I’m hosting a guided walk through Frank Norman’s Soho next month. Expect some rare stories about Frank’s (mis)adventures in the bombed out cultural melting pot that was the Soho in the 40s/50s/60s. Where and how did he get that razo
Thrilled to visit the opening of ‘Robert Colquhoun and Robert Macbryde: Artists, Lovers, Outsiders’ @nottinghamcastle this evening. Incredibly it’s the first show of their striking and brilliant work since 1962(!) Legacy is a biz
A glorious chat with musician, writer and social historian Max Décharné. Max enlightened us with some intriguing theories and observations about Frank and his work: - How did Norman’s vernacular infiltrate the opening track of a
Thanks to all those who came to the rescheduled Sohemians talk, lovely to chat and meet some of you. There’s a podcast of the talk coming so a post on that will follow. After the talk we spent an enlightening few drinks in the company of film
Coffee and paintings with Geraldine and @ed_hicks , an exciting project in the works 🎭 #FrankNorman #RoughTrade
A special event on the 14 May for the Behind Bars exhibition, with extra special guest @bapou_costi I saw a few clips of John talking about his time doing time and how it connected to his creativity, which reminded me of Frank’s writing about
The ‘Behind Bars’ exhibition of Frank Norman’s prison painting continues until 29th March @century_soho . Tomorrow we host a special evening featuring a talk with Frank’s widow Geraldine and myself, where you can hear more abo
‘Novelist, playwright, painter, criminal. In the words of his grandson, author Frank Norman certainly had an ‘interesting’ life, to say the least. He was best known for his acclaimed prison memoir ‘Bang to Rights’ (1958)
Delighted to announce the second Frank Norman exhibition of 2025! A new and expanded edition of the ‘Prison Paintings’ show, banned last year by Brixton Prison (see earlier post), and featuring 30 newly framed works. Please join us for &l
The Soho Night & Day exhibition is now showing @frenchhousesoho until the 8th Feb. Frank and Jeff had many adventures there and The French Pub is the spiritual home of the book as much as the Colony Room. As Frank’s widow Geraldine wrote, t
‘WHAT’S HE REALLY GOT?’ My dad is a big Stones fan and pointed out this passage from @loogoldham ‘s autobiography. The Loog-Oldhams lived in Netherhall Gardens, Hampstead in the flat below Frank. Young Andrew was impressed by
THE TWO ROBERTS This is Robert Macbryde, photographed in Dublin when Frank was over for the premiere of Fings at the Olympia, where it ran for a season. Macbryde had moved there from London after the death of his partner Robert Colquhoun. The two Ro
GASTON BERLEMONT Gaston on Frank: “Frank was basically a loner. His early life had forced him to be tough or at least appear to be so, his scarred face forever set in a mask of disdain for the Establishment, a rebel without a real cause, alway
BOY SMOKING Frank lived in a squat with Lucian Freud in Paddington (or Soho, sources are conflicting!) not long after he left the fairground, and they remained friends. Freud painted Frank a couple of times, here’s Boy Smoking (Frank in his la
WALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE NOR IRON BARS A CAGE We were due to launch an exhibition of Frank’s paintings in a prison restaurant this week, but it was cancelled at the last minute, and the paintings deemed to be ‘inappropriate’(!) T
AN ASHTRAY ON A STORK Geraldine’s account of how she met Frank, as written in the 1987 Times piece (see previous post) Dan Farson wrote in his ‘Soho In The Fifties’ memoir that Frank “enjoyed a glorious stroke of luck in me