'Science Spotlight’ 7/12 Sir Richard Owen

Sir Richard Owen KCB (1804-1892)
Born in Lancaster, apprenticed to a local surgeon in 1820. He enrolled as a medical student at the University of Edinburgh in 1824, completing his medical course in London only to abandon the medical practice instead perusing a career in anatomical research. In 1827, Owen was appointed Assistant Curator of the Royal College of Surgeons. To further his understanding of anatomy he dissected deceased specimens donated by London zoo, acquiring a vast knowledge of comparative anatomy.
Owen had a particular interest in extinct animals, naming many species, publishing several scientific papers on the subject also coining the word Dinosauria (meaning "Terrible Reptile" or "Fearfully Great Reptile"). An astute politician, and friend to the Royal family Prince Albert requested he tutor the royal children and supervise the construction of the prehistoric life exhibition at the Crystal Palace. Having being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and Superintendent of the Natural History Departments of the British Museum, he established the British Museum of Natural History in South Kensington in 1881. Notorious for discrediting his fellow scientists, and claiming the scientific discoveries of others as his own, he continued to work until his official retirement at the age of 79. He was made a knight of the Order of the Bath in 1883.


© Arfon Jones 2010. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Frank's Fantastic Farewell

Last night, Beth and I convened on Castlefield Arena in Manchester joining 5,000 other fans to celebrate the life and career of Chris Sievey a.k.a Frank Sidebottom. Many members of the audience wore papier mache heads and Altrincham football shirts I wore the badge he sent me 2 weeks before he died. This open-air extravaganza was tarnished only by the sad fact that he was no longer with us, Despite this we all remained upbeat during the festivities.

The evening started with Frank’s brilliant Channel M test card via the big screen as the Frank Sidebottom’s Oh Blimey Biggest Band took to the stage performing some of Frank’s classic songs with vocals provided by Frank’s long lost big brother Hank Sidebottom!After a few hilarious clips from his ‘Frank Sidebottom’s Proper Telly Show in B/W’ an interview with Radio 2 DJ Mark Radcliffe of Mark and Lard fame. He reminisced about life on the road with Chris and Frank when he was he was a drummer for the Oh Blimey Band.
Damon Gough aka Badly Drawn Boy followed, sharing his story of his first encounter with Frank then played four of his songs closing with a touching 'Timperley Sunset’ reference.

The evening progressed with further tributes from family and friends including fellow cult legend, the great Charlie Chuck!Along with Mr B the Gentleman Rapper and Moonchester the official mascot of Manchester City F.C spaced between clips from Frank’s past television ventures including ‘Frank’s Fantastic Shed Show’. ’Frank’s World’, the animated short created by the man himself and the hilariously funny, never aired ‘Frank Sidebottom’s Celebrity Sleep Over’ were Frank dropped in on former Smiths' drummer, Mike Joyce.

The show ended with a performance by the Refreshies an updated version of The Freshies with Harry Sievey Chris’ youngest son stepping in before eldest son Stirling Sievey (Roger the boy next door) closed what was an emotional evening’s worth of entertainment asking the crowd to ‘Guess who's been On Match of the Day?! A send off that lived up to all that was Frank Sidebottom.

With ‘Guess who's been On Match of the Day? now on iTunes as a posthumous bid to get Frank to No 1 in the charts Along with plans to erect a statue of Frank in Timperley the Frank Sidebottom legacy is far from over!

'Science Spotlight’ 6/12 Harry Grindell Matthews

Harry Grindell Matthews (1880-1941)
Studied at the Merchant Venturer's School in Bristol and became an electronic engineer. Having served in the South African Constabulary in the Second Boer War he developed an interest in the possibilities of voice communication by wireless. After returning to Britain he invented the Aerophone device, a radiotelephone that transmitted messages between a ground station and an aeroplane from a distance of two miles. In 1914, the British government offered £25,000 for an effective weapon against zeppelins. Matthews created a remote control system that used selenium cells. In 1921 he designed and built a camera that recorded an optical sound track alongside the photographed image. The device was not pursued as film producers believed that ‘talkies’ had no commercial future... In 1923 he invented the infamous 'Death Ray' a means of transmitting energy without wires capable of shooting down aeroplanes, stopping ships and incapacitating infantry from the distance of four miles. The government unconvinced and sceptical, believing the demonstration to be a hoax rejected his invention. In 1934, facing bankruptcy after the commercial failure of his ‘Sky Projector’ he relocated to South Wales where he worked on rocket travel, a submarine detection system, and an Aerial Torpedo for defending cities from airborne attacks until his death from a heart attack.
© Arfon Jones 2010. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Frank's Fantastic Funeral Fund

Still in shock after the tragic death of Chris Sievey a.k.a Frank Sidebottom.
When it was reported that he had in fact died penniless and was to suffer the indignity of a pauper's funeral provided by state grants. Friends, fans and former band members united to prevent this from happening and launched the Frank's Fantastic Funeral Fund raising £15,000 within 24 hours!

Wanting to do my bit for the great man, I painted this piece depicting him sporting his trademark pink show business tie and his ventriloquist puppet Little Frank. Created in pen and acrylic on blue card it was sold on ebay with all the proceeds going to Frank's Fantastic Funeral Fund. Thanks to everyone who placed a bid!

© Arfon Jones 2010. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Frank Sidebottom (1955–2010)

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Chris Sievey a.k.a Frank Sidebottom who died today.I mentioned in a previous post how much of an influence Frank had been on me growing up the 1980’s. First seeing him on ITV’s No. 73 his puppet pal Little Frank and keyboard in tow being only 7 at the time I had no knowledge of ‘alternative comedy’ I was simply fascinated by his papier-mâché features. Frank would regularly pop up in following years either as a guest on various television shows or in Oink! Comic, the strips written and drawn by the man himself in his traditional medium of felt tip pen.

Forward to 2005, I happened to be watching Channel 4's 100 Greatest Pop Videos when suddenly there was Frank Sidebottom speaking on behalf of The Aphex Twin! All the memories came flooding back to me prompting an Internet search… I was delighted to discover that Frank was back and touring!
I attended several of Frank’s live gigs then on, ranging from lectures on pet keeping to family friendly pantomimes each one crammed with humour, music and a raffle! Always remaining in character a true professional, I fondly remember Frank setting up his equipment before a gig with a taped on moustache maintaining he was a stagehand and NOT Frank Sidebottom.

I also had the pleasure of attending the Timperley Magical Tour, a guided tour of his beloved hometown of Timperley, the tour gave a new perspective to all his songs. We saw such locations as the grounds of Altrincham FC and the famous Timperley station followed by a fish and chip supper and a ‘lock in’ at Timperley Aquatics where a snake managed to get into the lining of Frank’s jacket. We all looked on as a staff member tried to coax the snake out and Frank worried about what his mother would say about his ruined jacket! I would receive my Sidebottom fix between shows via his web site and his Frank Sidebottom's Proper Telly Show in B/W on Channel M not to mention his hilarious test cards where he would sing songs and ramble on with Little Frank.

I am so grateful for being able to add the last 5 years to my already endearing memory of Frank. I had the pleasure of meeting the great man several times, always charming and entertaining, once comparing one of my painting to one of the ‘great masters’. I have made many friends at his events who share equally fond memories of the legend that was Frank Sidebottom. Thanks Chris.
You will be missed, you know you will… you really will...Thank you.



© Arfon Jones 2010. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

How to Survive A Zombie Apocalypse: RELOADED

You may recall back in February I was invited to capture the likeness of leading Zombologogist and star of hit cult show ‘How To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse’, Dr Dale Seslick. Following on from the success at the Leicester Comedy Festival & Brighton Fringe I’m pleased to announce that the Zombie Apocalypse crew are returning to the Edinburgh Fringe! Armed with countless rave reviews from the likes of SFX, Fortean Times, The Argus and Threeweeks they plan to repeat last year’s sell out success with their sequel ‘How to Survive A Zombie Apocalypse: RELOADED’

With the tie-in book being launched nationally on the 1st August, their weekly podcast series reaching 13the position in the iTunes comedy charts and their Facebook page accumulating over 15,000 fans I recommend that you check out what all the buzz is about – at the very least you’ll learn how to stay alive when the undead rise!

From the Vaults: 2003 ‘A Circus Freak Accident’

Back in 2003 I was invited to take part in BBC Wales’s Capture Wales project a series of monthly workshops organised across Wales, which ran between 2001 to 2008. Each contributor was assisted by a trained individual on how to make a short film and granted access to laptops, scanners, digital cameras and editing software to create their digital story. They were then added to their exhibition site for the purposes of showcasing real-life stories made by people from across Wales. It was a fascinating process, and a marvellous project as their website blurb reads, “Films feature individuals sharing moments of their lives with the camera, and range from the humorous to the bizarre and moving.” The only requirement was that the story had to be a real life occurrence so I recounted the time I was bitten by a Circus dog and the effects that followed. I’ve always maintained that it's a personal story, one that other people couldn’t relate to and the fact that video has been online for almost 10 years and I still haven’t heard from other 'recovering' circus dog victim confirms it! 95% of the film is made up with my drawings and when it was completed it seemed well received, I was then delighted six months later when they informed me that the BBC wanted to show my story on the telly (along with an introductional mini interview). I’m not quite ready to share the video interview but you can see the story itself here and find a transcript here and because websites have a habit of fading away and some people have regional limitations when dealing with BBC sites I decided to also upload the video to my Youtube channel as well. But I recommend you visit the main site if you can and see what the project was all about.


© Arfon Jones 2010. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.