Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper: I
^UP^ to Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper index.
Chapters: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z
Extracts from Adam Hart-Davis's book.
(Buy the book from Micheal O'Mara Books, ISBN 1-85479-250-4, hardback 1-85479-245-8, or in the US, ISBN 1570760810.)
- Inspiration
-
Bob Olley has lived all his life in South Shields, where lavatories are
called 'netties', which according to local legend stems from the Roman
occupation, since the Italian word for a row of toilets is
gabinetti. For 17 years Bob was a miner, but the pit closed, and he
set out to make a living as an artist; you'll find him in the Gambling Man
Gallery in Wapping Street.
Bob was born within the smell of the Westoe Netty, a public urinal under a railway bridge, and says it was the source of his inspiration, as well as one of his first subjects. The men coming out of the pubs filled the netty and formed a waiting queue outside. Graffiti covered every inch of the cement-rendered walls, and the ancient flush never succeeded in clearing the trough of fag ends and tram tickets. His painting of the Westoe Netty, which is now closed, is a wonderful kaleidoscope of colour, graffiti, and social comment, but too rich for these small pages; so here [only in the book, sorry!], entitled The Day Dreamer, is an early inspiration.
- Iraqi Cubicle
-
In Bravo Two Zero, his horrific book about SAS operations in
the Gulf War, Andy McNab describes how, after capture, he was led to a big
room with a row of a dozen doors, close together. The guard pushed him
inside one, shut the door, and fastened bolt and padlock.
The darkness was absolute. There was a gagging stench of faeces. Andy got down on his hands and knees and felt his way around. He soon discovered, in the middle of the tiny space, two porcelain footpads either side of a hole about eight inches in diameter. No wonder his new bedroom stank.
Text extracts from "Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper" copyright (c) Adam Hart-Davis 1997. Web extracts first published 2007-07-18, updated ✎2018-02-25
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