Barnsbury Boy - Tam Joseph - 1962-1966
Tam Joseph
Went to Drayton Park Primary in 1955, the first Black kid; (what an experience) later the Pickering family joined the school.
I started out at Eden Grove in 1962, Pickering joined two year later and was followed by Ronald (willow) Wilson, a tall thin kid (he's still very thin!) and later Ronnie and Mikey Wilson.
My mates were Tasos Anastasi , Georgiadis, Leftreis, Kirk, Dave Ferguson and his brother Peter who was killed in a tragic accident.
Teachers: Hamlyn, taught Physics, Coppens, Chemistry (we gave him hell) Petherick, hairs sprouting from his collar .. Yuuuk! taught English and Mr Reece, "Use yer loaf lad!" taught PE. Mr Welch taught ? and Mr Neath, RK. (Gawd bless 'im).
We were transferred to Camden Road where we met Gordon and his brother who left a year later and formed The Equals.
We met other Black kids, a huge fellow called Mendoza, Blake, Sealy, Felix, Campbell, Riley, Leslie, Hoffman Profit.
I managed to grab some 0 levels and went to the Central School of Art in 1967 and the BA at Slade School of Fine Art. Dropped out of the Slade, worked briefly on The Yellow Submarine, left before the film was finished and went Europe, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany where I teamed up with two French guys in Düsseldorf and went overland to India (See, not ALL the Hippys were White boys).
Around 1970 I was back in the UK but had to stick around. (parents grumbling, etc) Did some odd jobs, worked as Postman for a year, had enough of that and enrolled at the London College of Printing to do Typographic Design in 1973.
I have been working as Lecturer in Media Design, Painting ever since then. Right now I am employed as an Art teacher by Crisis Skylight a charity based in East London and also working at my studio.
I would like to meet up with the other guys; Woodard (Woody) Frank Clark, Martin Robins, Miller, Ballard, Antonio Mani, and Tasos Anastasai. John Wilshire, Mike Stewart, Richard Hill, John Masters and I have been meeting once a year at the Camden Head, Camden Passage at the Angel for years.
I met “Mush" and "Ish" (mael) two Turkish Old Boys at a funeral last Thursday; the wake was held just round the corner from our old school in Holloway Road.
I live in Wood Green, my studio is in Walthamstow and I "jam" on guitar with some guys on Thursdays evenings at the Moore's Bar, Park Road, Crouch End. (Ed - Blimey, how many more guitarists are we going to find came out of Barnsbury?)
NB! Lets not "slag off" those teachers. They were good teachers who took no shit from kids. Yes, nowadays they would be thrown out or be put in jail, but just try spending a day in any State school these days, it’s bedlam! Teaching is NOT EASY and you do need discipline. The proof of that is in Public schools. One does not mess about NOOO WAY!, although One's parents are paying loadsamoney.
Plug: If any the Barnsbury Old Boys are looking to decorate their homes with high quality Paintings, Drawing, Prints, sculpture, please contact me, satisfaction is guaranteed.
Later. Some of you may remember that at Eden Grove, I foolishly succumbed to Mr Madley’s advice to put on boxing gloves to solve a problem with an idiot, but hopefully more of you will remember that that I painted, drew, and much to the astonishment of Mr Bean and the other metalwork teacher I could carve in wood and work metal.
Anybody know what became of Rodney Summerscales, Woodard, Mitch Wyman, Frank Clark, Ballard, Tasos Anastasi, Yiannou or Petroux?
I bumped into Melvin Parsons at Oxford St. Station. He's still looks the same and is still quick tempered.
Check Tam's website out: http://www.tamjosephartlive.com/
Went to Drayton Park Primary in 1955, the first Black kid; (what an experience) later the Pickering family joined the school.
I started out at Eden Grove in 1962, Pickering joined two year later and was followed by Ronald (willow) Wilson, a tall thin kid (he's still very thin!) and later Ronnie and Mikey Wilson.
My mates were Tasos Anastasi , Georgiadis, Leftreis, Kirk, Dave Ferguson and his brother Peter who was killed in a tragic accident.
Teachers: Hamlyn, taught Physics, Coppens, Chemistry (we gave him hell) Petherick, hairs sprouting from his collar .. Yuuuk! taught English and Mr Reece, "Use yer loaf lad!" taught PE. Mr Welch taught ? and Mr Neath, RK. (Gawd bless 'im).
We were transferred to Camden Road where we met Gordon and his brother who left a year later and formed The Equals.
We met other Black kids, a huge fellow called Mendoza, Blake, Sealy, Felix, Campbell, Riley, Leslie, Hoffman Profit.
I managed to grab some 0 levels and went to the Central School of Art in 1967 and the BA at Slade School of Fine Art. Dropped out of the Slade, worked briefly on The Yellow Submarine, left before the film was finished and went Europe, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany where I teamed up with two French guys in Düsseldorf and went overland to India (See, not ALL the Hippys were White boys).
Around 1970 I was back in the UK but had to stick around. (parents grumbling, etc) Did some odd jobs, worked as Postman for a year, had enough of that and enrolled at the London College of Printing to do Typographic Design in 1973.
I have been working as Lecturer in Media Design, Painting ever since then. Right now I am employed as an Art teacher by Crisis Skylight a charity based in East London and also working at my studio.
I would like to meet up with the other guys; Woodard (Woody) Frank Clark, Martin Robins, Miller, Ballard, Antonio Mani, and Tasos Anastasai. John Wilshire, Mike Stewart, Richard Hill, John Masters and I have been meeting once a year at the Camden Head, Camden Passage at the Angel for years.
I met “Mush" and "Ish" (mael) two Turkish Old Boys at a funeral last Thursday; the wake was held just round the corner from our old school in Holloway Road.
I live in Wood Green, my studio is in Walthamstow and I "jam" on guitar with some guys on Thursdays evenings at the Moore's Bar, Park Road, Crouch End. (Ed - Blimey, how many more guitarists are we going to find came out of Barnsbury?)
NB! Lets not "slag off" those teachers. They were good teachers who took no shit from kids. Yes, nowadays they would be thrown out or be put in jail, but just try spending a day in any State school these days, it’s bedlam! Teaching is NOT EASY and you do need discipline. The proof of that is in Public schools. One does not mess about NOOO WAY!, although One's parents are paying loadsamoney.
Plug: If any the Barnsbury Old Boys are looking to decorate their homes with high quality Paintings, Drawing, Prints, sculpture, please contact me, satisfaction is guaranteed.
Later. Some of you may remember that at Eden Grove, I foolishly succumbed to Mr Madley’s advice to put on boxing gloves to solve a problem with an idiot, but hopefully more of you will remember that that I painted, drew, and much to the astonishment of Mr Bean and the other metalwork teacher I could carve in wood and work metal.
Anybody know what became of Rodney Summerscales, Woodard, Mitch Wyman, Frank Clark, Ballard, Tasos Anastasi, Yiannou or Petroux?
I bumped into Melvin Parsons at Oxford St. Station. He's still looks the same and is still quick tempered.
Check Tam's website out: http://www.tamjosephartlive.com/
As a footnote to Tam's entries, Barnsbury alumnus and Court House prefect, Tam Joseph (1962 - 1966), scored a double hit in 2022, when his works of art were displayed at both the Tate Britain gallery and the Royal Academy Summer show (for him, the 2nd time).
Largely self taught and mentored by Mr. Frank Walton, Tam wrote this article for the 1964 Summer edition of the School magazine – Vol 5, No. 1: “… The Art Club. Attendances have dropped even though we held three exhibitions on the school premises. The first was for the London Schools Examination where the examinees had to submit six examples of their work. The second was for the benefit of the parents of the pupils who had come to see the school play. The third exhibition was for the benefit of the School. Some members, who are associated with the Islington Art Circle, have sold exhibits after submission. One member sold a cartoon to a daily newspaper and received a nice sum of money. …”
Largely self taught and mentored by Mr. Frank Walton, Tam wrote this article for the 1964 Summer edition of the School magazine – Vol 5, No. 1: “… The Art Club. Attendances have dropped even though we held three exhibitions on the school premises. The first was for the London Schools Examination where the examinees had to submit six examples of their work. The second was for the benefit of the parents of the pupils who had come to see the school play. The third exhibition was for the benefit of the School. Some members, who are associated with the Islington Art Circle, have sold exhibits after submission. One member sold a cartoon to a daily newspaper and received a nice sum of money. …”