Phill Jupitus goes underground

Proof that Essex Man can do art. Check out this video on Eduardo Paolozzi by Leigh-on-Sea's favourite son Phill Jupitus. Paolozzi is not West Ham's latest loan signing, but the Scottish geezer who designed the 1984 artwork at Tottenham Court Road tube station and is featured in a retrospective exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery. 

Phill takes us through London and explores Paolozzi's industrial-sized sculpture of steam-engine inventor James Watt's (you Watt?) head and his his sculpture of Isaac Newton in the style of William Blake. Phill ends up at Tottenham Court Road station where he's previously only seen the brightly-coloured Eastbound platform artwork when drunk and heading back to Essex. 

Phill Jupitus's family values

Nice piece on the Family Values of Leigh-on-Sea's Phill Jupitus in the Family section of Saturday's Guardian. Phill talks movingly about being brought up by his mum Dot in Stanford-le-Hope and on not knowing his late biological father. Plus some wise words on how he sees parenting being about being "a safety net". Jupitus is currently appearing in Mel Brooks' musical The Producers, touring in the UK. For more of his thoughts on Essex there's a whole chapter on him in my book The Joy of Essex, where we discuss the joys of Two Tree Island, the cafes of Southend's Arches, Canvey Island and the view from his home across the Thames Estuary.

Phill gets poetic as Porky

Enjoyed seeing Leigh-on-Sea’s favourite son Phill Jupitus perform as Porky Poet at the Tristan Bates Theatre on Saturday night. Jupitus began his career as performance poet Porky the Poet back in 1984 (as well as being a great cartoonist) and is reprising his verse for some gigs at the Edinburgh Festival this summer. Phill managed to eke lots of humour out of the relatively low turnout by joking about the Tristan Bates being the only West End theatre to have a cloaking device and saying, “this is what you get when you quit twitter. I have 250,0000 followers, you can have 10,0000 each!” Porky’s poems included reminisces about his first Blondie gig, the flooded fields beneath Hadleigh Castle and being the man who missed a tea party with the Clash. And it was strangely gratifying to hear him exclaim, “David Cameron can suck my balls!” in such an intimate setting. All this plus mentions for all seven classic Doctors in Doctor Who and a free Porky the Poet badge at the end too…