Today also seems an appropriate time to talk about the Only In England exhibition I saw at the Media Space in the Science Museum a few weeks back. I never got round to writing up my notes at the time. Never even got round to taking the exhibition book out of its shrinkwrap.
It was actually two exhibitions in one, featuring the photographs of Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr taken in the 1960s and 1970s.
The images had a melancholy charm that was very beautiful, and looked at the visual idea of Englishness without being cliched.
Quirky scenes from seaside results; eating home made sandwiches under an umbrella during May Day celebrations in the rain; drinking cups of tea in cafes with floral wallpaper.
There were some famous scenes such as Eton 4th of June; Glyndebourne; the Chelsea Flower Show.
But there were also scenes from the East End - Brick Lane and Bethnal Green Road as it used to be. And I thought (so closely did the views resemble street scenes from old family photos): my ancestral home. Where my family had lived since at least the 1750s and probably since the days when Old King Cole was king of Essex (and don't forget London was originally an Essex town).
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