Writing

I woke with a hunger like I’d never felt before. Like I’d not eaten for days. I’d slept really badly in the night and felt particularly freaked out from the intense, fever-like dreams I’d experienced. Viserale and violent, they had involved lavish meals of extravagantly rich food, huge joints of meat that I’d tucked into ravenously, tearing flesh from bone with a fevered intensity. There were sweetmeats and piles of bacon, and huge tomahawk steaks dripping in fat and deep red with bloody rarity. Not such an odd dream to some of you I would imagine, but deeply disturbing for me because I’d been vegetarian for over 15 years. The rest of my day went mercifully quickly. I tried to

XVI. 27th June, 1944 Kitty stepped out of the front door of her lodgings on the morning of the 27th June 1944, completely oblivious to the fact that today was the day her life would change forever. Today was the day she was going to die. She’d come to England in 1938 as a girl of sixteen when her dad, whose work as an aviation engineer, had brought him to the attention of the Vickers-Armstrong company. Her, her dad and her mother had swiftly moved ‘across the pond’ from America to work in the company’s new headquarters at Brooklands in Surrey. Being a bright and likable young woman Kitty soon found employment as a secretarial assistant in the records department.

Through no fault of my own (okay, there was quite a lot of fault) I am ‘blessed’ with three children, all of Primary school age. The youngest having started in Reception in September, the eldest in Year 5 and the middle one in Year 2. Now I love my children but, being a quiet and contemplative individual, they can really wind me up sometimes, and the level of noise is insane… some days they have entire conversations shouting full pelt at each other. At times they have the manners of a tribe of goats, the social etiquette and grace of a troop of chimpanzees and the personal hygiene of a drove of pigs. So, you can imagine the bliss I

Lockdown has me feeling like I’m the only passenger on a plane that’s in a holding pattern waiting to land, except the pilot has lost sight of the airport and can’t hear the tower. I feel like I have nothing to look forward to, nowhere to go, no reason to do anything. Everything that was planned is cancelled, every future event uncertain. I’m surrounded all day every day, but I’m the loneliest I’ve ever been. I feel unloved, unappreciated and unwanted. Even when I fill my time with things to do, everyday chores like emptying the dishwasher or putting the washing out, going for long walks, popping to the shop for essential items, these are just temporary levees that hold

For what would turn out to be the penultimate issue of In Retrospect I decided I would reflect a little of my change of circumstance from full-time ‘breadwinner’ to 21st century ‘house husband’. The words “A change is as good as a rest” appear to have been first used in a poem of the same name published in the Hampshire Advertiser on 29 August 1857, the intention of which was to suggest that, as the Oxford Dictionary puts it, “A change of work or occupation can be as restorative or refreshing as a period of relaxation. So that’s what I am doing, after 8 years of being the ‘breadwinner’ in our household I am bowing out, letting the Lady wife

For In Retrospect Issue 11, a family visit to a childhood haunt prompted me to write my latest article on the history of a beloved and unique aspect of our countries landscape: The chalk hill figures of southern England. Growing up in the south of England, I distinctly remember as a child being delighted at the existence of a very unique part of our landscape, the giant chalk hill drawings that I believed, until recently, had been there for centuries. In the countryside, a short drive away from us, there are two of the most distinct examples of this, the very ones I remember from my childhood and on a trip out to see them recently I happened to read

In a rare turn I was forced, in issue 10 of In Retrospect, to re-address one of my previous articles (this one in fact) due to a profound experience courtesy of a library book. One Saturday morning, the day before Remembrance Sunday as it happens, I made a visit to the local library so that the family could swap out some books and toys we had borrowed. On a table near the entrance they had put together a display of titles relevant to the following day; factual books about the First and Second World Wars, fictional books set during these conflicts, and various other tomes with ties to the period. One of these caught my eye; a book titled ‘Brighton

During In Retrospect Magazine‘s brief run I occasionally got the opportunity to write a review or two and, as I was particularly impressed by Woody Allen’s love affair with the golden age of Hollywood; Café Society, I thought I’d pop a review on our on-line ‘Dispatches‘ to encourage others to go see it. As a hopeless romantic I absolutely loved this film. It is sumptuously filmed in over-saturated, sun-drenched splendour capturing the look and feel of 1930s Los Angeles perfectly. Not only does it look great but the story arc of unrequited love is just the right amount of heart-string pulling and the journey the characters take is convincing and, ultimately, doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s not a film full

For my In Retrospect Issue 07 lead article I contemplate the social classes of the original owners of vintage clothing and the dark secrets that lie behind them. I’m sorry to start off by waxing lyrical on a political nature, it’s something I rarely do. However it’s become very clear to me that the social class divide we currently find ourselves in is widening, and hasn’t been this bad since Victorian times. This is a worldwide problem as well, and not just experienced by our own fair island. However, unlike Victorian society, the gap is no longer between the lower/working class and the middle and upper classes, it is an ever-widening gap between the middle classes, specially the lower-middle and

Issue 6 of In Retrospect Magazine already featured an unashamed personal indulgence of mine to recreate the iconic styles of the 1980s as represented in the film ‘Pretty in Pink’ (to mark the 30th anniversary of the films release)  so for my introduction article to the issue I indulged myself a little further and confessed to the world my love of ’80s synth-pop legends: Ultravox. I have a confession. Over the years I’ve thought about where my love of the ‘30s and ‘40s came from, and although it’s true that, as a child of the 80s (I was born in ‘74), a decade steeped in nostalgia, there were a number of things it could have been attributed to: Bugsy Malone,

As well as writing for the main magazine, every now and then I would feel the need to contribute an article to In Retrospect‘s on-line exclusive content, or ‘Dispatches‘ as we called them, and this one was especially poignant, as it was to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of one of my favourite films of all time ‘Pretty in Pink’, with a controversial take on the films ending. Now one of the things that has been argued over for years, especially since the release of the 20th anniversary ‘Everything’s Duckie’ DVD, is the change of ending after the one John Hughes intended tested badly with audiences. The ending was then reshot (with a disastrous wig on Andrew McCarthy

Each issue of In Retrospect featured lifestyle pieces by myself and my two fellow editors as lead articles, and in issue 5 I tackled the subject of Modern life and the need to sometimes escape from it all for a bit (or perhaps forever) by reflecting on my childhood and that of my own children. Luckily I lived in a small town that happened to sit next to an old country estate (since sold off as a hotel) with large open fields and a freshwater stream, and a number of wooded and wild areas next to farmland, so I spent a lot of my time walking in the woods (including the real-life ‘Hundred Acre Wood’), cycling around with friends, climbing

For our third issue of In Retrospect Magazine, I took over the task of writing the men’s vintage style guides, and I set out with the grand idea of presenting the history and development of each aspect of men’s clothing, starting from the skin outwards. So this first article tells the story of the evolution of Men’s underwear in the 20th Century… I even had to turn male model at the last minute when one of our photographers models dropped out. Undergarments have been in use from the dawning of history in the form of the humble loincloth and this particular item continues to be in use in some form or another throughout the world and into modern history (most

In my first printed editorial piece for In Retrospect Magazine, I wanted to go back to my musical roots and introduce people to the history of Hardcore Punk on the 35th anniversary of it’s inception. Formed as a reaction to the dissatisfaction of the Punk scene and its transformation into New Wave, Hardcore was a more visceral and energetic style of music formed around loud, distorted guitars and very clipped vocals often shouted or screamed. Whilst the punk of bands like The Sex Pistols and The Buzzcocks was essentially just a highly energised form of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Hardcore relied more on a rhythmic, driving sound, throwing away the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure for something more complex and discordant. Starting on

One of the first things I wrote for In Retrospect Magazine‘s initial online version was a review of The 1940’s Relived held annually at Brooklands museum. I have always been uncompromising and honest with my reviews and this one caused some controversy from the organisers straight out of the gate. For first time visitors this is a great little day out, with plenty to do to occupy you for the whole day. On the upside nearly all the attendees dress up to the nines, and ‘people watching’ swings quickly between drooling over gorgeous original pieces and blind jealousy, but with none of the unpleasant faux-vintage polka dots and petticoats or fake ‘tashery of the Revival. On the downside, anyone visiting

In the summer of 2013 I wrote, filmed, directed and edited the short ‘Paper Doll‘. Set within the contemporary world of vintage clothing and social swing dances, Paper Doll is the tale of Edward, a young man who dresses everyday like it’s the 1940s. He works a dead-end office job where his colleagues make fun of him but comes alive when he’s out dancing, drinking and womanising. Edward’s world is turned upside down when he meets Agatha – the woman of his dreams – who helps him to become the gentleman he’s always strived to be, but is she real or just a paper doll? Cast: Matthew Blacklock, Fleur McGerr, Katie Sommers, Ruth Netania, Anna Symes, Sarah Podmore Crew: Adnan

In February 2012 I was asked by Vintage Life magazine to write an article about my Southern Retro portrait project. The article ran in their March issue alongside selected portraits from the project.

In August 2010 I was asked by Milkcow magazine to review the 28th annual War & Peace Show, a 5 day-long Military vehicle and re-enactment event which takes place at The Hop Farm in Kent. The piece was written to accompany my photographs of the event.

In 2004 a friend and colleague heard about my writing prowess and asked me to pen a couple of album reviews for a high-profile music website he was involved with. This is the second of those reviews for the Beatsteaks album SmackSmash. Review: Beatsteaks – SmackSmash For me bands fall into two categories, Studio Musicians who’s music is best suited to the electronic wizardry of production and Live Acts who have the ability to reproduce the essence of their records to an audience. With their new album “SmackSmash”, German Punk Rock N’ Rollers the Beatsteaks are 100% a Live Act. For in an interesting departure from the usual throw everything and see if it sticks approach of previous outings, this

In 2004 a friend and colleague heard about my writing prowess and asked me to pen a couple of album reviews for a high-profile music website he was involved with. This is the first of those reviews for the Descendents album Cool to be you. Review: Descendents – Cool to be you More “lovelorn anthems” from original punk-pop godfathers the Descendents Considering its been eight years since so-cal punk originators the Descendents last full length release, expectations are pretty high for “Cool to be you”, but after listening to it, you’ve got to wonder what where they doing all that time? Whilst this is indeed a fine record and worthy of inclusion in their discography it’s not really the fully

In early 2004 I tried my hand at writing a blog (it was the next big thing) and this was one of the first pieces I wrote for it… coincidentally several of the people mentioned here are the people I based the characters in The Elephant Rock on… Back in the haze of my school ‘daze’… I used to hang out with a group of people, mostly fellow school inmates, assorted older/younger siblings, or friends from the neighbourhood. We used to spend our evenings and weekends hanging around the park drinking, having parties when our parents where away, nearly always getting wasted on cheap booze and other substances (if you know what I mean). Over the years the group spread

When I started writing again in 2003, a good friend of mine, Samantha – that’s her in the picture above – challenged me to write an honest description of myself (most likely because she always had trouble describing me to people). It later served as the introduction to my blog.     Me: A Description For me honesty is the key to all things. Trying to write an honest description of ones self is a difficult task, but I’m a writer, so surely should be able to do this better than most. Whether we like it or not first impressions are always based on looks, so I will start there. I’m 6ft 4 with ‘world bearing’ broad shoulders, my frame

It all seems pretty crazy now thinking about it, just one of those stories you keep with you, one of those stories that shaped your life. I’m not even sure it happened the way I remember it. We’d seen things like it in films and read it in books, but until that day none of us had come that close to experiencing it first hand. The day was one of those that sit in your memory clouded by the glare of golden sunshine and the innocence of youth. As we’d done so many times before, Dave and Simon and Martin and I headed off down to the patch of ground at the bottom of our stretch of road, not realising

Written as part of my scriptwriting major in 1996, The Coming Storm is a near future dystopia set around the landscape of the South Downs. It follows slacker Demain Holdsworth as he runs away from a deadbeat data-entry job and finds love, adventure and a reason to live in the days leading up to the deadline to World War 3. INT. A PUB IN A GHOST TOWN. LATE MORNING. FADE IN We see a modern looking bar that has been vandalised, empty alcohol bottles litter the floor alongside broken stools and upturned tables, the once brightly coloured neon tubing broken and shattered on the floor, the bar’s mirrors fragmented) casting distorted images around the room from the daylight spilling in

Written and filmed during my university course in 1996, “La Mechanique” is the tale of a recovering heroin addict coming to terms with his surroundings. The main character, STONE, has had a habit for a while and wants to get off it, so as a gesture to his long term girlfriend, HEATHER, he starts to take Methadone. Sitting in his messy, damp, bed-sit he starts to believe his girlfriend is having an affair with a doctor from the Methadone clinic. The tablets he is taking start to have side effects and send him into unconsciousness. Whilst he is unconscious STONE starts to have realistic dreams in which he is a “Two-bit” Private Investigator in the nineteen thirties called FARREN. INT.

The very first script I wrote and filmed, whilst at University in 1995, “Wasteland” is an adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland”. Set in a post-industrial age where today’s problems of pollution and over population have taken there toll on the world, it is a tale of one woman’s quest to come to terms with and survive her life and her future. The land has been starved of water, plant life can no longer extract the necessary nutrients to survive, the land is a barren desert, acid rain is so potent it damages the skin on contact and all electrical power production has ground to a halt. After the death of her husband, a woman, “The Wanderer”, goes in