How appropriate that the cafe I am typing this entry in should be playing The Animals’ ‘We Gotta Get Out Of This Place’ [surely Eric Burdon’s finest moment – a perfect fusion of the Mississippi and the Tyne].  This was the repeated plea of my wife as we drove up to the mobile home holiday camp …

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From the sublime to the ridiculous: from reflections upon fly fishing to scrutinising examination marks from Finsbury Technical College.  I need to go back to the London Metropolitan Archives to see if I missed any relevant records (a confession in that I spent too long having lunch in Exmouth Market with Colin Seymour-Ure; but then I …

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Last Tuesday [8 October] I was again at Pittleworth Manor talking to Sir Richard Fairey’s daughter and grand-daughter, and selecting photographs for the website, which is still under construction but now in an embryonic form.  As well as photographs ranging across CRF’s life I handled a number of artefacts, including the skates for attachment to …

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As with all major projects one’s ambition of maintaining a structured, focused approach is constantly challenged by reality – if not necessarily the law of unintended consequences then the wholly unexpected.  Having submitted my grant application to support an extended period in the States a year from now researching Sir Richard Fairey’s direction of the …

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To date blog entries have been intermittent, the most recent gap being a consequence of spending time on holiday in France, but with the start of the academic year the project really takes off.  My immediate priorities are twofold.  Firstly, I need to complete preliminary work on the British Air Commission in Washington, 1940-46, which …

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The absence of regular blog postings reflects the fact that complete immersion in the project remains pending.  As much time is spent at present on seasonal activities, ongoing administration (given the time of year mostly related to recruitment), and reading pertinent to teaching (Colin Smith’s England’s Last War With France, which benefits from the thoroughness of his …

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From the outset I envisaged a website that would reflect the project’s progress, and a conversation with Melanie Philpot from the University’s iSolutions IT support team opened my eyes as to how ambitious this could be.  Much of this week has been taken up with work unrelated to Fairey, plus a very pleasant day with …

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A Fairey family meeting at Pittleworth Manor was extremely helpful, and over the past ten days there have been a number of useful initiatives, not least the first stage in establishing a website, and posting information re the project on relevant university noticeboards.  I’m acquiring a formidable library of secondary literature re the embryonic British …

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I’m Adrian Smith, and have a chair in History at the University of Southampton – and this is my first blog entry (a historic moment!).  About ten days ago I was at last able to concentrate upon my principal research project across the next three years – writing a biography of Sir [Charles] Richard Fairey, …

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