tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28198892777608990552024-03-13T10:57:13.979-07:00Dispatches from the Frontline of Law and Popular CultureGuy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-80687422661481470502023-07-30T01:14:00.001-07:002023-07-30T01:40:22.922-07:00The Day I Met GodNearly thirty years ago I wrote a short article about an event that took place nearly fifty years ago. The event was breaking my leg playing football in the street, and the place of publication the football fanzine The Heathen. At work today I found this document and its cover can be seen below.Now it might be that many readers (I like to kid myself that I have some readers) would be Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-59098294987919407252022-12-02T07:58:00.000-08:002022-12-02T07:58:15.071-08:00Christine McVie RIP Very sad to hear of the passing of Christine McVie this week. An amazing musical pedigree in anyone's book. We usually think of her in terms of peak period platinum selling Fleetwood Mac, but it's interesting to dig a bit deeper. After a series of bands in her native West Midlands, she came to prominence with the band Chicken Shack. Looking in our archives it appears that Chicken Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-52712333091249494852021-05-04T09:19:00.002-07:002021-05-07T01:28:09.615-07:00Naming The Cafe at Little Titchfield Street During lockdown the Estates Team has been working really hard in Little Titchfield Street,
the home of the Westminster Law School and the library, and everyone will spot some great
improvements when we are all back in the Building. One of the things the team have been
working on is the Café area, this has been rejuvenated, see some teaser photos below, and this will be a great place to relax andGuy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-54961370444408575432021-03-08T01:34:00.000-08:002021-03-08T01:34:29.120-08:00Mary Lines, the University of Westminster and the curious case of the third plinth The third plinthMarch 21st 2021 marks the centenary of our Polytechnic (now University of Westminster) women departing for France to participate in the first Women's Olympiad. To mark this we are running a project, entitled Writing Between the Lines, which involves ten student poets celebrating the stories and achievements of these fantastic women. These interventions will be performed, displayedGuy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-35489520026076980192019-05-02T05:23:00.000-07:002019-05-02T05:23:48.930-07:00It starts and ends with you
The first time I saw Suede, third on the bill
This entry is something of a digression for Tickets of Distinction. Hitherto, and very sporadically, I have posted blogs concerning tickets on anniversaries of the original event, and tried whilst doing this to excavate some social or personal history of the time. I haven't managed to post as much as I would have liked given these Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-70039142380905507932018-12-31T03:57:00.000-08:002019-11-17T06:26:22.197-08:00They disturbed my natural emotions
My first 7" single, no pic sleeve and, unfathomably,
now housed in Pye sleeve
I had to drive to Birmingham to pick up my mum just before Christmas. Rather than my usual BBC6 I chose some CDs to listen to on the journey. These have been overlooked somewhat with my return to vinyl and use of streaming services, and most are now in the loft, but a number have been kept to hand, Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-22253824749927013252018-06-29T01:15:00.001-07:002018-06-29T01:15:34.858-07:00End of the group stages psychosis blues (reprise)At exactly the same stage in 2014 I blogged about the end of the group stages psychosis blues, a knowing nod to That Petrol Emotion that readers may have picked up upon. The essence of the blog was an acknowledgement of that empty feeling when the group stages with at least three games a day have finished. It was also a paean to my attempts at World Cup cooking. I've been quiet on the blogging Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-38165803756180640602018-03-22T10:06:00.000-07:002018-03-22T10:06:42.403-07:00I used the NME
I picked up my last copy of the NME (pictured) at Oxford Street tubestation. Ironic really, as back in the day I used to make a trip to the tube station most tuesdays during my lunchbreak to pick up the NME. One of the best things about moving to London in the 1980s was that you were able to pick up the music papers a day early - invaluable, particularly as this was my main source of gig Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-47383567045673824752018-02-21T02:30:00.000-08:002018-02-21T02:30:24.398-08:00What Difference Does it Make (Part 2)?
Terence Stamp, from 'The Collector'
Next week sees the second Difference Festival hosted by the University of Westminster. There are some absolute treats there and the team have done a brilliant job devising an eclectic mix of events focussed on Soho. I blogged last year trying to give some context to what difference means to us under the banner 'What Difference does it Make?', hence the 'Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-89021571058425866982017-11-21T02:54:00.000-08:002017-11-21T02:54:29.252-08:00Wearing badges is not enough (reprise)
Wearing badges is not enough
I've always loved badges. Along with event tickets, see my other blog tickets of distinction for some of these, and records, I guess I have been a bit of a collector. I've recently become the proud owner of three more badges, displayed opposite.
The first reflects the Music Minds Matter project, predicated upon the excellent Can MusicGuy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-65669222105061079552017-10-13T03:18:00.002-07:002017-10-13T03:18:38.572-07:00Disrupting the Everyday: Being Human and the Soho Poly
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Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-51048848195324497362017-06-27T07:06:00.000-07:002017-06-27T07:06:07.897-07:00Why Poetry Matters
I
was fourteen when The Jam released Sound
Affects, an album Weller maintained was their finest. They were already a
really important band for me, notwithstanding the callowness of my youth. They
had released a peerless run of singles since my first purchase of ‘When You’re
Young’ the previous year and I had delved into the back catalogue with relish
and found a band to cherish. I’d Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-2890700533301388482017-05-11T02:16:00.000-07:002017-05-12T00:42:02.954-07:00And Ziggy played the Poly
Fifty years ago today (12th May) Procul Harem’s A Whiter Shade of Pale was released - a seminal
record and one which was subject to a well publicised copyright
dispute around joint authorship. In fact the victor there, Matthew Fisher,
can be doubly pleased as changes to duration provisions in copyright law now
mean that copyright in the sound recording now persists to 2037, rather than
Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-38476158531307150912017-02-14T04:06:00.000-08:002017-02-14T04:06:12.295-08:00What Difference Does It Make?
'All men have secrets and here is mine, so let it be known'.
So opened The Smiths' third single, 'What Difference Does it Make?'. To these ears an astonishing clarion call and a fine addition to the canon, although compared against the first two singles undeniably not as strong. Still, it was an unbridled and unfettered joy to journey to the record shop to purchase, as were all The Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-23388255556429362962016-06-19T03:16:00.001-07:002016-06-19T04:22:39.282-07:00I offer up to you this tribute: Billy Bragg and my dad
My dad died in 2000. I've blogged about him before, particularly around the great work of the Stroke Association who provided my dad with great support after his first stroke, and also after I met Edwyn Collins shortly after his own stroke. It's Fathers' Day today. I think about my dad all the time, but particularly on day's like these. I've taken to posting a link to Billy Bragg's Tank Park Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-50837792134675439482016-06-10T06:17:00.000-07:002016-06-10T06:17:23.166-07:001966 and all that
I remember seeing this emblazoned on posters around London during EURO '96, and on the eve of EURO 2016 our thoughts turn to not thirty years of hurt, but now 50 years since our last major footballing success. Outside of the triumph at Wembley, 1966 was an important year for all sorts of other reasons. I'm currently reading Jon Savage's book 1966. I am a great admirer of Savage's work, Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-70415891150652422762016-05-15T03:18:00.000-07:002016-05-15T03:51:16.804-07:00Just Like Honey? This week I have been pre-occupied by bees. On Wednesday I went to a mesmeric live performance of Be: One at Sonos Studios in Shoreditch. This is part of a Wolfgang Buttress project which seems to have developed far beyond what he even imagined at its inception - indeed at the Q&A that preceded the performance he seemed barely able to comprehend that a project he started with bee expertGuy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-47080336714324730052015-05-19T01:21:00.000-07:002015-05-19T01:21:16.987-07:00Do you believe in magic? The re-emergence of the Regent Street CinemaThis month marked the long awaited rebirth of our wonderful cinema, now renamed the Regent Street Cinema. For a long time for staff at the University it was known as The Old Cinema, and has had various names over the years, as will be clear when the book about this, The Magic Screen, is published in June 2015. I was lucky enough to be involved with the book, and also have had some Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-40640018358772379812015-01-20T00:21:00.000-08:002015-01-20T00:21:05.054-08:00We are, astronomical, fans of alcohol: World War One and the deadly foe of drink
‘You are,
astronomical, fans of alcohol’
(British Sea Power: Waving Flags)
1916 poster (courtesy IWM). Campaigns such as this helped reduce
alcohol consumption during World War One
Alcohol is deeply embedded in
British culture and there have been numerous state, and other, responses to its
control and regulation. However, as Philip Kolvin has noted in aGuy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-5964718422433842052015-01-16T03:16:00.000-08:002015-01-19T12:39:09.284-08:00Law, poetry and popular culture - to instruct and delightSome months ago I blogged about poetry - in particular how poetry could be used to help stroke victims and included some recollections about my dad, who suffered two strokes. In that blog I talked about the fantastic work that Mancunian wordsmith Mike Garry does in this area. I returned to some of Mike's other work in a later post for my other blog Tickets of Distinction, entitled 'Manic on Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-43358848431288919512015-01-09T07:43:00.000-08:002015-01-09T07:43:17.845-08:00Law, Popular Culture and World War One
In my recent post on Thankful Villages I mentioned the relationship between the law, World War One and popular culture. In fact the entry of the United Kingdom
to World War One on 4 August 1914 presaged a number of legal responses. In
particular, four days after the War began the Defence of the Realm Act 1914
received its Royal Assent. The original Act was very short and was Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-3739201943728038372014-12-30T14:29:00.001-08:002014-12-30T14:29:35.523-08:00Reasons to be thankful - Part 1
Rodney Stoke, a Thankful Village, painted by Darren Hayman
I recently became aware of the phrase 'thankful villages', and was surprised the concept had previously passed me by. Its a really evocative concept and phrase, apparently coined by the journalist Arthur Mee, to denote villages in England and Wales from which all members of the armed forces returned during World War One. I becameGuy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-19493272297008945892014-10-02T04:30:00.001-07:002014-10-02T04:30:43.021-07:00Sport, South Africa and Education
Our view at Newlands for South Africa vs Australia
Whilst I have not blogged here for a while, I have been busy elsewhere with other blog postings such as this one on the Disobedient Objects exhibition for The Justice Gap, but a recent trip to South Africa has prompted me to write again. This was the third time I have visited South Africa, all as part of ongoing research that Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-78757194887201225172014-06-27T06:06:00.001-07:002014-06-27T06:06:22.236-07:00End of the Group Stages Psychosis BluesWell, its come to that terrible time when the Group stages finish and the unthinkable happens - a day without football. Luckily I still have my World Cup cooking concoctions to think about though so all is not lost. The knock out stages present a whole new host of issues for my diet, as I intend, as far as possible, to theme the meals based not only on the games themselves, but also eliminate Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819889277760899055.post-31057563222887276712014-06-21T05:57:00.003-07:002014-06-21T05:57:53.379-07:00World Cup Food Odyssey ContinuedOver a week into World Cup 2014, generally the football has been great although the food I have been preparing has been preferable to the English and Spanish performances (spirited first half against Italy notwithstanding), and since the success of my opening night Feijoada, I have embraced my World Cup culinary journey with varying degrees of success. This has involved some fairly traditional Guy Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18104421506760570304noreply@blogger.com0