Finishing Axis and And Allies (for now) – June 2002The onlt relic from my short stay in Leeds, Winter 2002-Spring 2003I got a part – the black sailor – in A Tasse of Honey, Penrith Theatre, 2003
London 2004 – I had two squats to myself – Dorothy Road Clapham & Bulwer Court, LeytonstoneSome of the Gallery / 414 posse, Leytonstone
Inside Clapham Library
Sending off Axis and Allies to the powers that be
Partying with Nichola, my friend from Carlise who lived on Bulwer Court and found me the squat
Dorothy RoadFighting my Dorothy Road eviction – Battersea and Chelsea housing associations had merged, but the title deeds didnt have that new name, winning me a couple more months
I had a job as as as a steward – Chelsea and Fulham games
Pay what you like theatre in Battersea on Tuesdays) – it would take the Edinburgh Fringe a few years to catch up with the idea
The legal Kevlar armour of the Section 5 – pinned on the doors of my squatsMy London band – Armitage Shanks – I thought wed get free advertsing everytie people went to the toilet until I found out someone was already using the name)
Parting with Charlie in London – a Clitheroe lad moved to the capital who sorted me out lets say
Magic Mushrrom ShamanOne of my girlfriends from the London period (there was a few – I was 27)On getting kicked out of my squats it was off to Italy –My sketch of Ostia, near Rome
With my gran, late 2000I began work on Axis & Allies in Royal Tunbridge Wells, early 2001Stevie Vickers AKA Victor Pope, from Barnsley College, one of my flatmates in Tunbridge WellsRevisiting the Tunbridge Wells bookshop in 2019 where I used to buy books to fuel my epicIn my flat at 34B Camden Road, with Duggie from South AfricaA profile of DBB done by Kate, early 2001The poem wasn’t always called Axis & Allies
Meeting up with Kate & Gran in Brighton, 2001Mi mum & mi gran in London, 2001Squeezing 9-11 into my epic poem began the process of making it VERY epic – October 2001
On Monte Cassino, ItalyOn my return from Italy I began seeing Alice in Tunbridge Wells Being overpaid by TW council funded my European composition trips then my journey to India – I think it was the Muses work
Thiruvalluvar statue at Kanyakamari- I would soon begin transcreation his ThirukuralAt the feet of Thiruvalluvar 2013)The copy of Thirukural I picked up in Madurai
On the boat to the Andaman Islands – Duncan R) Jimmy Van de Mer R)Jimmy Van de Mer r(ight) on the Andaman IslandsPhil, Kate & Steve
My Brighton band – Chris Baldy from Barnsley College was on guitarMy favorite walk was the Brighton to Lewes over the Downs hike & back – the photo is looking back on BrightonDescending into Lewes with Emily, 2019My trainjumping map for 2000 – I was approaching the peak of my UK skillsetMy Brighton girlfriend, Kate, in the bath
With gran & best mate Nick, summer 2000The evolution of Testamundi Imperatrix, my Keatsian ode to the British empire, composed in Brighton 1999-2000
Getting caught shoplifting red wine in Brighton
My trip to Provence & the start of Axis & Allies, May 2000
My trip to the Waterloo battlefield, June 2000 – at the end of the month I moved on from Brighton
Visiting my unofficial godson in London in 1998, Adam, son of Nichola & Lee, fans of Sphere, my Carlisle bandTim & Alison – a couple who befriended me in Portsmouth, 1998-1999
A portrait of me by AlisonAlisonOdd Job Man – PortsmouthJamming with Pete & TimTim getting caught fare evading in Portsmouth
First class fare evader
Working on THE SABLE ROSE – my first ever major poem – a 140-strong sonnet sequenceBusking in ChichesterOne of the pictorial images Tim & Alison created for my sonnets
My handwritten, mud-coated line-up for Glastonbury 1998
Burnley 1 Blackpool 0 – 28/11/98 – from a poem published in the Burnley Express
Sonnetically remembering a trip from Burnley to Amsterdam with the lads in 1998
My first proper poem…Me at 21My travle kit – for my first ever adventure abroad
My notebook for the poem – bought in FlorenceI begaqn composing the poem in Florence
In Pisa – 2017Byrons grottto, Portovenere, 2012The clifftop wher mu soul fused with poetryThe Norman church, Portovenere
Viareggio – the beach where Shelley’s bopdy was washed upIn Rome 2011The Forte Prenestina in Ropme – my base for the final stanzas
At the fort in 2018Insdide the fort in 2018 with Michael BeesonRevisiting Shelley’s grave, 2009The grave of Keats – the Protestant Cemetery, RomeRevisiting Shelley’s grave, 2017
One of numerous psychedelic sketches & drawings made in 1996 – a year drench’d in LSD
My ‘contacts’ list in the days before mobile phonesOff to uni & a Popular Music Studies BA at Barnsley – I moved into 66 Sackville Street – my room was in the attic room above facing the street in the photoMe & Chris Baldy – Kula Shaker is probably on in the background – one of my paintings in the bottom left corner (all are now lost)
Forge FM in Sheffield: I used to DJ/MC a late night weekend slot after partying hard
Weekend ‘Wind-Up’ & ‘Wind-Down’ – inbetween was the rave around Sheffield
1993My first girlfriend, Jane Holdworth, with my beloved Grandma Joan, c.1993With Jane, best mate Nicky & a load of Jane’s pals, Newquay 1994After Janes dad got a job teaching in Sanqhuar, we set up home in a bedsit together late ’94 – flat 6, 6 Chatsworth Square – from where we attended Carlilse CollegeOne of my earliest paintingsBy Eli
Rosegrove Infants, c.19827 Arran Street, the family home from 1984-97Mum & Dad down the club – bingo & beer
Showing off my early football skills at Pwlleli ButlinsThe old, industrial heart of Burnley, beside the River Brun
Under 15s County Schoolboy – the only boy from Burnley that year
My favorite eaterie ever – Yips Chips on Accy Road – sadly missed!
Work experience at the Burnley Express, 1992 – I was born a poet, not a journalist (or footballer)
The first XI of the Habergham Sixth FormAfter a few months at Habergham & a bit of strife with mi mum, I dropped out & went to stay with Michel in London for a few months – my wanderings had begun!
My Algerian dad, Michel Derileux , London, 1975Me & mi mum, Burnley, 1977
The back garden of 54 Melrose Avenue, Stoops EstateMy Burnley dad (centre back), David Bullen, in the army (UN)
At mi Mum & Dad’s wedding with my wee cousin Clare – her dad, Jeff Sumner, would go on to be mayor of BurnleyOfficially adopted – Damian Brett Sumner is now Damian Brett BullenMeanwhile, Michel married a Scot’s lassie from Falkirk & stayed in LondonHello my wee sister Aimee, born May 1980Fun with mum
