Colganology: vicar

Tuesday, 7 October 2014

Z List Dead List

Comedian Iszi Lawrence's live Z List Dead List gigs are inspired.

The format is very simple; three or four people rock up to the stage and take it in turns to sing the praises of a real person from history that history has kind of forgotten. Then the audience votes for their favourite and the date of the gig becomes XXX Day in honour of the winner. I took part in one of the early shows and was delighted when my choice, the wildly eccentric Cornish vicar Robert Hawker, won on the night.

Well, now Iszi has started a podcast too. And I appeared on the first one. You can listen here. And you can hear all of them here or subscribe on iTunes.

Sunday, 28 July 2013

New Painting - Vicars and Tarts

Having my first work-free week in months this week, I thought I'd bang out a few new paintings - just for the practice. For some time I've been toying with the idea of doing a set of portraits of British stereotypes; the toothy vicar, the beefy butcher, the lusty landlady, the cheery chimneysweep etc. So I kicked off with the vicar, based on these doodles in one of my sketchbooks and with the old phrase 'Vicars and Tarts' in mind:

Here's how the painting developed on Day 1:

Overall, I was quite happy with the basic composition but I didn't like the blue of the sky and I really didn't like the vicar's smile. Things would have to change ...

So, on Day 2, I remodelled his mouth (much happier with it), painted the sky a much nicer blue and added a few marquees and some bunting to give the impression of a fete. And voila, I thought it was done:

Only ... it wasn't. The more I looked at it, the more I (a) didn't like the marquees, (b) didn't like the bunting, and (c) didn't like the shape of the vicar's body. So I painted out the tents and pennants, re-painted the sky, added a finger, and took out part of his body. Then I added a signpost, a sky-borne balloon, some more subtle bunting and a cheeky 'Darwin Fish' lapel badge. Then I realised that I'd done his dog collar wrong so I re-did that too. The final result looks like this:

It's a much better painting as the result. I really enjoyed this one. I stayed in the right frame of mind while painting by watching some classic old British comedies. On Day 1 I watched Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Titfield Thunderbolt and Two Way Stretch. On Day 2 it was The Wrong Arm of the Law, The Naked Truth and Hue and Cry.

Ripping stuff.

Praise for Joined-Up Thinking

'I found myself fascinated and somewhat dizzy. Most impressive' - Stephen Fry

'Dizzily intriguing' - The Bookseller

'The book that nails that odd, slightly unnerving feeling that everything really is connected' - John Mitchinson (Co-author of QI: The Book of General Ignorance)

'This is not a stocking filler - this is a real book. Buy several copies and keep one' - Daily Telegraph

'Quite simply the best way to spend time when not shopping, sleeping or preparing food' - Tony Hawks (author of Around Ireland with a Fridge)

'Can I recommend a book? It’s Joined-Up Thinking by Stevyn Colgan. The book’s packed with great info, from the derivation of the phrase ‘letting the cat out of the bag’ to the name for the thin bits of a cricket bail. Spigots, since you ask' - Mark Mason (author of The Importance of being Trivial)

'If you've ever looked at the Eiffel Tower and wondered how it's related to Dracula, then Stevyn Colgan is your man. Yes, it's trivia porn' - London Lite

'He connects each piece of his trivia puzzle in a concise, chatty, easy to follow, even logical, manner. This free-flowing style does not, thankfully, lend itself to pause and evaluation, but does allow for a great deal of chuckling and chin-stroking. He is the master of the trivial, the collector and cataloguer of the forgotten and inane - but no matter how worthless and unnecessary the information, Colgan has the knack of making it all sound intensely fascinating' - New Zealand Herald

'Stevyn Colgan has a theory; everything in the world can be connected through 'six degrees of information'. Trying to prove it takes us up some strange alleys but his engaging style means we don't get stuck down the road of intellectual whimsy' - Maxim

'It's a very smart style to a trivia book, and will I am sure be one of the hits of the forthcoming season' - The Bookbag

‘Stevyn Colgan's book, 'Joined-Up Thinking', could well be turned into a pub quiz or even a TV show. The latter could be even more of a possibility as Colgan has connections to the 'QI' BBC TV show. You're going to walk away from this book knowing a lot more than when you started.’ - SF Crows Nest

'How Colgan manages to find all these connections, unravel them and create something coherent and entertaining out of them is beyond me. But I'm glad he took the time, as the result is vastly fascinating and had my mind whirring round after itself for hours - immense fun!' - Falmouth People

Praise for Henhwedhlow

‘All power to Stevyn Colgan and his project to preserve Cornish myth, legend and song. Who knows; as a result some Penzance Wagner may write the Cornish Ring Cycle and won’t the world be pleased? There’s more to Cornwall than Padstow, pasties and ‘Piss off you grockles’ and Colgan is doing the ancient kingdom a great service.’ - Stephen Fry

‘Jumping from the 19th to the 21st century, Stevyn is taking an essential element of our Cornish culture and bringing it bang up-to-date. With the aid of the very clever artwork he aims to do this in a way that even kids sitting their exams will be tempted to bring the book to school so as to take an occasional peek under the desk for a spot of well-deserved humour.’ - Howard Curnow (Cornish bard and storyteller)

'The best book I've ever seen for helping you to learn the Cornish language or practice reading it. Brilliant fun too' - Cornish Voice