English Teacher on the beach

Later today, Brighton Beach will host English Teacher, the Leeds-based indie rock band whose meteoric rise has captivated the UK music scene. The band will appear at 10:15 pm on The Deep End stage, one of the main venues of The Great Escape, the annual new music festival that transforms Brighton (and part of the beach) into a hub for emerging artists from around the world.

English Teacher formed in 2020 when vocalist and rhythm guitarist Lily Fontaine, lead guitarist Lewis Whiting, bassist Nicholas Eden, and drummer Douglas Frost met at Leeds Conservatoire. Prior to this, they performed under the name Frank, exploring dream pop influences. Their transition to English Teacher marked a shift toward a more incisive and experimental sound, blending elements of post-punk, art rock, and indie.

English Teacher’s debut single, R&B, released in 2021, garnered critical acclaim for its candid exploration of race and identity within the indie rock landscape. This was followed by the 2022 EP Polyawkward, which NME praised as lively art-punk with a lyrical edge. The band’s growing reputation led to a performance on Later... with Jools Holland in November 2023, further cementing their status as rising stars.

Released in April, 2024, through Island Records, This Could Be Texas showcases English Teacher’s distinctive blend of surrealism and social commentary. Produced by Marta Salogni, the album delves into themes of identity, social deprivation, and political mismanagement, drawing inspiration from Fontaine’s upbringing in Colne, East Lancashire. Tracks like The World’s Biggest Paving Slab and Not Everybody Gets to Go to Space exemplify the band’s ability to intertwine poignant narratives with inventive musical arrangements.

The album’s critical success culminated in winning the 2024 Mercury Prize, making English Teacher the first non-London act to receive the award in nearly a decade (see also BBC report). Judges lauded the album for its ‘originality and character,’ highlighting its ‘winning lyrical mix of surrealism and social observation’ and its ‘fresh approach to the traditional guitar band format.’

For more on English Teacher visit their website, or Wikipedia. The video still above is taken from the band’s The World’s Biggest Paving Slab video on YouTube.

Flight of the Langoustine

Walk along the Hove promenade and you can’t miss the large sculptural work - Flight of the Langoustine - by Pierre Diamantopoulo. It’s situated on the Hove Plinth, the second commissioned work to be displayed there after the plinth was launched by Hove Civic Society to ‘bring exciting new public art to the city and showcase a changing programme of the best in modern day sculpture’. The first sculpture Constellation by Jonathan Wright was installed on the plinth in 2018 but now has a permanent home in the Hove Museum gardens.

The Flight of the Langoustine sculpture features four life-size bronze figures captured mid-leap through a broken steel ring, apparently symbolising a collective surge toward freedom. It weighs 2.2 tonnes, stands approximately 3.5 meters high, and cost in the region of £135,000. Diamantopoulo has said the piece was inspired by a mangled lobster pot he discovered on Brighton Beach.

Diamantopoulo says of his work: ‘These androgynous and anonymous figures are often seen flying in defiance or fleeing, challenged by their environment - a metaphor for a precarious state of living or existence. Truly transcending the confines of the ground, the figures are at once profound, frivolous and boisterous, occupying the air like a flock of birds and inspired by modern dance choreography.’ Further details are available online in the Sponsor Pack, a substantial document put together by Hove Civic Society when it first launched its appeal to fund the sculpture, and in the Brighton Journal. 

Diamantopoulo was born in 1952 in Cairo to a Greek father and French mother. His family relocated to England during the 1956 Suez Crisis. Initially pursuing a career in advertising, he worked as a copywriter from 1974 to 1989, directing campaigns which earned him international accolades. In 1989, he transitioned to fine art, establishing his first sculpture studio in East Sussex. In 2000, he was elected as a Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. Notable projects include Kandi Sky (2008), a 22m-wide painted steel sculpture at Middlesbrough College.

The Flight of the Langoustine was installed on the Hove Plinth for a set two-year period, ending this coming September. However, to date, there has been no official announcement regarding what will happen to the sculpture thereafter, nor what might replace it. The full story of the Hove Plinth with pictures can be viewed here.

Progress on the Madeira arches

With all 28 arches, more or less, dismantled, the Madeira Terraces restoration project (phase 1) remains on schedule to finish sometime in the middle of next year. However, Mike, a representative of the construction company J T Mackley & Co, speaking to a small public meeting in the Sea Lanes Club House this afternoon, insisted this timescale was only a target, and that if any of the integral pieces, once dismantled, are found to need replacing - as opposed to strengthening or repairing - this could delay the project significantly.

This project has been a long time in the coming (see Madeira Terrace restoration - hurrah!) but now that it is under way, progress is visible and tangible. It’s almost shocking to see the concrete sea wall - actually built decades before the cast iron terraces were ever planned - with all the turquoise painted cast iron terracing removed. Mike explained that everything has gone reasonably well so far, some aspects easier than expected, others more complex. The final arch (of the 28 being restored in this phase) he said, should be down next week. He also gave some insights into the complex restoration process.

Every piece is being tagged, he said according to a system agreed with English Heritage, before cleaning and stress testing etc. - to ensure the pieces fit back together in the right position. The company does have access to plans drawn for the original construction (in late Victorian times!), but Mike said rather wryly, those plans were never adjusted according to what the builders actually built - making them an unreliable guide.

To date, the major pieces cleaned and tested have proved robust enough to re-use; however, Mike warned, if any, still to be tested, show defects that cannot be repaired, then they will need to be replaced. This is a job that would be carried out by one of Mackley’s partner in this project, a foundry works in Derby (very few places could handle this work, Mike explained) - and could delay completion by months. Among other aspects of the project, Mike talked a little about the rebuilding of the Maderia Lift which, he said was in the design stage and was ‘going quite well’.

The St Aubyns’ performers

Today marks the birthday of the highly successful music hall artist, Vesta Tilley, born on 13 May 1864. In the very last years of her long life, she had a flat in St Aubyns Mansions, King’s Esplanade, a grand late Victorian block that, unusually for most of the seafront, sits on the beach side of the coast road - with uninterrupted views of the pebbles and the sea. Half a century earlier - when the block was still new - another stage performer, Clara Butt, a contralto singer, also resided there for a while.

Matilda Alice Powles was born in Worcester, began performing at the age of three, and adopted the stage name Vesta Tilley by age 11. She was best known for her work as a male impersonator, gaining national fame for her convincing portrayals of men, particularly dandies, soldiers, and comic characters. She became one of the highest-paid and most influential entertainers of her time, peaking during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. She was especially popular during WWI, when she performed patriotic songs and encouraged enlistment. After retiring in 1920 she published her autobiography Recollections of Vesta Tilley in 1934. She married Walter de Frece, a theatre impresario who later a Member of Parliament and knight, making her Lady de Frece. She lived in St Aubyns in her eighties, and died in London in 1952.

Some 50 years earlier, Clara Butt, born nearby in Southwick in 1872, lived in St Aubyns, then a new block of flats. She had trained as a singer at the Royal College of Music and had studied in Paris and Berlin. She became increasingly well known in the 1890s, particularly for her concert performances and oratorio work in pieces by Edward Elgar (who composed songs specifically for her, including Sea Pictures). She married the baritone Robert Kennerley Rumford in 1900, moving into St Aubyn’s for a few years before relocating to London. Butt toured internationally and - similar to Tilley in fact - was known for her patriotic (and charity) performances, especially during WWI. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1920 for her contributions to music and war efforts.

Dating from 1900, St Aubyns Mansions - painted yellow and white - was stuccoed after WWI. During WWII, it became part of HMS King Alfred (the name for the King Alfred leisure centre after being requisitioned by the Navy), but remained semi-derelict for several years after. Blue plaques for both Tilley and Butt were unveiled on the building by Brighton Council in 2011, though they were paid for by the residents and funds from the Brighton and Hove Commemorative Plaques Panel - see the BBC report. See also My Brighton and Hove.

Bring me . . . a sausage roll

[Scene: Brighton Beach. Two seagulls, Eric (taller, dafter) and Ernie (shorter, primmer), are perched near the ruins of the West Pier. With apologies to Morecambe and Wise.]

Eric: [pacing like a detective] I smell something, Ern. It’s in the air. The scent of danger. The perfume of peril. The unmistakable aroma . . . of pastry.

Ernie: Oh no. Not again. Last time you followed your beak, we ended up dive-bombing a hen party from Essex. I still have glitter in places no bird should sparkle.

Eric: I’ve refined my technique! Watch closely - I’ve developed a glide approach known only to the gulls of Monte Carlo.

Ernie: Monte Carlo? You’ve never even made it past Worthing.

Eric: I’ve got continental instincts, Ern. I’m like the James Bond of birds.

Ernie: You look more like the pigeon off the end of the pier.

Eric: That's rich, coming from a gull who’s scared of crisp packets.

Ernie: They rustle, Eric. They rustle menacingly.

[A tourist drops a sausage roll on the promenade. Both freeze.]

Eric: Did you see that?

Ernie: I’m not blind. Unlike your landing skills.

Eric: Right! Formation Gull Delta. You go left, I go elegant.

Ernie: Eric, no. We agreed - no more ‘interpretive flying’.

Eric: It’s not interpretive! It’s graceful. Like a feathered Bolshoi.

[Eric attempts a flamboyant leap off the wall, flaps wildly, and crashes into a deckchair.]

Ernie: Very Bolshoi, that. Nearly took out a pensioner.

Eric: It's all part of the act, Ern. People come to Brighton for entertainment.

Ernie: They don’t come for you flattening their nans!

[They both spot a child waving the sausage roll like a beacon.]

Eric: Right. This is it. All or nothing. If we time it just right . . .

Ernie: Eric?

Eric: Yes, Ern?

Ernie: The kid’s eaten it.

[Both birds stare mournfully at the now-empty wrapper.]

Eric: I blame the economy.

Ernie: I blame you.

[Cue them waddling off into the sunset, wings round each other, humming ‘Bring Me Sunshine . . .’]

Historic commercial vehicles

Historic commercial vehicles - vans, trucks, lorries, fire engines, coaches/buses, steam wagons, many in bright-coloured liveries - lit up the Brighton seafront today, west of the pier. Arriving from around 10 am, they rolled in along Madeira Drive, sometimes stuttering, sometimes juddering, but every one clean and bright as a button, loved and cherished for their connections with our past. 

The London to Brighton Historic Commercial Vehicle Run is an annual event celebrating Britain’s rich commercial motoring heritage. Organised by the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society (HCVS), the run showcases a diverse array of vintage commercial vehicles. The inaugural run took place on 13 May 1962, initiated by the HCVS, which itself was launched in 1958 following a rally at Beaulieu (where the National Motor Museum had been founded by Lord Montagu in 1952). The event has grown in popularity, with the 60th run in 2022 featuring 170 entrants. 

Last year, 2024, HCVS relocated the starting point of the run from Crystal Palace to Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey. The change was implemented to avoid London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) and various lorry restrictions, making it more accessible for vintage vehicles. Participants now follow a route through Cobham, Leatherhead, Dorking, Redhill, Horley, Balcombe, Cuckfield, Burgess Hill before joining the A23 at a Pycombe for the last stage to Madeira Drive on the seafront in Brighton.

Photos of some of today’s participants:

(Above) - a preserved British double-decker bus (1930s-1950s), a type that became iconic in UK public transport, especially in cities like London. The livery advertises Tampon’s Ales and Ty-Phoo Tea, both classic British brands.

(Top left) - a historic steam traction engine, a type of self-propelled steam-powered vehicle used primarily for agricultural and heavy haulage work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

(Top right) - a Fordson E83W, a light commercial vehicle produced by Ford between 1938 and 1957. This example is a flatbed pickup, often used for small deliveries and local business use. The E83W is known for its rounded cab, separate headlamps, and classic upright grille.

(Bottom left) - a classic single-deck coach, likely from the 1950s or 1960s, used for longer-distance travel and private hire. The red and cream paintwork is a common style for British and European coaches of the era, designed to be both attractive and easily identifiable.

(Bottom right) - a classic Scammell lorry, a British brand renowned for heavy haulage and specialist vehicles, particularly from the 1920s through the 1980s. Scammell vehicles of this era were notable for their robust construction and were often used for demanding transport tasks, including oversized cargo and military equipment

Quirky fact: In the 5th run, Lord Montagu drove a 1908 Unic taxi (French made), accompanied by London’s oldest taxi driver, with the fare for the entire distance clocked at 13 shillings. 

My daughter’s prayer mat

Found on the beach today: a cardboard packaging band labelled MY DAUGHTER’S PRAYER MAT. This type of band is typically used to wrap around a rolled-up prayer mat, serving both as branding and as a means of keeping the product neatly packaged for retail display or gifting. The colour scheme - pink with gold decorative motifs - suggests it is specifically marketed towards young girls, often as a gift to encourage them to participate in Islamic prayer. Such products are commonly sold in Islamic shops, online marketplaces, and gift stores, especially around religious holidays and celebrations.

Prayer mats designed for children frequently feature bright colours and engaging designs to make the practice of prayer more appealing and accessible. The MY DAUGHTER’S PRAYER MAT brand or product line is part of a growing market for faith-based educational products aimed at young Muslims. These mats may come with additional items such as digital counters or prayer beads, and are often presented in attractive packaging to make them suitable for gifting.

The provenance of this particular packaging band is most likely linked to a recent purchase or gifting event. It may have been brought to Brighton beach by a family or individual who had acquired the mat for a child, perhaps to facilitate prayer during a day out or as part of a celebratory outing. The band was likely removed from the mat either at the beach or en route, and subsequently left behind, either by accident or through careless disposal. This item can, in fact, be found for sale on the Little Thinker website (Abu Dhabi).

As someone who visits the beach very often - daily in the summer months - I can testify that, in general, the pebbles are kept remarkably clear and free of a litter. This is largely down to Brighton & Hove City Council, I believe, which - among other initiatives - supports beach clean-up efforts through partnerships with local community groups, environmental organisations, and corporate volunteer programs. Walking on a quiet part of the beach (east of the pier) this afternoon for 20 minutes or so, the MY DAUGHTER’S PRAYER MAT wrapper was almost the only item of litter I came across.