DERELICT LONDON - PEOPLE There's no such thing as a derelict person of course....
This is the London "they" don't want you to see — with "they" being the mayor, the politicians, the tourist boards, and the Olympics 2012 bid team — for photographer Paul Talling captures the city in its warts-and-all glory. For Talling, "derelict" doesn't just mean "dead" — although there are plenty of engrossing shots of abandoned cemeteries, lost tube stations, and disused theatres. He finds a special kind of beauty in the half-empty bingo hall, the rundown boozers, and the lovable freaks and weirdos who populate our streets. What the powers-that-be don't get is that London isn't some chocolate-box theme park; it's a loved-in, lived-in city, fat and bloated, and a bit rough round the edges. But that's what Talling so expertly captures, that we just wouldn't have it any other way. FLAVOURPILL
PUNK ROCKERS
Always a bit of dereliction at punk gigs these days. Above left a random punter at a gig, middle is Jimmy Pursey from Sham 69 9playing here with Last Army on a one off) and right is John Altman from Heavy Metal Kids who used to play Nick Cotton in Eastenders. Fact.
Below are some very old pics taken at London's Lost Music Venues:
VICTORIA EMBANKMENT GARDENS
George Orwell roughed it with tramps in his researches for 'Down and Out in Paris And London'. - He actually slept out at these gardens beside the Thames and offers this advice: 'get your bench early and stuff your clothes with newspaper'.