that's down to the team and the fact I've got a very well grounded family."

Walker did sound a word of caution and urged the media not to pile too much expectation on Hamilton: "The only thing that worries me about Hamilton's situation is the pressure he is getting from the media/With the British Grand Prix coming up the press will go berserk. We mustn't go overboard too soon, he's driven in six F1 races but to rank him with other greats would be much, much too early."

Interest in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 8 July has been enormous and is heading for a sell-out after a surge of public interest ."We haven't seen this level of interest since Mansell-mania in the late 80s and early 90s," said Richard Phillips, managing director of Silverstone Circuits Ltd.

Hamilton has had a magnificent start to his Formula 1 career and a world championship in his rookie year is not a pipe dream. However, there are 11 races to go and a lot can happen between now and the season’s finale at Interlagos in Brazil in October.

Wasp

Taken at Cranham Marsh 10 June

Kim Jong Ill?

Western governments have been told that North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Il, has been so unwell that he could not walk more than 30 yards without a rest,

Diplomats in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, are increasingly convinced that the 65-year-old dictator needs heart surgery to restore his apparently flagging health. He has had to be accompanied by an assistant carrying a chair so that, wherever he goes, he can sit and catch his breath.

Kim's public appearances have been curtailed this year - an indication, observers say, of his declining health. His illness may also explain why Kim has appeared to be tackling the question of his succession: he is reported to have taken Jong Chul, 26, and Jong Woon, 23, on a series of military inspections to ascertain who performed best. His eldest son, Kim Jong Nam, 36, is out of favour after being deported from Japan six years ago for trying to enter the country on a forged passport.

I can’t say I would shed a tear if the despot keeled over tomorrow. Sadly I am not over confident that his sons would be minded to steer North Korea away from the abyss.

Ladybird and nettle

Chippenham embraces the guiding light of songun

Chippenham is one of many towns and cities across the UK hoping to get aboard the 2012 Olympics gravy train by hosting one of the teams as it prepares for the games. Knowing full well there was no chance of attracting a major nation like the USA the burgher of Chippenham sent off brochures to smaller sporting nations.

The first response, however, was the North Korea - an embassy official wrote that it was very interested and a North Korean photographer turned up earlier this week to take pictures of the town. The only catch so far is that the embassy has wondered if the town would care to pay for its athletes to stay there. The town rather thought it would be getting money!

North Korea is not the biggest prize of course: Birmingham is close to sealing a deal with the USA that could benefit the city by £10m or more; Loughborough, Bath and Millfield, are all hoping to host Team GB (or a sporting giant if they miss out); Bristol has signed a deal with Kenya not only to host its pre-games camp but to organise a series of sporting, educational and cultural exchange programmes.

So will Chippenham be the centre of Juche in England in five years time? Will Dermot Hudson and the British membership of the Korean Friendship Association (both of them!)be moving there? Will Chippenham be paying for the privilege?

Chippenham 2012?

Man with green blood not Vulcan

Canadian surgeons were shocked when the patient they were operating on began shedding dark greenish-black blood. The patient was not Vulcan - the blood was down to the migraine medication he was taking.

The patient had been taking large doses of sumatriptan and this had caused a rare condition called sulfhaemoglobinaemia, where sulphur is incorporated into his haemoglobin. Describing the case in the Lancet, the doctors "The patient recovered uneventfully, and stopped taking sumatriptan after discharge.

In Star Trek, Mr Spock had green blood because the oxygen-carrying agent in Vulcan blood included copper, rather than iron. Copper, rather than iron is a key component of the second most commonly found respiratory pigment in the Animal Kingdom. Haemocyanin is found in Molluscs but gives their blood a bluish tinge when oxygenated.

I'll pass on a picture of Spock or a mollusc for this post...

Photo hunt - Shoes

The not-wife is the Imelda Marcos of Converse sneakers. My first entry for Photo Hunt

Bumble Bee

Bumble bee tucking into a lunch of Hebe in our garden