Graham Rickson 🇮🇪

alleyway in Clerkenwell, London

Terraced house in Kings Cross

Opticians' in Kings Cross

Fancy façade in Clerkenwell

You can still find parts of inner London that have resisted gentrification. I took these on film in Clerkenwell a few days ago. @ilfordphoto.com #believeinfilm #agfaoptima335 #400asa #kingscross #clerkenwell

I shared a house years ago with a professional photographer who had her darkroom in the cellar. I remember the piles of kit which the process involved. I asked her recently if she missed using film, and she snapped back "of course not!".

That's cool! Using a proper camera forces you to think about composition, exposure, backlighting etc. And I still get excited waiting to get the images back from the lab.

A pity. So few recordings of No. 1 have enough bite!

My first gap year job was with Olympus, checking in cameras which needed servicing and remember the OM1 well. I’ve gone back to using 35mm film as the results look better. I took this vintage Agfa for a spin in Clerkenwell and Kings Cross yesterday. #believeinfilm #35mm #agfa

What’s it like?

We paid for them with the Luncheon Vouchers that my dad was given at work. Happy days.

It was the late 70s! I could wax lyrical about Chopper bikes, bags of chips costing 10p and spangles, but I’d better not.

Yes - the ferry was something to do in school holidays when there was nothing else to do. We’d spend the afternoon going back and forth. The boats were named after socialist politicians! They’ve been replaced with new ones - I must go and have a look when I’m down next

That’s a shame. There’s another similar tunnel downstream in Woolwich - longer and creepier.

The lifts used to have attendants opening and closing the gates but look pretty much the same as they always did. No one obeys the No Cycling signs, which is a pain…

Greenwich foot tunnel

View of Greenwich

The foot tunnel under the Thames at Greenwich used to terrify me as a child, and I always thought that the condensation on the cold ceramic tiles was actually river water seeping in. Not been here in decades. The view from the north bank is wonderful. #london #tunnels #thames

Huddersfield Town Hall is another favourite. Leeds Town Hall is still being refurbished and we’ve not had professional orchestral concerts here for four years or so. I wonder if the audience will still be there when the hall eventually reopens.

Bridgewater Hall is very good, but Sage Gateshead is better still. If a performance is sufficiently involving and exciting you don’t think about the acoustics much.

On a blue background, Harry Styles a blue outfit poses similarly to the young man in the adjacent painting, "The Blue Boy" by Gainsborough. The text below reads: "Copy of Gainsborough’s 'The Blue Boy' by Henry Bone.

As there's a new Harry Styles album out today and we haven't done one for a while...

Harry Styles as Barnsley Museums objects. A THREAD 👇

Copy of Gainsborough's 'The Blue Boy' by Henry Bone

Thank you - I look forward to reading!

I have a bad habit of rating composers according to how good their horn parts are.

I know what you mean… but as an amateur brass player, rehearsing and performing a Mahler symphony is about as much fun as you can have. Especially No. 6.

Jazzrausch Bigband – Bruckner 8 (Studio Video) YouTube video by Jazzrausch Bigband

Here’s a big band version of the Bruckner 8 finale. Great stuff: m.youtube.com/watch?v=djpJ...

I’ve got loads of musical blind spots, many too embarrassing to reveal here. But Sibelius is The Man. I’m listening to Lemminkainen Suite on R3 as I type this. Bliss!

Learn a brass instrument, then you’d love Bruckner.

I loved watching and reviewing this disc. Pioneering investigative journalist Daniel Farson investigates witches, UFOs, cats, striptease, the Stock Exchange and a whole load more: www.theartsdesk.com/tv/blu-ray-d... @vicpratt.bsky.social #bfi #danielfarson #associatedrediffusion

'#DanielFarson, looking for people with unconventional opinions' ★★★★ DANIEL FARSON'S GUIDE TO BRITAIN Vol 1 - A pioneering TV journalist's guide to late 1950s London, and beyond - 'This set is a blast', says @grahamrickson.bsky.social - now on #BFI Blu-ray theartsdesk.com/tv/blu-ray-d...

We saw an exhibition of paintings by Wayne Thiebaud in London last autumn - yours have a similar vibrancy.

I love these!

Elsa Barraine

Maurice Ravel

This week's classical reviews, expertly assembled: www.theartsdesk.com/classical-mu... @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social #elsabarraine #stravinsky #mauriceravel #britten

that headline generator is lots of fun.

Please enjoy this stirring-fox-7e1fab.netlify.app - much more fun than actually having to read the Telegraph.

This is ace! Thank you.

And what a life she led. Heroic.