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Dickens Characters.
Bumble is the cruel, pompous beadle – a minor official – of the parish that operates the workhouse and orphanage where the orphaned Oliver Twist was brought up. Bumble mistreats the residents in his care and becomes the symbol of Dickens’ distaste for the workhouse system. He marries Mrs. Corney and later is disgraced and becomes a resident in the same workhouse. Oliver, mistreated by Bumble (Quote: “Please, sir, I want some more”), is apprenticed to Sowerberry, the undertaker, and runs away to London where he falls in with Fagin and his band of pickpockets. [Source: www.charlesdickenspage.com/dickens-characters-t-z.html . Check out that website for a thousand other unforgettable characters created by this one author.]
Artist Harold Copping (1863-1932) was a British illustrator of Biblical scenes. His 1910 book “The Copping Bible” illustrated by himself became a bestseller. His illustrations for non-religious books included a 1920 edition of “A Christmas Carol” and a 1924 edition of “Character Sketches from Boz” (pseudonym of Charles Dickens). He also illustrated the children’s books of Mary Angela Dickens based on the novels of her grandfather, Charles Dickens. These included “Children’s Stories from Dickens” (1911) and “Dickens Dream Children” (1926). [Source: Wikipedia]
2018 theme at the annual Victorian Christmas market held in Portsmouth Dockyard this year is Dickens. Here is a character actor portraying Fagin. He was sitting up at a higher level than me, so took this shot looking up. My Photographic Assistant held a speedlite camera left. The purple rim light was from a LED light (not mine) situated high on a lamp post behind Fagin.
Techincal Details: Camera WB was set to Tungsten, although warmed in post. Canon 430exII speedlite fitted with Rogue Flashbender. Fired with Yongnuo 622c transmitter
Loch A Chroisg, Achnasheen, Scotland
When I first saw this old birch tree looming out of a dense freezing mist around the shoreline of Loch A Chroisg, I saw the head of a white haired bearded old man perched on a scrawny neck. I immediately thought of that old crook Fagin with his hooked nose and furtive look, and I found myself humming the theme tune to the musical Oliver. I still can't get past the image of Fagin even though three years have gone by since I took the shot. It goes without saying that this was some of the hardest hoar frost I have ever encountered and I have rarely had a more productive day's shoot. For a few minutes the rising sun stained the mist pink and Fagin looked slightly embarrassed.
Pentax 67 II ,90-180 zoom, Fujichrome Velvia
Unfiltered, f/22 at 4 Seconds.
Quizás el Quegijo más grande de la Península ibérica
Información:
www.granadanatural.com/ficha_paisajes.php?cod=68
granadanatural.com/ficha_paisajes.php?cod=641
-wgl1-_DSC5180
O sobreiro, sobro, sobreira ou chaparro (Quercus suber) é uma árvore da família do carvalho, cultivada no sul da Europa e a partir da qual se extrai a cortiça.
É devido à cortiça que o sobreiro tem sido cultivado desde tempos remotos. A extração da cortiça não é (em termos gerais) prejudicial à árvore, uma vez que esta volta a produzir nova camada de "casca" (súber) com idêntica espessura a cada 9 - 10 anos, período após o qual é submetida a novo descortiçamento. O sobreiro também fazia parte da vegetação natural da Península Ibérica, sendo espontâneo em muitos locais de Portugal e Espanha, onde constituía, antes da acção do Homem, frondosas florestas em associação com outras espécies, nomeadamente do género Quercus.
A finalidade da cortiça é o fabrico de isolantes térmicos e sonoros de aplicação variada, mas especialmente na produção de rolhas para engarrafamento de vinhos e outros líquidos. Portugal é o maior produtor mundial de cortiça.
Área de ocorrência do Sobreiro (Mediterrâneo ocidental).
Distribui-se essencialmente pela Península Ibérica e por alguns locais mais húmidos do norte de África. Em Portugal predomina a sul do rio Tejo, surgindo naturalmente associado: ao pinheiro-bravo nos terrenos arenosos da Península de Setúbal, Vale do Sado e litoral sotavento algarvio; à azinheira (Quercus ilex) nalgumas regiões do interior alentejano, zona nascente da serra algarvia, Tejo Internacional e Douro Internacional; ao carvalho-cerquinho (Quercus faginea) na Estremadura, Alentejo Litoral e Monchique; ao carvalho-das-canárias (Quercus canariensis) na região de Odemira-Monchique; ao carvalho-negral (Quercus pyrenaica) em alguns pontos da Beira Interior e Alto Alentejo, como as Serras da Malcata, São Mamede e Ossa. Surge ainda em alguns pontos de clima atlântico com pluviosidades extremamente elevadas, como na Serra do Gerês, onde predomina nas encostas mais soalheiras.
O sobreiro é uma espécie que requer umidade e solos relativamente profundos e férteis, embora também tolere temperaturas altas e períodos secos de três a quatro meses, típicos do clima do sul de Portugal. Nas regiões a sul do Tejo o sobreiro comporta-se como uma espécie de folhagem persistente e possui folhas mais pequenas, rijas e escuras; quando surge nas regiões do norte do país, onde é menos frequente, tem um comportamento ligeiramente marcescente, e folhas maiores, mais finas e claras.
De uma forma geral, em Portugal o sobreiro predomina no Alentejo litoral, Península de Setúbal, Baixa Estremadura, serras algarvias (com excepção das regiões próximas do Guadiana) e parte do Ribatejo, tendo núcleos dispersos no resto do país.
Low light so a little grainy, Caught my eye as spooky! it reminded me of Stanley Kubick's iconic 70's film.
Shot at Fagins Antigues outside Exeter, Devon
The validity period of the Student Railcard originally ran from September to September whatever time of the year it was purchased. Obviously the nearer to the expiry date the less railcards were sold as everyone was waiting for the new issue to maximise their savings. With this in mind BR ran a promotion in March 1981 whereby anyone buying a railcard mid-season was entitled to one free return journey anywhere on the network. If you were a crank this was an opportunity not to be missed, even when already in possession of a valid card.
Wick was our chosen destination from Leicester leaving on Saturday evening which meant taking full advantage of the ECML diversions, naturally with a Deltic on the front & one of my last required routes-the Blythe & Tyne via Bedlington was on the cards. First move was a 31 to Peterborough on the 1E82 1835 Birmingham New Street-Norwich to flag 1S60 & 1S66 until fate favored us with a Type 5 on 1S72, the 2230 King's Cross-Edinburgh. 55010 ran via the Joint Line, Knottingly, Selby & Stockton to Newcastle, then my new track via the Blyth & Tyne to rejoin the ECML at the recently reinstated Morpeth North Junction.
Being a Sunday morning loads of recovery time was built into the schedule given almost 3 hours for the 124 miles between Newcastle & Edinburgh so we progressed at a leisurely pace averaging no more than 50. Here Fagin watches 55010 with a missing marker light & whisps of steam still evident from the boiler uncouple in Waverley's northern through platform 1/19 around 0830 on Sunday 29th March. My thanks to Mr Thane for kindly confirming platform numbering.
I went home for the weekend a little while ago, and my mum, sister and I went to this great antiques place called Fagin's. It was huge, and I mean that in the literal sense as it used to be an old mill and covered four floors. It was absolutely freezing but fascinating - there were so many cool things. These mannequins I found pretty creepy though...
no 87 in the series "time for a pint" - a pint of mumbles oystermouth stout, in fagins, taffs well.
www.flickr.com/photos/fat-freddies-cat/sets/7215762973477...
Characters from Charles Dickens.
“If you don’t take pocket- handkechers and watches, some other cove will, so that the coves that lose ‘em will be all the worse, and you’ll be all the worse too, and nobody half a ha’ porth the better, except the chap wot gets them.” [Text on the postcard]
The Artful Dodger (alias Jack Dawkins) is a street-smart pickpocket and criminal in “Oliver Twist.” Characterized as a child who acts like an adult, he is the leader of the gang of child criminals trained by elderly Fagin.
"Kyd" is the pseudonym of artist Joseph Clayton Clark, 1856-1937. He painted Dickens' characters for some 50 years and was a postcard artist of Victorian & Edwardian periods. He was also known for excellent fore-edge paintings (scenes painted on the edges of the pages of books).
Lionel Bart's Oliver! opened at the New Theatre in London on 30 June 1960. Keith Hamshere (left) was the original Oliver, and Martin Horsey (right) was an exuberant Artful Dodger. I met them when I was a teenage reporter doing a feature article about the show – hence the signed photo (in fountain pen, no less!)
Others in the original cast were Ron Moody (Fagin), Georgia Brown (Nancy), Barry Humphries (yes – him!) as Mr Sowerberry, and Paul Whitsun-Jones (Mr Bumble). Among the workhouse boys were Stephen Marriott (who was later to find fame in the Small Faces and Humble Pie), and Tony Robinson, who was to become Blackadder's Baldrick and now potters around archaeological sites with TV cameras in tow.
See also here
Anothe actor from Sunday's long shoot. Phil has just finished paling Fagin in Oliver on tour in the theatres of Wales...
From the back cover:
The master aimed a blow at Oliver’s head with the ladle. He held him in his his arms and shouted for Mr. Bumble.
The board meeting was in full session when Mr. Bumble rushed into the room and said:
“Mr. Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked for more!”
“That boy will be hung!” said the gentleman in the white waistcoat.
With this scene — among the most famous in all literature — Oliver Twist sets forth on the adventures which have made Dickens’ novel one of the best-loved books of the last 100 years. All Dickens admirers will be profoundly moved by the technicolor motion picture of “Oliver Twist,” produced by J. Arthur Rank and released in the United States by Universal-International.
[Note 1: Though stated above that the 1948 motion picture is in “technicolor,” it is actually in black and white. Directed by David Lean, it remains one of the best film versions of “Oliver Twist.”]
[Note 2: This British-made film was critically acclaimed. However, some considered Alec Guinness’s portrayal of Fagin and his make-up to be anti-semitic. As a result of objections, the film was banned in Germany and Israel, and not released in the United States until 1951, and then only in an edited form. The full-length version was not shown in the United States until the 1970s.]
For a while the beamish boy
and I have spoken of doing a photo session
of him as a clown. Yesterday we did.
Bought him a clown nose at
Junk for Joy on Magnolia in Burbank
("but we only have black ones," we were
told. Hey - any clown nose will do...)
and put together this outfit and a
hat with flowers and based his
makeup on that of Billy Beck. I knew
that with his face and countenance
he would make a wonderful clown and I
was quite right.
We shot this on a sunny
Sunday in June -and many more-
many with him being a very sad clown-
by what is left of the old railroad tracks
on Chandler in Burbank.
While we were doing it a cop car
came by and said, over the loudspeaker,
"Private property. Move on."
I pointed to myself with questioning eyes-
he nodded from his car and said,
"Do it somewhere else."
Fortunately I had already show
more than a hundred photos -
but Jonah and I laughed all the
way to the Iliad Bookstore, where
we stopped - at the thought of
being thrown into clown jail -
where many other
imprisoned clowns would be.
At the Iliad, our favorite bookstore,
Jonah walked in sans hat or nose -
the guy at the counter said,
"A modern-day Fagin? Good way to
make a buck. And his partner said, "Yeah -
check your pockets..."
I told him Jonah didn't have any books
and just needed one - this Oz book -
and Jonah looked at him with
pleading sad clown eyes
as if to say,
"Please sir - just one?"
We ended up paying.
Low Line, London. A bitterly cold day meant I was wearing my fingerless 'Fagin' gloves, so this mural proved irresistible. This arch was next to the one that went up in flames earlier in the year, possibly interlinked. The smoke marks can be seen above the doors. Taken on a flickr photo walk organised by the London Group.
London Borough of Southwark, South London, England - Low Line Walk, Union Street / Great Guildford Street
December 2022
Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti S.R.L., Verona, no. 148/3. Image: Disney. Publicity still for Oliver & Company (George Scribner, 1988).
Oliver & Company (George Scribner, 1988) is the twenty-seventh animated feature released in the Disney Canon. It was inspired by Charles Dickens's classic novel 'Oliver Twist' (1838), which has been adapted many other times for the screen. Oliver is here a homeless kitten who joins Fagin's gang of dogs to survive on the streets of 1980s New York City. One of Fagin's gang is Dodger, and Sykes is a loan shark. Although it's not one of Disney's best animation classics, Oliver & Company is very enjoyable.
After the release of The Black Cauldron in 1985, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg invited the animators to pitch potential ideas for upcoming animated features. After John Musker and Ron Clements suggested The Little Mermaid and Treasure Island in Space, animator Pete Young suggested, "Oliver Twist with dogs". Originally wanting to produce a live-action adaptation of the musical 'Oliver!' at Paramount Pictures, Katzenberg approved of the pitch. The working title of the film during production was 'Oliver and the Dodger'. It pre-dated the Disney Renaissance. The original central brain trust of Disney animators, the "Nine Old Men", had retired in the early 1980s, which signaled the entrance for the next generation of Disney animators, including the film's supervising animators Glen Keane, Ruben A. Aquino, Mike Gabriel, Hendel Butoy, and Mark Henn. At a certain point, it was to be a sequel to The Rescuers. If this had happened, it would have given the character of Penny more development, showing her living her new life in New York City with Georgette, as well as her new adoptive parents. This idea was eventually scrapped because the producers had then felt that the story would not have been convincing. Young was originally assigned to co-direct the film with George Scribner, a Disney newcomer who had recently joined from the Hanna-Barbera studio but suddenly died in mid-October 1985. Richard Rich, who had previously co-directed The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron, was then brought on-board to replace Young, but due to acting belligerent towards the president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, Peter Schneider, as what Schneider claimed, he was fired in 1986. Rich was not replaced after his firing, leaving Scribner as the sole director.
Oliver & Company (1988) was the first Disney film to extensively feature computer animation. The two immediately preceding Disney films, The Black Cauldron (1985) and The Great Mouse Detective (1986), only featured it during special sequences. The CGI effects were used for making the skyscrapers, the cars, trains, Fagin's scooter, and the climactic subway chase. It was also the first Disney film to have a department created specifically for computer animation. The film was a test run one before The Walt Disney Company would fully commit to returning to a musical format for their animated films. It was the first such film to be a musical since The Fox and the Hound (1981). For the next decade, all of Walt Disney Feature Animation's films, starting with The Little Mermaid (1989), were also musicals, except for The Rescuers Down Under (1990). Oliver & Company (1988) was one of the first animated Disney films to introduce new sound effects for regular use, as replacements for many of the classic sounds originally in the Disney library, which would be used occasionally in later Disney films. However, The Little Mermaid became the basis for the introduction of even more new sound effects. The new sound effects were first introduced with The Black Cauldron, while The Great Mouse Detective, released a year after the previous film, featuring the classic Disney sound effects, including the then fifty-year-old Castle Thunder and the classic Goofy holler. However, the Disney television animation studio continued extensively using the classic Disney sound effects for several years, while the feature animation studio retired the original sound effects. Certain animal characters from previous Disney films make cameo characters in the film. Four of the dogs shown are Peg, Jock, and Trusty from Lady and the Tramp (1955), and Pongo from One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). Opening on the same weekend as Don Bluth's The Land Before Time (1988), which debuted at number one in the United States and Canada grossing $7.5 million, Oliver & Company opened at fourth, grossing $4 million. Nevertheless, Oliver & Company out-grossed The Land Before Time with a total gross in the United States and Canada of $53 million compared to the latter's $46 million, making it the animated film with the highest gross from its initial run. It was also the first animated film to gross $100 million worldwide in its initial release. Its success prompted Disney's Senior Vice President of Animation, Peter Schneider, to announce the company's plans to release animated features annually.
Sources: Disney Wiki, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson CBE (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles in the sitcoms Blackadder (1983–1989) and Mr. Bean (1990–1995), and in the film series Johnny English (2003–2018). Atkinson first came to prominence on the BBC sketch comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982), receiving the 1981 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance.
Atkinson has appeared in various films, including the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983), The Witches (1990), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Rat Race (2002), Scooby-Doo (2002), Love Actually (2003), and Wonka (2023). He played the voice role of Zazu in the Disney animated film The Lion King (1994). Atkinson portrayed Mr. Bean in the film adaptations Bean (1997) and Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007). He also featured on the BBC sitcom The Thin Blue Line (1995–1996) and played the titular character in ITV's Maigret (2016–2017). His work in theatre includes the role of Fagin in the 2009 West End revival of the musical Oliver!.
Atkinson was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy in 2003, and among the top 50 comedians ever, in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with screenwriter Richard Curtis and composer Howard Goodall, both of whom he met at the Oxford University Dramatic Society during the 1970s. In addition to his 1981 BAFTA, Atkinson received an Olivier Award for his 1981 West End theatre performance in Rowan Atkinson in Revue. Atkinson was appointed CBE in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.
Sticker art (also known as sticker bombing, sticker slapping, slap tagging, and sticker tagging) is a form of street art in which an image or message is publicly displayed using stickers. These stickers may promote a political agenda, comment on a policy or issue, or comprise a subcategory of graffiti.
Sticker artists use a variety of label types, including inexpensively purchased and free stickers, such as the United States Postal Service's Label 228 or name tags.
Even if there were various unknown pioneers before, the first officially recognized example of sticker art in the USA is André the giant has a posse by Shepard Fairey, created in 1989. The first European (and non-American) sticker art project is I Sauri, started in 1993. Since 2000, many graffiti artists and street artists, like Katsu or Barry McGee incorporated stickers in their production, using them as an alternative to tagging and bombing, or as autonomous art projects.
Label 228s are often used with hand-drawn art, and are quite hard to remove, leaving a white, sticky residue.
Sticker artists can design and print thousands of stickers at low cost using a commercial printing service or at home with a computer printer and self-adhesive labels.
Sticker artists also print their designs onto adhesive vinyl, which has a strong, permanent adhesive, is waterproof, and generally fade resistant. A variant type of adhesive vinyl, called "destructible", is used by some artists. Destructible vinyl decals are primarily used as tamper indicators on equipment and shipping containers. The difficult–to–remove nature of this material is attractive to sticker artists, including B.N.E. and Obey Giant.
Artist Cristina Vanko refers to her "I am Coal" project as "smart vandalism." Vanko uses stickers to identify objects that are coal powered, spreading awareness of global climate change.
The artist Cindy Hinant created a series of projects from 2006 to 2009 that combined the tradition of sticker collecting and sticker bombing in works that reflected on feminine representations in popular culture.
Sticker artists often trade their work with each other in order to expand distribution. An artist's stickers may be distributed worldwide and end up adhered in places they themselves have never been to. These trades are sometimes arranged personally or through social networking sites.
Dutch press photo by Jacques Senf b.v., Maasland. Photo: Jorge Fatauros. Willem Nijholt and Linda van Dijck in the play Sukses/Success (Jo Dua, 1982) written by Norman Beim.
Dutch actor Willem Nijholt (1934-2023) was also a dancer and singer. His versatility led him to work in musicals, TV shows, stage plays, cabaret and several films. In later years he also became known as a TV juror and author. At the age of 88, Willem Nijholt passed away in his sleep on 23 June 2023 in his homeplace Amsterdam.
Willem Adrianus Nijholt was born in Gombong, Kedoe, the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1934. He was the son of Jan Nijholt, a KNIL instructor, and Willemina Sophia Maria Arntz. At age eight he ended up in a Japanese POW camp, which left a deep scar for the rest of his life. At fourteen, he saw his father again, who was sent to work on the Burma Railway by the Japanese. After World War II, the family left the Dutch East Indies and settled in Millingen, the birthplace of his mother. Nijholt attended temporarily HBS (Higher Civic School) in Nijmegen, was briefly in the Navy and went to study at the School for dramatic arts in Amsterdam at age 23. His ill mother died in 1959 before she could see him performing on stage. He fell in love with the author Gerard Reve, who rejected him, but in 1962 he played a role in Reve’s play 'Commissaris Fennedy' (Commissioner Fennedy). His letters to Reve are published in the book 'Met Niets Begonnen' (Started With Nothing). He made his screen debut in the TV film De Huzaren/The Hussars (Walter van der Kamp, 1960). In 1964 he performed the role of Hoofd Piet (Head Pete) once during the national arrival of Sinterklaas in Hoorn. In 1968 he appeared in the popular satirical TV Show Hadimassa. He became very popular among children with his part in the innovative TV show Oebele (Bram van Erkel, 1968-1972) with Wieteke van Dort. He made his film debut in Daniel (Erik Terpstra, 1971) with Peter Schaapman.
In the 1970s, Willem Nijholt had his definitive breakthrough. On stage, he worked with Wim Sonneveld in a successful cabaret show in 1971. In 1974 he played Theo Oudijck in the popular TV series De stille kracht/The Silent Force (Walter van der Kamp, 1974), with Pleuni Touw. Their nude scene was a big sensation. He also played Ben van Rooyen in the youth series De Kris Pusaka/The Kris Pusaka (Bram van Erkel, 1977). Nijholt starred in several stage musicals, including 'Wat een planeet' (What a planet; 1973) and 'Foxtrot' (1977), written by Annie MG Schmidt. In 1977 he was awarded the Johan Kaartprijs (Johan Kaart Award). In 1981 he played a voice teacher in the play 'Children of a Lesser God'. He was asked to play this role also in London, but he did not accept the offer. Nijholt played roles in Dutch films like the box office hit Ciske de Rat (Guido Pieters, 1984) with Danny de Munk, and Havinck (Frans Weisz, 1987) in which he played the title character. Chip Douglas at IMDb: “Nijholt, at age 50, was ten years too old. But director Frans Weisz, screen-testing countless leading men opposite (debutant Anne Martien) Lousberg, still wanted Nijholt to read with her, because he had a feeling Willem could bring out the best in Anne Martien. The young actress obviously felt the same way, because she decided there and then that Nijholt was the one to play her father. He ended up winning the coveted 'Golden Calf' award (the Dutch equivalent of the Academy Award) for his efforts.” In 1989 he played the lead role in the short film Alaska, Mike van Diem’s graduation film at the Dutch Film and Television Academy. The film won a Golden Calf and a Student Academy Award. In 1989, Nijholt played the Master of Ceremonies in the musical 'Cabaret'(1989). That year, he received from Guido de Moor the prestigious Paul Steenbergen medal, which he passed on in 2002 to actor Pierre Bokma.
Willem Nijholt played a major part in the acclaimed TV series Bij nader inzien/On closer inspection (Frans Weisz, 1991) and Op afbetaling (Frans Weisz, 1993) with Renée Soutendijk. He also continued to appear regularly in Dutch films. He played Etienne in the Harry Mulisch adaptation Hoogste Tijd/The Last Call (Frans Weisz, 1995) starring Rijk de Gooijer. He acted with Helmut Berger and Udo Kier in Unter den Palmen (Miriam Kruishoop, 1999) and reunited with Pleuni Touw in De vriendschap/The Friendship (Nouchka van Brakel, 2001). He also appeared in several family films, including Pietje Bell/Peter Bell (Maria Peters, 2002), Pietje Bell 2: De Jacht op de Tsarenkroon/Peter Bell II: The Hunt for the Czar Crown (Maria Peters, 2003) and De Griezelbus/The Horror Bus (Pieter Kuijpers, 2005). Nijholt enjoyed massive success as the controller in the Dutch edition of the stage musical 'Miss Saigon' (1996). Another great musical role was Fagin in 'Oliver!' (1999-2000). In 2002 he retired from the musical and in 2004 followed his last stage role. In 1999 Willem Nijholt was appointed Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. In the television talent show Op zoek naar ... (2007-2011; Looking for Evita, Looking for Joseph, Looking for Mary Poppins and Looking for Zorro), Nijholt was the juror. Since 2011 he was a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. His last screen role was in the TV crime series Penoza II (Diederik Van Rooijen, 2012-2013), starring Monic Hendrickx.
Sources: Een leven lang theater (Dutch), Wikipedia (Dutch), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
A pair of Typhoon FGR4, on the wing of FAGIN 11 - The last operational Tristar flight.
Canon 7D
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Rowan Sebastian Atkinson CBE (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles in the sitcoms Blackadder (1983–1989) and Mr. Bean (1990–1995), and in the film series Johnny English (2003–2018). Atkinson first came to prominence on the BBC sketch comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982), receiving the 1981 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance.
Atkinson has appeared in various films, including the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983), The Witches (1990), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Rat Race (2002), Scooby-Doo (2002), Love Actually (2003), and Wonka (2023). He played the voice role of Zazu in the Disney animated film The Lion King (1994). Atkinson portrayed Mr. Bean in the film adaptations Bean (1997) and Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007). He also featured on the BBC sitcom The Thin Blue Line (1995–1996) and played the titular character in ITV's Maigret (2016–2017). His work in theatre includes the role of Fagin in the 2009 West End revival of the musical Oliver!.
Atkinson was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy in 2003, and among the top 50 comedians ever, in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with screenwriter Richard Curtis and composer Howard Goodall, both of whom he met at the Oxford University Dramatic Society during the 1970s. In addition to his 1981 BAFTA, Atkinson received an Olivier Award for his 1981 West End theatre performance in Rowan Atkinson in Revue. Atkinson was appointed CBE in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.
Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).
Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions
"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".
The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.
The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.
Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.
Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:
Wet with cool dew drops
fragrant with perfume from the flowers
came the gentle breeze
jasmine and water lily
dance in the spring sunshine
side-long glances
of the golden-hued ladies
stab into my thoughts
heaven itself cannot take my mind
as it has been captivated by one lass
among the five hundred I have seen here.
Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.
Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.
There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.
Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.
The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.
In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:
During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".
Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.
While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’
Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.
An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.
Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983
Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture
Main article: Commercial graffiti
With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.
In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".
Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.
Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.
Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.
Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.
There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.
The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.
Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.
Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis
Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.
Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.
Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"
Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal
In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.
Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.
Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.
Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.
With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.
Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.
Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.
Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.
Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.
Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.
Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.
Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.
The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.
I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.
The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.
Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.
Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.
In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".
There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.
Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.
A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.
By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.
Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.
In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.
A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.
From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.
Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.
In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.
Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.
In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.
In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."
In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.
In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.
In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.
In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.
In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.
The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.
To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."
In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.
In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.
Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".
Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)
In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.
Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.
Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.
In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.
Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.
To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.
When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.
One of the many costumed characters in the Dockyard.
William "Bill" Sikes is a fictional character in the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.He is one of Dickens's most vicious characters and a very strong force in the novel when it comes to having control over somebody or harming others. He is portrayed as a rough and barbaric man. Sikes is a career criminal associated with Fagin, and an eventual murderer. He is violent and aggressive, prone to sudden bursts of extreme behaviour. He owns a bull terrier named Bull's Eye, whom he beats until the dog needs stitches.
Oliver Twist, or The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by Charles Dickens, and was first published as a serial 1837–9. The story is of the orphan Oliver Twist, who starts his life in a workhouse and is then sold into an apprenticeship with an undertaker. He escapes from there and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets, which is led by the elderly criminal Fagin.
this is a garage sold - which will be presumably another hotel - where once the car mechanics worked. I don't think the two characters will survive....
ift.tt/1RYsnKM (SECTION3) MADMIKEZZ feat. Terrible Nincy Boi - Roll On Your Crew [Fagin] (MUSIC VIDEO) #Youtube #Soundcloud #EXTRACOLOSSAL #Nincy #TerribleNincyBoi #ARDDRIVE #Worldstar #HipHop #Grmdaily #LinkupTV #Welcome2North #Northants #SECTION3 #MNA #Northampton #HipHop #Grime #HardcoreRap #MADMIKEZZ (Link In Bio)
A charming toby jug produced by Artone Pottery (Burslem) as part of their Charles Dickens range of characters and shows Fagin from Dickin's second novel, Oliver Twist. This small toby jug is moulded by slip-casting and fully hand-painted.
ARTONE POTTERY
Artone Pottery was established in 1946 by George Lawton and Bob Hardman at the old factory of Ellgreave pottery in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. George came from a pottery family and like his father, had worked at Royal Doulton as a caster. After forming the Artone in partnership with Bob Hardman, their wives had also worked for the company as a painter and a moulder, being particularly skilled at making floral earthenware for which was Artone was well-known. Their floral wares formed the mainstay of Artone's business in its early years. But due to the labour-intensive handicraft involved in producing their floral wares, the kilns were often under-utilised and to fill to capacity the company diversified. New products were giftware and decorative items that included figurines and toby jugs.
In the 1970’s, Jack Lawton (George’s younger brother) left Royal Doulton to join Artone, replacing George as the main director. In 1978, Jack sold Artone to Phil Jaram but remained with the company for a short time before he retired. In the meantime, Artone under Jaram continued to produced much the same range of products as before. But in 1993, Phil was ready to retire and in 1993 ceased producting and eventually sold the company to Cortman Limited in 1996. Cortman dropped the Artone name but continued to produce pottery under the tradename LJB Ceramics.
Artone products carry a printed back-stamp that shows an artist’s pallet and brush with the wording ARTONE ENGLAND HAND PAINTED. From 1946 to 1978 the back-stamp was printed under-glaze green and after Phil Jaram took over in 1978, this was changed to an under-glaze black. Production at Artone Pottery seemed to have ceased in 1993.
.
DESCRIPTION:
Size: 4" height (102mm).
Material(s): slip-cast white earthenware.
Finish: hand-painted in various colours.
Imprint: Artone post-1978 (see photos)
Weight: 89g
Age: 1978 to 1993
I spent the early part of 1982 in mourning for my beloved Deltics having seen their reign come to an end on 31st December-that was it as far as I was concerned, having no interest in the farewell tour of January 2nd-for me it was already dead. My interest was rekindled when BR once again had the March railcard offer which was virtually an all-line charter for cranks. I'd worked out a move to get 5 different locos on the West Highland Line so after arriving at Glasgow Central on Friday 5th March via 1S19 the 2125 from Bristol we walked across town to Queen Street & were greeted with the sight of 37108 on the 1B07 0600 to Mallaig, my first new engine of the year which was taken to Garelochead for the just over 2 hour fester for the following train but that was no problem, it was a fine morning in the Highlands so me & Fagin set out to explore Garelochead. Along the winding road down the hill from the station there was a skip in which Fagin found a specialist publication called 'Zipper'. This proved to be a journal for gentlemen who like other gentlemen which caused great hilarity. After finding a shop & purchasing the obligatory basher's breakfast of Mars Bar & pint of milk it was back up the hill for the 1B08 0806 Queen Street-Oban with 37012 at the sharp end-my second new engine of the day. I can remember this moment captured on film so clearly as if it was yesterday as the Oban train ran in-if I was in any doubt about life after Deltics, 37012 had just told me there definately was & there were still 183 of them to collect so what was I waiting for . . . . .
A companion story to Cadence Prowl's Pursuing the Posh
Part One: History
My name is Shawn, and if you've followed the adventures of Cadence Prowl, then my name may ring a bell. I am the same person she has both given guidance to and playfully humiliated in one of her stories. That said, I possess a deep admiration for her and her talents, and matching her tenacity at accomplishing the perfect theft is something I've come to strive for.
After this past escapade, my mentor has appeared to gain a bit more respect of my development, to the point of inviting me to tell my side of events in her take Pursuing the Posh. I am more than happy to do so, but be warned reader: my fingers talk even more than my mouth does! So do set aside some time of you're ready to indulge in my narrative.
First, let me shed some light upon my background:
I was born into an upper-middle class family. My father is a successful accountant, while my mother has become a high-ranking staff member at the local hospital after many years of service. I am the second of three children, with an elder brother and younger sister. Have you heard of the so-called "Middle Child Syndrome"? I am the living embodiment of that, constantly competing with siblings who overachieve in both academics and formal events equally. And they've certainly gained favour with my parents in doing so.
Not to say that I'm an idiot in comparison; I've certainly applied myself in my studies, and have received respectable grades as a result. I also consider myself to be quite literate....I much enjoy writing, and rarely is there a day goes by where I don't have a fiction book in either my pocket or backpack, as any proper introvert would have.
Where my siblings and I vary, at least in our upbringings, are our social skills. Whenever our collective family would attend an event involving high society, I found that I'd fight a losing battle against two natural, outgoing characters for attention; a wallflower versus a duo of social butterflies, if you will. And while my parents did make a concerted effort to balance their pride and affection among their trio of children, it would be painfully obvious (to me) whom would receive the most glory by the end of each gathering.
I don't mention this out of self-pity. Instead, it is to state that there is always knowledge to be gained from even the most humbling of experiences. For it is at one of the suaréz that I first dipped my toe into the waters of pickpocketing!
My first lift occurred at the age of 15, and I was in the midst of reading "Oliver Twist". While immersing in the chapter where Fagin is teaching Oliver the technique of stealing handkerchiefs, the inquisitive portion of my mind pondered how well I could pick a pocket. The mere concept of it tickled my burgeoning devious nature. So with another formal event on the horizon, I vowed to myself to try and successfully lift an item from someone's pocket - any item, for I was a simple novice after all!
As the evening of the party arrived, the circumstances started as normal: introductions, small talk involving personal activities, and so forth. After this stage usually came the moment where I'd be left to my own device. Unlike past scenarios, where I would be dreading this inevitable reality, this time I was awaiting it with a quiet eagerness. In fact, even at this tender age, I had the forethought of devising a strategy of achieving my task, while not separating my presence in the crowd with suspicious behaviour. I brought with me a notebook and pen, and would jot down short notes as I watched people acclimate in the festivities. Anyone who'd ask about my reasons would be told that it was ideas I was considering for an upcoming school report.
In truth, I was documenting potential targets while using a special code. For example, I spied Mister Saunders tuck a gold-painted lighter into the right-side pocket of his suit jacket. So I wrote "M - Sau - RSJ - lgtr - 6/10" to indicate who, which pocket, the item, and the probability of success of theft. (His was on the slightly higher side, due to him leaving the flap of the pocket tucked in, allowing for a foreign hand to reach inside.) For any female marks, I simply switched the "M" to an "L". I compiled a list of ten people in about twenty minutes, and swiftly chose Mister Sims (M - Sim - RSB - flk - 9/10) for the flask poking quite precariously from the right back pocket of his trousers. I noted that he was already intoxicated, as his speech was slurred and he struggled to maintain his balance.
When the time seemed just right, I arose from my chair and positioned myself close to the drunken elder. I didn't have to wait long for a distraction; a passer- by bumped into his shoulder, making him stumble into me. I held his back with my left hand while I punched the spout of the flask with the middle and index fingers of my right. As he straightened his footing, I slid the item out and casually secreted it into the pocket of my blazer. It felt surprisingly heavy, I'd say it was at least three quarters full! For a brief moment I anticipated him noticing it's absence from his pocket. But he didn't...when he turned to face me, he gave me a clumsy shake of my hand and a barely coherent "thank you" before trudging away.
Upon attaining this, I excused myself for the outdoors and some air. My entire body shook, the rush of the lift captivated my entire being. As I increased my steps, I found there to be a cement walkway circling the house. There was a soft glow from the home's windows that provided adequate illumination, and just off of one corner a garden was adorned with stone benches to sit. I took a seat and pulled out my new acquisition, admiring it as well as the way I had taken it.
My silent victory was short-lived, for a moment later I caught the sound of footsteps approaching me. I stood back up sharply as I pocketed the flask once more. I sensed the steps belonging to a woman, as it seemed to sound like heels against the hard surface, and I also heard the light swish of fabric that suggested a long dress. Confirming my theory as I tried to keep my composure, a feminine voice broke through the night: "Hello there. Aren't you a wee bit young to be drinking that?"
I leaned in to get a better view of the approaching figure, expecting to be scolded by an adult. However, it was a young woman about my age, standing in a rose-pink satin dress that hugged the curves of her body. She wasn't thin, but certainly not overweight either; her height and outline of her form suggested that she was athletic on some level.
"What do you mean?" I finally stammered, a hint of nervousness in my words.
" Oh..so that wasn't you whom I saw filch the flask from my uncle's pocket then? " She took a few steps closer, hands behind her back, in the form of a school teacher admonishing her students. "And if I were to frisk you, I certainly wouldn't find that same flask in the pocket of your blazer, would I?"
Her sarcasm and confidence alone were enough to deflate me. I cocked the left-side of my jacket towards her, slipped a couple of fingers inside that pocket, and tapped the metal to confirm that it was there. She let out a gentle laugh, and came up close enough for me to see her face; her skin was slightly darker than the average Brit, and I surmised she might be of Mediterranean descent. This attractively brazen girl then plucked the flask from my pocket with a movement more fluid than water in a stream.
"Don't fret, I'll keep mum about all of this. Truth be told, I had my eye on this meself." She unscrewed the cap, placed it upon her lips and thrust her head backwards, swallowing a healthy amount. Leveling her face after injecting whatever was in there, she grimaced and declared, "Oh Christ, what is this swill?" I chuckled as she took a second, more modest full while seating herself on the bench. She tapped the spot next to her, inviting me to sit as she said, "My name is Josselyn, Josselyn Coconis. And you are -"
" Shawn. " I sat beside her as a brief, awkward pause followed.
"Shawn...just Shawn? Are you one of those weirdo celebrities like Cher or Madonna or Bono who has no surname?"
" Why, yes! " I responded with a sly grin.
Josselyn shook her head with a smile and continued: "Fair enough. Well, Just Shawn, what is it that made you nick this flask? You haven't touched a drop of its contents."
it is then that I divulged what I've just told you, reader. Despite my long monologue, Josselyn proved to be an apt listener, reacting to different details in appropriate fashion. As I wound up my history with events of that particular evening, my new acquaintance abruptly grabbed my hand and gasped, "Is that what you were doing with that notebook?! I saw you from a distance and wondered what in bloody Hell you were up to!"
I pulled out the folded notebook from one of my inside pockets of my jacket to show her my codes. After a moment's glance, Josselyn stifled a giggle. Then any semblance of composure turned into flat-out hysterics. She leaned into my right-side shoulder, resting her head upon it while laughing with the notebook in her hand. I repeatedly asked her why she was carrying on, and she eventually calmed herself enough to sit up, refold my notebook and return it to my inside pocket. She smoothed my blazer with rapid fingers as she put me in my place:
"Not to be rude, but I can tell this was your virgin lift! If you want to have some fun with this, then you can't be afraid to be spontaneous. Do you think your marks are gonna stand around and wait while you take notes on them? "
"No, of course not, but-" Josselyn covered my mouth with her hand before I could explain myself further.
"Listen, Just Shawn, you don't have to sell me on your enthusiasm or instinct to pick pockets. I know it's there." She removed her hand, knowing that I'd let her proceed. " I've been looking for a partner since I moved here with my family. And you're the first person I've met who's shown any inclination for using some light fingers to get what they want. Honestly, that lift was a cinch; my arthritic nana could have swiped this flask! But if you let me train you, you'll be astounded at what you can accomplish. So are you willing to be my protégé? "
There was a part of me that thought she was daft for asking such an arrogant question; but the other, stronger part found her bravado quite enthralling, and it tapped into the growing curiosity I'd been fostering for this skill. "Agreed. Shall we start tonight?"
" No. Me folks are here and privé to my delinquent behaviour. I must appear to be in top form for them. We'll start at school; the uniforms we wear are excellent for executing lifts! "
With that, Josselyn stood up and I followed suit. She started to adjust the chest portion of her outfit; I turned my back as to not embarrass her. She chuckled at my chivalrous gesture and remarked, "Showing respect for me already? We'll certainly get along just fine."
I laughed at her statement. Once she completed fixing her dress, I turned back around and extended an arm for her to take. She wrapped her arm around mine and we started our walk back towards the party. I soon felt the heft of the flask present in the pocket of my blazer. I looked down at it, then her. "Weren't you going to return this to your uncle?"
Josselyn shook her head. "I figure any pickpocket worth their weight keeps the first item they steal. Even if the lift was as sinfully easy as yours, it still counts! " She pulled the flap over the pocket, gave it a pat, then suddenly pressed her mouth near my ear. "And by the by, that WASN'T my uncle!"
This admission made me cover my face sheepishly, and Josselyn giggled with delight at my reaction. "You see? I was being spontaneous with you, and it worked like a charm!"
We soon approached the doors. "Speaking of charm," I started, taking Josselyn's hand and kissing it . This caused her to let out a mock gasp of pleasure. "I look forward to our next meeting, Miss Coconis."
She nodded and responded, "And I look forward to taking you under my wing, Mister Coghlan. 'Til we meet again." I opened the door for her, and she shot me a smile and a quick flip of her curly hair as she stepped inside.
It took a few seconds, but it suddenly dawned on me that she had figured out my surname! As I re-entered the house, it was on the tip of my tongue to ask her. But I discovered that she had already engaged in conversation with an entire group of people. Still befuddled, I took the same seat where I'd been before, soaking in the excitement of meeting someone so different and vibrant. Eventually my instincts told me to take inventory of what I was carrying. One item I'd had at the start of the evening was conspicuously absent: my wallet!
Of course, it didn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out who the culprit was! Sitting there, I replayed every moment of my time with Josselyn in my mind. I concluded that she must have done the lift after she had returned my notebook and fussed with my blazer. It was the only moment her hand was anywhere near that particular pocket.
Indeed, I received a non-verbal confirmation of this as people were leaving the gathering. I spotted Joss with her parents, and upon catching her eye gave an inquisitive grin; with raised eyebrows, I pointed towards the inside pocket of my jacket. She flashed a smile and caressed her leg, close to where her pocket opened. Her motion gave me a sense of x-ray vision, I could almost see my wallet nestled against her thigh.
That night started what would be a defining relationship in my life. For the next eight months, Joss and I spent a considerable amount of time together. It wasn't always easy, between classes, family and friends, having one-on-one sessions took some creativity to attain. But she was an excellent tutor, and she gradually taught me many of the ins-and-outs of pickpocketing while keeping our actions discreet. Her lessons always had a flow, where she would demonstrate technique on several types of pockets, what to look for in a mark's behaviour, the best and worst situations for committing a lift, and so on. After showing me how to perform a certain dip, she would have me try it on her. And she would be brutally honest, but her critiques would be constructive and show me any errors I was making.
When the time came where we both felt I was ready for some action, Joss started me on some of our classmates. Like any good teacher, she gave me easy items to pluck: pens, small notebooks, even notes with juicy information written on them from time to time. The blazers on our school uniforms had side pockets with no flaps, so just about any item would cause the pocket to bulge away from the owner's body. I soon found that simply brushing past anyone sporting this weakness in between classes was effective most times.
Upon graduating that level, Joss then had me target the teachers. She instructed me to watch their tendencies, spot where they kept personal belongings on a day-to-day basis. Doing this, I found that certain male professors kept their wallet or keys in attainable pockets to pick. And with Joss creating a distraction, pretending to inquire about "problems" she was having with the course material, I'd pretend to be listening in with the same issues, all the while relieving them of personal items under their very noses. Female teachers were easier; they kept their wallets in purses, and the two of us found a simple distraction was often enough to get them.
The crowning achievement was lifting the wallet of our headmaster. It occurred when the school hosted a fair as a fundraiser. Joss had showed me a trick to pick pocket using napkins, but because the headmaster was aware of her past indiscretions, she felt that any move she made would be sniffed out by him. So I took it upon myself to do the lift. We watched where he kept his wallet - inside blazer pocket - and I also noted a stain from tea spilled upon his lapel. I got an idea...I came up to him and made mention of the stain, and held up the napkins to offer assist to dry it up. He agreed, and as I mopped up the spill with one hand my other slipped inside his blazer. With all that movement of my two hands, he failed to notice me slip his wallet out and into the cover of the napkins I wasn't using. Completing my favour, I dropped the enveloped wallet into my pocket and wished him a good day.
Joss' reaction was priceless: after I had safely separated myself from the crowd, she came from behind and nearly tackled me while laughing wildly. "That was utterly brilliant! I was watching and thought for sure he'd catch you! Gimme his wallet! " She snatched it before I could properly defend myself and started rifling through the contents curiously. "We're returning this anonymously. I actually like him, he's given me some respect unlike my last headmaster. But this shows me that you're ready to do some real lifts...the ones that earn some profit! " I expressed disappointment at this, but was eventually convinced this was the right call.
Having gained her trust as a competent thief, Joss and I spared the occupants of our school and turned our sights on the public. There was a bustling city nearby with plenty of shoppes and even a mall. We would take turns on who would distract and who would dip. Sometimes there would be some improvisation, where the person dipping would slip the stolen items to the partner. These days would end with us gathering at Joss' house....we'd tally our loot and come to a fair disbursement of cash and goods. Generally I'd let her keep a little more, since pickpocketing was my way of thrill-seeking, with monetary benefits being secondary.
With this shared secret of pilfering between the two of us, something else was emerging: a growing attraction to one another. It started with my training, sometimes her hand would slide in a personal spot upon my body during a practice pick, or standing close to one another while positioning ourselves would cause momentary awkward laughter. As we got involved in group lifts, the intimacy between ourselves increased; we'd be cuddling with one another while simultaneously emptying each other's pockets, even stealing a kiss here and there as our frisky hands made sure all pockets had been cleaned out between us!
The pinnacle of our unorthodox courtship came one afternoon after a typical few hours of pickpocketing. We had both done well, nabbing several wallets and purses and securing them in large shopping bags. Upon entering Joss' bedroom, we divided our spoils as usual and started to fill our respective pockets with notes. My trouser pockets must of had significant bulges, for Joss made a cheeky comment of it: " Seems like somebody's got delusions of grandeur! "
I laughed out loud and responded, "Whatever puts a smile upon my face!" while giving my pockets a solid tap.
It's then that Josselyn looked me up and down, and took a seat at the edge of the bed as I continued to stand in front of her. "I'll wager that I can make that smile even brighter." She placed her hands upon my waist and pulled me slightly forward; her deep-brown eyes were penetrating , showcasing a "come hither" quality that was more seductive than I'd ever seen.
She gently slid first her fingers, then her whole hands, inside my front pockets. The act caused a wave of pleasure that shot my head upward, and I began to breathe heavily as her hands fluttered inside them teasingly. "If you're planning on pickpocketing, you've turned me into an easy target."
"No," she whispered softly. Her fingers glided past the money and along my inner thigh, caressing them nicely with the assistance of the lining. "There's something else in there that I desire to hold. " Her inference was clear, but before I could respond Joss' hands plunged between my legs and firmly grabbed hold of the arousal she had created.
I let out the first orgasm of my life, and placed my hands upon her shoulders as I started kissing first her forehead, and worked my way down her face and upon her lips. Her grip methodically tightened as I did this, and my stimulated organ was beyond throbbing when I leaned my body forward and tackled her on the bed.
We frantically started undressing one another. Having pulled her hands from my pockets - spilling money on the mattress and floor - Joss removed my shirt and unbuckled my belt, while my own hands expertly unbuttoned her smooth, cream-colored blouse and unzipped her skirt. One could count the passing seconds on two hands before we were both practically in the buff.
Joss then rolled us both over, where she was on top and had me pinned down beneath her beautifully fit body. The smile on her face was indescribable; she planted a long, wet kiss on my mouth before lustfully asking, "Is this your first time?"
" Yes. I'm thrilled it's with you, Joss. I've dreamt of this for some time. "
She winked at me. "Same here. Come now, let's celebrate me bringing you out of your shell." We locked our lips together as she guided me inside of her.
I should look upon this memory with fondness, even with a sense of a crowning achievement. Which I do....but added to that is a taste of bittersweet. For just forty-eight hours after losing my virginity, my parents uprooted me from this school and into an all-boys academy. You see, my grades had trended downward as I spent more time with Joss. I also incurred more truancies than allowed, and the headmaster soon put these two details together and sent a message to my parents. They weren't about to tolerate an underachiever in their family!
I was, naturally, livid with this decision; what teenager with raging hormones in the throws of a first love wouldn't? But in the end I decided to just make the best of it. Joss and I kept in touch via letters. She preferred this to e-mail, it was more private, and she liked the feel of them in her pocket; she stated that it was if a piece of me was there with her. We did this weekly for two months. In what would be her last letter, she mentioned a plan to set off the school's fire alarm as a ploy to sneak into the faculty room and raid all the pockets and purses she could find. I sent Joss three letters after that, one more pleading and desperate for news than the next, but all to no avail. At one point, I assumed she'd been caught and herself sent to some strict boarding school. It would be years before I found out about her outcome.
As for school, over time I established a balance between my studies and lifting. I had fine-tuned a specific skill, I wasn't about to give it up so easily! I raised my grades to a point where it pleased my parents, all the while proficiently picking the pockets of fellow students and, less often, teachers. Joss had inadvertently taught me confidence, and with this bonus I cultivated relationships where I was well liked without the burden of being overtly popular. Even more fortuitous, I discovered that my roommate, an unassuming lad named Thomas, had a penchant for picking locks. This tidbit of information assured me that I could conduct my covert activity without fear of reprisal. We did get along well, even dubbing ourselves "The Pick Brothers" in private conversations about potential heists.
While there were sporting events to keep us young men occupied on a casual level, most coveted were the dances held in conjunction with the all-girl school a short distance away. I, for one, never pursued any of the girls to date. Flirt with (to eventually lift something), yes, but the hangover of losing Joss was a strong and constant one. As fetching as many of them were, all seemed to pale in comparison to her charm, wit, and devilish will to commit unscrupulous activity!
It's at one of these dances that I first met Cadence Prowl. Of course, she accurately described our initial encounter in her story. I was immediately taken with her talents at thievery, not to mention her audacity to crash a private function. She showed me techniques Josselyn had never touched upon. Even referring to me as her protégé brought a smile to my face as we worked on form together.
I can even forgive what Cade did afterwards, at the pond. I've rationalized it as a lesson in never keeping your guard down! The lass I was with at that moment wasn't as forgiving, though! Aye, what a long walk back to school that was!
Upon completing school, I gained employment of an entry-level job as a manager's assistant for a company specializing in financial retirement planning. It's as mundane as it sounds, and I quickly realized that it's not the lucrative career as it was posed to me. After listening to one soon-to-be pensioner after another, squabbling over every last euro in their possession, I would be left feeling I'd been drained of a life with every day's end.
I had "retired" from thieving when I first entered the workforce, and for two years kept my nose clean. That's not to say that the temptation wasn't there! I recall one client whom I was assisting, left his suit jacket tossed on the back of a chair when he and my boss excused themselves to use the loo. Sitting visibly in his inside pocket was a very plump wallet. I had to resist every thought racing in my head telling me to snatch it. When the two returned, the client made light of it when he saw how exposed his wallet was: "Oh, look at that. I was inviting anyone who sees this to rob me! Were you thinking of taking it?"
" No, not me job. We leave that to the government, " I retorted, trying to sound humorous.
As time passed, I gained more solid footing within the firm, steadily gaining small yet significant amenities as a token of appreciation. One was a longer break for lunchtime. I took full advantage and frequented the nearest pub as often as I could afford, grabbing a bite while usually partaking in a pint of stout.
It's at this same establishment that my passion for thieving was reignited. And it came in the form of a sassy waitress, whom deftly plucked the wallet from the back pocket of one of the older regulars frequenting the place. Seeing me witness her prank (for she returned the wallet shortly after), she grinned, winked her eye and put a finger upon her lips. Like a siren's song to a wayward sailor, I was once more eager to participate in the game!
These midday escapes also lead to a rather pleasing moment. For shortly after my rebirth, I was treated to an act of serendipity: I was once more in the vicinity of Cadence Prowl herself!
End Part One
Meta-Theatrics at Fagin's Family Show (inspired by Oliver Twist), with Noah Claypole as Nancy, new recruit Lint as Bill Sykes, Bullseye, audience participant, Monks as Oliver Twist, Artful Dodger as Mr. Browlow, Bill Sykes as Fagin, and Bet as Toby Crackit
Denmark's Niels Klim Award for best translated story (awarded for Science Fiction Cirklen's translation of my story Clockwork Fagin as "Børnehjemslederen") is an exceptionally lovely object.
stuff.ommadawn.dk/2019/09/24/niels-klim-prisen-uddelt-2/
It went through quite a saga getting here! After being delayed in the mail, it arrived in a torn envelope...with the award missing!
Then covid drove the award's manufacturer out of business. But the Niels Kim folks found an alternate supplier, and finally, today, it ARRIVED!
In Dickens Land: Character Sketches from Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist).
“Please, sir, I want some more.”
The master . . . gazed in stupefied astonishment on the young rebel.
[Text on the postcard]
Oliver is born in a workhouse where he is mistreated by Bumble, the beadle. He is apprenticed to Sowerberry, the undertaker, and runs away to London where he falls in with Fagin and his band of pickpockets. Oliver is charged with theft, actually committed by the Artful Dodger, and later cleared. The object of the theft, Mr. Brownlow, takes Oliver into his home. He is recaptured by Nancy and returned to Fagin’s band. Nancy later tries to help Oliver and is murdered. Through the efforts of Rose Maylie and Mr. Brownlow the story of Oliver's real parentage is revealed. [Source: www.charlesdickenspage.com/dickens-characters-t-z.html . Check out that website for the thousand other unforgettable characters created by Charles Dickens.]
“A parish child - the orphan of a workhouse - the humble half-starved drudge - to be cuffed and buffeted through the world, - despised by all, and pitied by none.”—Charles Dickens