More old style Industry. This comic strip recalls the humiliating pranks that first-day factory workers would have inflicted on them by their experienced elders. Other joke tasks included being sent to the Parts Department and instructed to ask for "a long stand". This, of course, resulted in the innocent apprentice being left to wait for at least half an hour. Once these "rites of passage" had been endured (as the smug sociologist character in the last panel comments) the new worker was accepted as another one of the lads/lasses.

Comics as documentation?

About two years ago I drew this Industrial Estate page after discovering some unusually old fashioned buildings tucked behind some more modern local manufacturing units. These half empty brick structures really did deserve the title Industrial Estate, definitely not a Business Park or an Enterprise Zone. I could almost see ghosts of cig-smoking men in boiler suits and noisy machinery in use through the dusty windows. Sensing their inevitable demolition I took some digital photos of the buildings and then drew the silent comic strip. The above photo is how the site looks now. Even the modern factory units have gone. Next year there will be retail outlets built here and the promise of several fast food restaurants.

Want to see my holiday snaps?

The activity of blogging seems to appeal to the self-indulgent so I may as well go the whole hog and post some of my Prague holiday photos. Prague is certainly a beautiful city and there are hardly any buildings (in the old town) which could be described as ordinary. The display of devils and Santa figurines is from the city's excellent Toy Museum and the religious graphic above comes from a carrier bag bought in the Museum shop of the church of Our Lady Victorious. The famous Holy Infant effigy is housed in this interesting Carmelite church - no photographs were permitted but I'll treasure the memory of seeing the little tyke in all his baroque finery.

This still from Paul Wegener's 1920 silent movie Der Golem is posted today not because it is Halloween. The reason is because I'm going on holiday tomorrow to the city where the legend of Rabbi Loew's Golem originates: Prague. Looking forward to seeing a bit of Eastern Europe and also the miraculous Infant Jesus of Prague.

When I was at Art School Kenneth Rowntree was the Professor of Painting. He was a bluff and jolly old bloke with trade mark round horn-rims and pipe, but what few sightings I had of his art made me sneer at what I thought was very provincial, middle-class and irrrelevant art.

Needless to say I've now changed my opinion and it's with some shame that I only recently learned Rowntree died in 1997. I also discovered an Edward Bawden connection. From 1941 to 1947 Kenneth Rowntree lived in Great Bardfield near Saffron Walden, Essex. This was very near to Bawden's home and he became part of the Bawden's circle of artist friends. During this time Rowntree was employed on the Recording Britain Project - a scheme devised to make a pictorial record of Britain before the anticipated destruction of World War 2.

The first of these three Kenneth Rowntree paintings comes from this wartime period and is titled View Through A Window (1944.) The next two are both from 1953 and are titled Last Minute Decorations and Country Celebrations.

My giddy aunt! Here is another beautiful Edward Bawden drawing sent to me today by Marc Baines. I doff my trilby to you, Marc...

Post War British art, I just can't get enough of it. Here's another illustration by the wonderful Edward Bawden from a 1949 book: Flower of Cities - A Book of London. This is co-incidentally another collaboration by Bawden and John Betjeman, illustrating Betjeman's words about the long demolished neo-classical Euston Arch.

Simone Weil (1909-1943) is one of the most original writers on religion I've ever come across and her life was fiercely idealistic. I couldn't help myself from making light of her Gallic intensity in the above strip but if you want the full story I suggest you investigate her writings.

As promised back in the height of Summer here are some more splendid items of pious Catholic imagery from mid 20th Century.

Reports say there has been a drastic drop in candidates for the priesthood and monastic life. On this first Sunday in October perhaps this strip of mine might help concerned parents discern tell-tale signs of a religious calling in their own children...

If the previous post has encouraged you to buy a television set then you would have normally needed to subscribe to the TV listings magazine Radio Times. This BBC-biased publication was once host to the cream of British illustrators (and even in the 90's included John Peel as a columnist) but is sadly now dumbed down to pitiful levels of Soap coverage. This cover (featuring good old Sid James) is from the Radio Times heyday.

Autumn Viewing: now that the nights are drawing in perhaps you are thinking of purchasing a television set for your sitting room? To help you make up your mind I have here illustrated all the latest information about this clever broadcasting invention.

Do your brogues need heeling, Sir?

Here's the back cover drawing from my Bushels Of Coalsmoke chap-book of 2005 and a photograph of an old-fashioned Cobbler Shop automaton which originally gave me the idea. I took the photo during a Sunday morning stroll around Morpeth, Northumberland. I've been told the derivation of the town name Morpeth means 'path of death' (mort/peth) but don't know why it was given this chilling title....

John Betjeman famously travelled by train through the London suburbs in Metroland. Before I learned to drive I used to like travelling by bus. It was the ideal way to become acquainted with the northern pit villages which I now love so much. Sadly you can't take in much detail of a Primitive Methodist Chapel when you have to concentrate on your steering.

Here's a detail from an as yet unfinished comic strip called Bus Stop Philosophers.

Hurrah for Betjeman! The current media frenzy concerning the centenary of John Betjeman's birth is heartily welcome here at Bagnall's Retreat. In particular the broadcasting of some of his witty, evocative and elegiac BBC documentaries from the 50s to the 70s was easily the TV highlight of last month.

The late great Poet Laureate also collaborated with some of my all-time favourite British illustrators on quite a few travel and architecture books. Above is a beaut by the great Edward Bawden from the Shell Guide to Cornwall (1964.)

September has arrived so here is a 'back to school' Disappearing Phrase.

Bought Carry On Girls on DVD yesterday, one of my favourites. I suppose Talbot Rothwell's saucy screenplay can get a bit tiresome but most of the appeal for me in watching these non-historical Carry On films is enjoying the quiet drabness of the locations. Girls is set in (the fictional) Fircombe-On-Sea resort which boasts record rainfall and wonderfully shabby seafront hotels.

Brought to you by the makers of The Sound Projector is a great new book called Vinyl Viands. As you might guess all the articles within are dedicated to the pleasures of buying and listening to records. The cover boasts coverage of "Old Vinyl! Rockin Vinyl! New Vinyl! Art Vinyl! Weird Vinyl!Noisy Vinyl" and pretty much any other aspect of those black wax artefacts we love. No collector snobbery is in evidence here or trainspotter stuff about matrix numbers, the writing is fresh, funny and original. I contributed a two page comic strip. Above is a detail from it, specially coloured for this blog.

I'm a dedicated admirer of the vanishing art of hand-painted signs and actually make part of my living from doing sign-writing. These lovely examples were found today on a drive in North Yorkshire. You'd think the wide availability of computer technology would have made effective sign communication open to everyone but sadly this hasn't happened. Both of these hand painted signs display a naive elegance and colourful charm which wasn't evident on the virtually unreadable PC produced A4 black & white roadside notices for village fetes which I also spotted while out and about today....

Talking of the MoCCA Arts Festival, it's now just over a month since I got back from a New York trip which included sharing a table at the fest with Ed Pinsent, Marc Baines of Kingly Books, and from Boston, Pshaw. With hardly a superhero comic in sight this annual comic art convention has no British equivalent (sadly) and this year displayed a staggering explosion of comic activity. Much of it highly ambitious - gone are the days of shoddy xeroxed mini-comics it seems. Lots of talks, panels and interviews also...but we missed most of those as we dutifully promoted our wares from the Kingly table in Room B.

Here's a New York snapshot from the MoCCA trip. L to R: Jeremy Novak (of band Dymaxion), Ed Pinsent, Marc Baines and Pshaw at an amazing exhibition of new paintings by Gary Panter.