The Xtra Diary - a look at artist Alan Lowndes work

Published: 11 June, 2010

FLAT cap and whippet exile, partial to a pint of Tetley’s bitter, seeks a little piece of the North in London. 

This fictional lonely heart could do better than heading to the Crane Kalman Gallery in Chelsea next week, where they are hosting an exhibition of the late Stockport artist and inspiration for the naming of Coronation Street, Alan Lowndes. 

Born in 1921, the son of a railway clerk made his name by painting  everyday street scenes in Northern towns – chip shops, Blake’s “dark satanic mills”, back-to-back terraces and such like.

So it will come as no surprise that Lowndes is Sir Michael Parkinson’s favourite painter – the Yorkshireman has loaned a few back to the gallery for the exhibition.

But Lowndes is more than just a Northern curiosity in the broader art world. Sir Terry Frost called him a “greater painter than Lowry” and it could be said his works are deeper meditations on the English identity. 

As Wayne and co try to do the business in South Africa, and the flag of St George becomes a cultural battleground, a trip to see Lowndes might be apposite.

Copies of a new biography of Lowndes, by Jonathan Riley, will also be available at the exhibition. 

• Alan Lowndes – A Retrospective runs from June 17 to July 31 at the Crane Kalman Gallery, 178 Brompton Road. SW3.

Young journalists start at the top...

Journalism, we are always told, is a diamond encased nut to crack. 

It has become a tired trope for commentators to bemoan the lack of diversity in our newsrooms, the long hours, the bad pay, the nepotism, the competition… the list goes on. They scream from the page: why would anyone want to do this? (Diary always thought it had more to do with territorial urination than anything else). 

Well they do, and one person who is well on her way is Camille St-Omer. 

The 18-year-old Kilburn resident and former pupil at Grey Coat Hospital School is one of five young students from the Young Journalists’ Academy – an institution for London state school students trying to break into journalism – invited to an industry award bash. 

Camille chatted with editor of the Financial Times, Lionel Barber, and past winner, BBC business editor Robert Peston, who were among leading figures who attended the Wincott Awards at Mansion House.

She said: “I’m really interested in broadcast journalism, so it was great to be sitting with two senior producers from the BBC.”

Host, Lord Mayor of London Nicholas Anstee said: “It is imperative that we recognise our journalistic talent, not just among those at the top of their profession but also among those who are just starting out. 

“Allowing promising youngsters access to these prestigious awards for the first time will, I hope, highlight the challenges and rewards associated with working in an industry which is notoriously difficult to break into.”

Spare tyre’s not a necessity

IT happens but once a year – and this time round, let’s hope the sunny weather holds out.

Tomorrow (Saturday) 3,000 people are expected to shed their clothes and pedal through the streets of the West End as part of the London Naked Bike Ride, one of a series of naked rides taking place across the world. 

The event purports to be “a celebration of the bicycle and also of the power and individuality of the human body” as well as “a symbol of the vulnerability of cyclists on the road”. 

However, many take part for the sheer novelty value. One serial participant who was looking forward to this year’s ride told Diary: “When else do you get to cycle past Big Ben, the Eye and down Oxford Street completely naked? On any other day, you would be arrested.” Riders assemble at 3pm for a 3.30pm departure at Hyde Park (south-east corner, near Queen Elizabeth Gate).

See the fat lady down at the pub!

It’s “Puccini without a safety net” purred the critics when intrepid director Robin Norton-Hale, flushed the opera rule book away and staged La bohème in the Cock Tavern in Kilburn. 

Now it seems the opera-lite formula has caught on, because the Opera Up Close company have been invited to a venue where, to repurpose a well-known phrase, a fat lady most certainly has never sung before.

The performance at the Soho Theatre in Dean Street on Saturday July 31 will be the first time the theatre has hosted opera.

Proceeds from the evening’s entertainment will go towards the Cancerkin Centre, a specialist unit at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead for women with breast cancer.