I could never comfortably call myself a musician. I can at best clumisly string a few chords together into something that is just about recognisable, most successfully if I don’t even try and think about the lyrics, but this ebay listing recently caught my eye and I was quicky overcome by a desire to own this peculiar looking thing.

The more I looked at it, the more intrigued I became. The seller described it as, ‘a ukulele size 6 string electric guitar’ from the Soviet era, a truly excellent proposition appeared to have manifested before me as a real instrument for sale. I tried to rationalise the situation, it clearly needs work to make it playable, I can’t be the only person with an eye on it, its unusual and therefore probably quite rare….I quickly decided to do a little research and forget about rationality.

The problem was there did not seem to be a single reference to it on the whole of the internet other than the ebay listing I had spotted. Nothing at all. The only images available from a search were the ones taken by the seller for his listing.

I wasn’t about to leave it there though. What about the make? There must be some information about the manufacturers. I’ve invested considerable time looking into Soviet and Eastern Bloc cameras in the past and learned a fair amount about the history of Zenit, Praktica, Lomo and more, how hard could it be to do some cursory research into Soviet era instruments?

The truth is whilst a quick search will yield a whole stack of funky looking Soviet electric guitars for sale (and for fairly reasonable prices it would seem) it will not reveal that much detail on their history. It seems that there is probably a market for them and probably a community of enthusiasts as well, but the history books are yet to be written.

The name on the headstock is ‘Orfeus’ and I did learn that they were indeed a Soviet era, Eastern Bloc maker of electric guitars based in Bulagria. You can pick one up on ebay in what looks like an at least playable condition for around £200. Incomplete information about some of their products is out there if you wish to peruse for yourself. Needless to say there is no mention of electric 6 string ukuleles…

Still undefeated I went back to the listing and the images provided. With my admittedly limited knowledge I quickly concluded that something was off. Was this a 6 string uke? Could it be a guitarlele? No, This instrument I decided was not ‘a ukulele size 6 string electric guitar’ at all. This instrument I have decided is (most likely) an electric 8 string soprano ukulele. Whilst I do accept that this does not actually seem to be a thing, I don’t see what else it could possibly be.

I have contacted the seller who also admits to being a bit clueless about stringed instruments, he did tell me though that he found it in a pile of fire wood in an old barn (in Hungary) and thought it worth saving, so he is the real hero in this story.

The images clearly show two missing tuners and that is why I have opted to conclude that it has to be an 8 string ukulele with the strings arranged into 4 courses, also the tail piece appears to be constructed to take 4 strings and I therefore conclude this is for 4 courses, not 4 strings.

I cannot reiterate enough that I actually know nothing and am merely speculating, but never-the-less it seems the most likely explanation.

Anyway all will hopefully be revelaed as a few days ago I set my alarm for an ungodly hour in the morning and entered my highest bid. Long story short this unusual little instrument in need of some care and attention is (as I write) travelling across Europe from Hungary to the UK and should be with me soon.

More to follow……

More years than I care to think about, at the height of the UK small press comics boom of the 1990s, I self published one issue of a fanzine called Algol. Back then I had plans for doing more, but for one reason or another it wasn’t to be and so the continuing adventures of the Galactic Liberation Squad never got off the ground. Fortunately I had the foresight of presenting the final episode as the first and so there is an element of closure at least.

I wrote the script and the artwork was done by a young artist by the name of Paul M. I never met Paul, but was very pleased with his interpretion of my characters. I hope he went on to many better scripts than mine.

So, finally after more than two decades, from the pages of Algol, I once again present the first and only outing of the The Galactic Liberation Squad.

Enjoy…..

Discuss...

Photography has been a big part of my life, especially after I got my hands on a half decent digital camera for the first time around twenty years ago. Before this I had an array of film cameras starting with an extremely basic 110 in the 70s, a seemingly flashy but appallingly bad disc camera in the early 80s and then my first SLR in the shape of a Praktica MTL50 in the mid 80s.

That Praktica remained my go to camera for many years, probably until the late 90s when I tired of carrying around a bulky East German relic and fell back on a few point-and-shoots I picked up here and there.

I was always hindered in photography by the cost and was never a prolific photographer but in the mid 2000s when I bought a Konica Minolta DiMage Z2 a whole new world opened up to me and in this pre-smartphone, Flickr-centric world, I rarely left the house without it.

A few years later in the early 2010s I got my first DSLR and continued to experiment and grow as a photographer. Onwards and upwards.

Last year, thousands of digital images later, my interest was suddenly piqued by the analogue. I’d amassed a small collection of film cameras from boot sales and charity shops over the decades that were scattered around the house gathering dust on shelves or hidden in boxes. I also had a stash of 35mm films that I’d bought in the poundshop a few years prior, similarly languishing in a drawer.

To cut it short, I began experimenting with film photography again, scouting out more old cameras, watching the mandatory youtube videos and eventually falling down a very specific Soviet camera rabbit hole. I bought new films and tried different formats, I even processed some of my monochrome efforts at home.

More recently I've acquired a stockpile of expired film, both 35mm and 120 formats ranging in date from the late 1960s to the 2010s and obviously I got to wondering about how to use them all. Rather than overthink it, I opted to dive straight in and just pull out a film and a camera each week and see what happens.

I'm going to try my very best to use one film a week (roughly) Some will be write offs, some will be unusual, most will be dreadful, some (hopefully) will be acceptable. Maybe one or two will actually be decent. Whichever way, I'm hoping they'll all be good fun.

Discuss...

The second SPEAK protest against the building of Oxford University’s animal testing lab that I documented was on 28th January 2006.

A much smaller gathering of people assembled in Cornmarket Street to highlight their feelings that funding given to Oxford University by Vodaphone could help to fund the animal lab.

SPEAK had other events planned across the city that day, but despite the relatvely small numbers of protesters this time, the police presence remained strong and they filmed and photographed everything that happened at close proximity.

Ultimately the event passed off peacefully other than some shouting and arguing with passers by.

In February the stakes in SPEAK‘s campaign against the building of the new Oxford Animal Lab were raised. On the same day as the Vodaphone demonstration, 16 year old Laurie Pycroft had been shopping in Oxford when he witnessed another SPEAK protest and decided to stage one of his own in support of the lab with a couple of friends. They made some impromptu banners and began chanting, “Build the lab!”

Nothing much came of his stand that day, but he decided to go home and write about his experience on his blog. His account was seen by hundreds of people and he decided to make website called Pro-Test in support of animal testing, soon he was getting 300 hits an hour and within weeks a movement had been formed and Pro-Test were planning to march in opposition to SPEAK in Oxford city centre.

Despite tensions running high, on the day there were no arrests and no violence. The police presence was high as ever and the press reported that Pro-Test outnumbered SPEAK considerably. Both sides however claimed the moral victory.

As noted in his trial where he claimed he was constantly watched, filmed and followed by police, the intense scrutiny of SPEAK figurehead Mel Broughton was blatent and the police trailed and filmed him sometimes just inches from his face.

It wasn’t until October 2006 I documented my next SPEAK protest in Oxford. It was well attended and peaceful.

Ultimately the lab was completed and Laurie Pycroft went on to study Physiology and Neurosurgey at Oxford and even went on to work at the lab, but the SPEAK campaign against animal testing continued.

The last time I saw Mel Broughton protesting the Oxford Animal Lab as part of the SPEAK campaign was at the Martyr’s Memorial in July 2007.

By December 2007 Broughton was remanded in custody facing charges of conspiracy to blackmail and the possession of incendiary devices. He faced a series of retrials before being sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2010 for conspiracy to commit arson.

Broughton was released in 2013 after serving 5 years, 1 month and 15 days of his sentence.

Pro-Test was wound down in 2011 following the completion of the lab.

SPEAK continue their campaining in Oxford on a regular basis to this day.

Walking into Oxford city centre in January 2006 I began to notice a heavy police presence, roads had been closed and traffic diverted. Unsure what was going on I continued into town and soon realised that there was a demonstration organised by the animal rights group SPEAK about to begin. Intrigued by the situation, I had my camera in my bag and so decided to press on and see what was happening.

SPEAK was formed out of the Stop Primate Experimentation at Cambridge (SPEAC) campaign that had helped to put a stop to what would have been the largest primate testing centre in Europe in 2004. Once activists learned of a newly proposed animal lab at Oxford they began their campaign anew.

The figurehead of SPEAK was Mel Broughton, a long time activist who has been involved in animal rights since he was 15. His activities have lead to him being jailed several times.

In 1999 he was sentenced to four years for conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life. In 2007 he was charged with conspiracy to blackmail and possession of incendiary devices following a fire at Queen’s College, Oxford. This ultimately resulted in a sentence of ten years.

Evidence was submitted during Broughton’s trial of a recording in which Oxford police discussed a “dirty war” against him, and how they were going to “get him.” Broughton told the court that he was constantly watched, filmed and followed by police and their actions made him completely paranoid.

The atmsophere at SPEAK demonstrations was always notably tense and on this occaision Broughton gave a rallying speech to a highly charged crowd:

“The time has come for fighting, not talking. If we need to, we have got to tear that place down with our bare hands. “

The police were not playing it softly softly and trouble broke out as they attempted block the protester’s way. Five people were arrested after fences were pushed down and missiles thrown. Some officers appeared to have removed their identifying numbers from their shoulders.

Never-the-less the SPEAK protesters were a broad coalition of people, from young and old to the conventional and less so, they were all quite happy for me to wander around in the middle of their protest with my camera taking pictures.

This was the first of several SPEAK protests I attended in 2006 that ultimately set me on the path of documenting protests for many years to come. Have a look at my ipernity album for more images of the day.

#photography #photo #streetphotography #animalrights #oxford #oxforduniversity #protest #demonstration

Beacon Hill near Kimble, Buckinghamshire has long been a place of interest for me. On the edge of the Chequers estate, skirted by the ancient Ridgeway, it is surrounded by sites and monuments from the more recent past, as well as those that predate history.

Chequers has been a Prime Ministerial retreat since 1921, but the house has a long history. Lady Mary Grey (sister of Lady Jane Grey) spent two years under house arrest here at the the behest of Elizabeth I. Later the house fell into the hands of Oliver Cromwell’s grandson, John Russell. The house is said to contain a large collection of Cromwellian memorabilia, but what this might consist of I do not know.

From the top of Beacon Hill Chequers is not visible, but in the opposite direction it offers views across the Vale of Aylesbury and deep into Oxfordshire. Observed from different angles and locations it takes on radically different shapes and sizes, some are quite striking and can be seen from various locations across the vale.

Viewed up close from the nearby village of Ellesborough (as above) it appears as a gentle rolling mound, but viewed across the fields from the Lower Icknield Way (as below) it looks like a miniature Table Mountain, flat topped and imposing with almost symmetrical sloping escarpments.

This whole area of the Chilterns must have had special significance to the ancients as it is littered with Iron Age, Bronze Age and Neolithic remains. It’s proximity to the start of the Ridgeway at nearby Ivinghoe Beacon is surely no coincidence to this. In fact Beacon Hill itself has a number of it’s own points of interest, unfortunately there seems to be a lot of confusion about which is which, but I have done my best to try and make sense of it.

A bowl barrow on the brow of Beacon Hill gazes across the vale. An excavation of the barrow in 1855-6 unearthed fragments of a ceramic urn, charcoal, bone and a horse’s tooth. To my mind who ever was buried in this commanding place must have been pretty special, not everyone gets a spot like this to spend eternity.

Earthworks can be seen around the hill, many of them cross dykes and the wider area contains many more barrows, hill forts (notably Pulpit Hill) and the Whiteleaf Cross, which may (or may not) have prehistoric origins.

At the foot of the hill a large flat area of land is said to be the site of Cymbeline’s Castle. Shakespeare’s Cymbeline was inspired by the ancient king Cunobeline, described by Suetonius as Britannorum Rex, King of the Britons. The name Kimble is said to have derived from Cunobeline but the association is probably apocryphal. There once was a motte-and-bailey castle on the site and evidence of an Iron Age presence has been unearthed.

In real life Cunobeline and his kin played a significant role in the Roman invasion of Britain. As king of the Catuvellauni, his tribe led the resistance to Julius Caesar’s first expedition to Britain in 54 BC, but Cunobeline himself appears to have been something of a collaborator and evidence suggests he had strong links to Rome. These were eventually the undoing of his people. Shortly before his death he exiled his son Adminius who took refuge with the Emperor Caligula. Caligula is said to have seen this as an act of  submission to Rome and used it as pretext for his aborted invasion.

Following the death of Cunobeline, another of his sons, Caratacus overthrew the neighboring King Verica of the Atrebates, a client of the Roman Empire. This time it was Claudius who was inspired to invade Britain and of course managed to achieve his ambitions.

Caratacus was vehemently anti-Rome and led a ten year guerrilla campaign against the occupiers. He was ultimately captured, but spared from execution by Claudius following an eloquent speech to the Senate. He seems to have lived out his days in Rome, exiled from his people and marvelling at the achievements of the Empire. “And can you, then, who have got such possessions and so many of them, covet our poor tents?” Cassius Dio quotes him as saying.

The more things change.

Despite the mythos around Caratacus and his deeds, I like to think of him and his people up on Beacon Hill two thousand years ago, but who ever lived there they undoubtedly knew of his exploits and his struggle against Rome.