On my recent trip to Wimbledon, I took this photo of the iconic court. It has heralded countless legends over the decades and even empty, you can sense its magic.
As a gift from my good friend Tosha, I had tickets for the Wimbledon tour. As regulars of the blog will know, I am a big tennis fan. I’ve quoted numerous legends like Arthur Ashe and Chris Evert to current stars like Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro and been to the 02 to see the ATP World Tour Finals numerous times. I’ve read Andre Agassi’s autobiography Open, Fred Perry’s biography The Last Champion, Levels of the Game by sports writer John McPhee and Break Point by tennis journalist Kevin Mitchell.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is an American franchise that deals in bizarre events and strange and unusual facts. It was founded by Robert Ripley in 1918 with a sports cartoon in the New York Globe. It soon sounded expanded to include items from other areas and then onto different formats like radio, television and books. Continuing that expansion have been the exhibitions first in the US, before countries like Mexico, Canada, India and Australia. And of course the UK. It was about time I saw the one in Piccadilly Circus, London.
The very stylish and modern-looking ceiling at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth, London.
On my way into the 02 to see the Star Sixes tournament, I saw a photographic opportunity to capture something a little different. I’ve been there before to see music and tennis, but hadn’t spotted this angle.
As an odd number year, there hasn’t been a World Cup or European Championship this summer. While there has been a Confederations Cup and various youth competitions, there’s still been plenty of appetite for more football. And so the first Star Sixes competition was created. Hosted at the 02, it featured 12 countries, including half who come from a nation that have won the World Cup – Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. In China, Denmark, Mexico, Nigeria, Portugal and Scotland there was mostly solid representation too. The even ran for four days, with three groups of four teams. The top two from each group and then the two best third placed teams went through to the quarter-finals. Each team had 11 players in their squad, with only 6 allowed on the field at the same time.
Taken in Bushy Park in west London when out on a walk
Pink Floyd really are something. Formed in London in 1965 by students Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright, the group have gone on to be one of the most famous bands ever. They’ve sold 250 million records worldwide, had 17 UK Top 10 albums (6 at Number 1) and with 5 US Number One albums, are one of the few British bands to truly break the US over a sustained period. But the group has always been about more than chart success, as this exhibition by the V@A Museum in South Kensington demonstrates.
This photograph was taken in the V&A Museum at the Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains. I will be writing a review soon, but wanted to give you all a taster first with this shot of the artwork associated with one of their most famous albums.
Taken at the ArcelorMittal Orbit in the Olympic Park, as designed by Sir Anish Kapoor and engineer Cecil Balmond. As part of the experience you get to go down the 178m slide (created by Carsten Höller), which lasts for 40 seconds and goes round 12 times. This was taken on the floor above, which features a special mirror exhibition. Click below for a bonus photo.
