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Photographs: Joshua V Jones for Backlit Gallery

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“Will he ever shut up?”

“Just smile and pretend that you’re interested.”

With Rosa Davies (Marketing Coordinator at Backlit Gallery).

For literary appearances I always wear what I call ‘my authorial drag’, complete with a fresh green carnation in honour of Oscar Wilde. In keeping with the vibe of the occasion, for the advanced viewing and appearance at Punk: Rage & Revolution, as tribute to both Oscar, and X-Ray Spex singer and lyricist Poly Styrene, I wore a plastic variant attached to my lapel by a trio of sparkling new safety pins.

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On the opening night I had the pleasure of meeting Phil Castello
and his lovely mother, Julia, with whom I had a fabulous chinwag about
St. Ann’s and Nottingham of years gone by.
Phil very generously loaned Backlit Gallery many items from his personal archive of Westwood/McLaren originals
as well as flyers, record sleeves and artwork.

Viewing an original of the contentious McLaren & Westwood
‘Two Cowboys’ shirt that Phil loaned to the exhibition.