John Higgs's Octannual Manual#52

My Blakean Month

I fulfilled a long-standing ambition this month - I got to go inside William Blake’s cottage in Felpham, on the Sussex coast. It’s a building that holds a very special place in the Blake story, as it was here he started to write what became the hymn Jerusalem and here that he defined England as ‘that green and pleasant land’.

It was a day of mixed emotions. I knew before I went that the cottage was in dire need of repair, but seeing first hand the state it was in brought home how urgently work is needed, before the next winter storm. It is propped up inside by supports and - most urgently - desperately needs a new roof.

A couple of weeks earlier I interviewed Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden for the (newly relaunched) Quietus website, and naturally we talked a lot about Blake. Bruce has become a patron of the Blake Cottage Trust and is going to try and help raise money for the roof through an auction and a charity gig. You can find that interview here.

In contrast to this, I was also at Sotheby’s this month, talking on a panel ahead of an auction of a 1795 edition of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience. A recording of that panel talk and an account of the evening can be found here.

The auction takes place in New York on June 26th. If you fancy a bid then details are here but the guide price, be warned, is between $1.2-$1.8million. To me, the irony of his work being valued at such a huge sum while his home is left to rot seems to say something uncomfortable about the state of England. The establishment are still slightly wary of Blake and are reluctant to embrace him completely. It’s brilliant that Bruce Dickinson is putting his weight behind the cottage campaign, but it is telling that it takes a heavy metal singer, of all people, to step up.

A new board has now taken over the Blake Cottage Trust, and I have agreed to become an ambassador for them. Anyone who wants to know more about the campaign, and anyone who feels they may be able to help, are encouraged to get in touch. The hope is that ultimately the cottage will be saved and preserved, with an arts and educational centre constructed in the grounds. This cottage is where one of the rare positive visions of England was forged. It would be a terrible thing to lose.

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ELSEWHERE

I enjoyed doing a wide-ranging interview with Matteo Damiani at RetroFuturista.com - you can read that here.

Or if you are after something to listen to, I talked with Richard Holman on his Wind-Thieved Hat podcast about the nature of creativity and how you keep going as a writer - click here to listen.

Great to see a rare interview with Alistair Fruish pop up on YouTube. You should remember Alistair for his book THE SENTENCE, a now near-legendary monosyllabic single sentence sci-fi novel that bends time for all who read it. Here he is talking about prison writing projects with John Roe.

And I was honoured to write a foreword for FORESTS OF DREAMLAND, a collection of uncanny and eerie landscapes by the Belfast-born artist Heather McAteer. The first edition is just 100 copies and it is available here.

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MONEY BURNERS

It’s lovely to report that THE KLF: CHAOS, MAGIC, AND THE BAND WHO BURNED A MILLION POUNDS will be published in the US and Canada on 9th July. It’s a tense year in America and you have to wonder what sort of reaction a book like that will receive at this particular time. Only one way to find out, I guess! Pre-order the paperback, audiobook or ebook here, or from your favourite stockists.

If you are interested in how the current, magically-minded community of money burners has greeted the arrival of King Charles on British bank notes, then CJ Stone’s account of the first ritual burn at the Temple of Vesta outside the Bank of England a couple of weeks ago is a must-read. You can find that here.

And to celebrate the arrival of summer, the 1of100 T-Shirt company are releasing these magnificent BBQ aprons. Suitable for all KLF fans and also, given the stern look on the sheep’s face, for hardcore vegans who don’t get the reference. Here is the start, and indeed end, of my modelling career.

People have asked me if these are real or a joke. The answer is yes. They should be up on the 1of100 website at some point today - hopefully by the time you read this. Happy midsummer all!

jhx