At school I realised that art was about ideas as well as representing the world, and my Dad always encouraged me to read and be aware of what was going on.
On a Sunday he went for a pint to his local pub where he used to drink with a mate who worked in the printing industry. He gave my Dad free books from that week’s print runs. As you can imagine, the selection of books would be completely eclectic, one week historical books about Nasser’s Egypt, and the following week L’Estranger, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and Utopia. I struggled through them not understanding a great deal but understanding enough to spark an interest. As this was a Sunday, his mate had been working overnight printing the Sunday Times, so in addition to the books my Dad would bring home copies of the paper and amongst many other things I would read about Vietnam and the investigative journalism of the Insight team.
