London – David Hughes

10 December 2023

Weeknote 10th December 2023

I was in London for a Christmas event with a supplier on Tuesday evening. The event took place at a rooftop bar deep in the City of London – a venue I imagine would be fabulous in the summer months.

On Thursday, I co-hosted the 46th MK Geek Night, this time at a new venue, The South Central Institute of Technology at MK College, Bletchley. We had the usual new venue teething problems, but they were quickly ironed out by our awesome tech chums Andy and Ron, and a great evening was had by all.

Two great talks from AJ & Ceb and my friend Documentally, superb food from the college brasserie and excellent beer from local brewer GRID Beer Project.

On Saturday we headed down to Oxford for the “Oxford Triangle” of coffee at Society, lunch at Mowgli Street Food and hot chocolate at Knoops.

It’s notable the impact the new modern shopping centre has had on Oxford with many empty shops on the old High Street and a feeling of slow decline and decay, not helped by the constant stream of old diesel buses that rattle through Oxford constantly.

19 November 2023

Weeknote 19th November 2023

A relatively quiet week but ended with a great weekend away in London.

Formula One Degree of Separation

We enjoyed watch the Brawn documentary on Disney+ and I really enjoyed realising my one degree of separation from the main protagonists.

Episode one opens with footage of Ross Brawn whilst at Beatrix Lola using a rolling road inside a wind tunnel at Cranfield Institute of Technology as I did my work experience at Cranfield and helped install the very rolling road they feature.

I have driven one of Jenson Buttons’s cars. OK, it was a Renault Coupe he had as a company car whilst driving for Promatecme in Formula 3 but it was his and he had obviously ‘driven’ that poor car.

At least and least interesting I saw Keanu Reeves at Goodwood Festival of Speed when he was there a few years back with his own motorcycle company. We just happened to be passing his paddock space as he was getting onto his bike.

Unofficial Anniversary London Weekend

Every November, on the weekend closest to the 16th, my wife and I celebrate the first anniversary or f our first unofficial date which happened when I invited myself on her day trip to London.

The rest is history as they say, as 33 years later we’re still very happily together.

We essentially spent Saturday eating and drinking our way from Borough Market, to Covent Garden, to Fortnum’s wine bar and back to our hotel via China Town.

Whilst in The Rake in Borough Market we had an unplanned planning meeting and now have a loose plan which could guide our next 33 years together.

31 January 2021

The Return Of The KLF

In December 2020 fly posters appeared in Shoreditch London, announcing the return of The KLF.

Solid State Logik 1, was released onto streaming platforms and YouTube on January 1st 2021 and is the closest release yet to a greatest hits.

I love that Solid State Logik 1 ends with their legendary, and previously unreleased, BRITs performance of 3AM Eternal with Extreme Noise Terror, which concluded with a voice announcing “ladies and gentlemen the KLF have left the music business”.

After the BRITs the KLF deleted their entire catalogue of music which is why their long overdue return is big news to fans like me.

23 April 2019

Don McCullin Retrospective

I recently spent a morning at Tate Britain viewing the Don McCullin retrospective.

Don McCullin is one of my favourite photographers; I originally came across his autobiography Unreasonable Behaviour in a book shop and was fascinated by his life and images.

McCullin is perhaps best known as a war photographer, something he’s uneasy about, feeling that his images haven’t done enough to change peoples view of war.

As you walk through the exhibition its hard to understand how anybody that sees these images can not be affected and not understand the insanity and futility of war.

McCullin’s photographs reinforce a long held belief of mine that a single still image capturing the defining moment can convey more emotion and reality than moving images can.

Digital photography is fantastic, but seeing photographs printed large brings them to life in a way no screen can. Don McCullin printed the photographs on display himself. McCullin has always favoured a dark and high contrast finish that I adore, these prints bring a depth and tactility to the images that is hard to describe. You want to touch them as well as look at them.

McCullin’s war photography is extraordinary, but it’s his photography of England I love the most.

From his early street photography in London’s East End to his social reportage of the North in the 70s and 80s and latterly his incredible landscape photography Don McCullin has a unique style that captures the gritty beauty of England and its people perfectly.

Looking for England

To coincide with the Tate retrospective the BBC has made a wonderful documentary following Don McCullin as he revisits the places and scenes of some of his iconic photographs of England.

It was particularly interesting for me to watch him work. I love street photography and having shot a little myself it was fascinating to watch his approach; often he will directly engage with the subject, asking permission to take their photograph, which enables eye contact in the photographs, something I have always felt was a defining feature of his photographs of people.

I was fortunate to see him at The Goodwood Festival of Speed as featured in the documentary and to speak to him briefly.

24 November 2017

Slipping The Surly Bonds of Earth

I’ve just returned from the Pixel Pioneers conference in Belfast; I flew from Heathrow to Belfast City, a quick hop over the Irish Sea. On the way out the weather was misty with very low cloud; just moments after we slipped the surly bonds of earth we were above the clouds, emerging into bright, beautiful sunshine.

I will never tire of this experience, every time I fly it feels like magic to be above the clouds, experiencing a view that nobody beneath you can have.

I was reminded of one of my favourite poems:

High Flight (An Airman’s Ecstasy) by John Gillespie Magee 1922–41

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of; wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hovering there
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air;
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark or even eagle flew;
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

John Magee was a Canadian airman flying with the RAF in the Battle of Britain. High Flight was in a letter to his parents, received the week after he was killed in action, which makes it all the more beautiful and tragic.

The Return – London From The Air

On my return we were treated to the most fabulous view as the sun set over one of my favourite cities in the world – London.

We flew in over North London with views of Wembley, then turned back to the west and flew right over Central London.

Following the Thames from the O2 and Olympic Stadium, over Canary Wharf, Tower Bridge, the London Eye and finally Kew Gardens. Fabulous.