And so to Danny's studio once again. As predicted Charles just loved it, especially the 'junk yard' out the back! And Danny is just such a wonderfully easy-going guy with a great sense of humour and hugely inventive. John and Patrick arrived and we got set up - Danny working on some glass on a large table, Patrick wanders in, Danny takes his coat, puts it on a large hook, pushes a knob and the jacket miraculously disappears to the ceiling. With Danny you're never quite sure what's going to happen next! The pair of them started working together on the table whilst Danny recalled Burghlefield days. 
Patrick paint's Graham's 'window'It was then that a young stereotyped Australian (only he was named Graham and not Bruce which was a shame) walked in from the road and asked if anyone knew anything about glass. Well there we were surrounded by the stuff, so it sounded a pretty dumb question. We all had a bit of a laugh with him and Patrick painted on the little sample double glazed window he was clutching. He wanted to know why and what we were filming so we explained that Patrick was a VERY FAMOUS man, had he heard of Coventry Cathedral, Paddy's Tent etc etc. Of course he hadn't. I was convinced that this was another of Danny's games and he'd set the whole thing up - but Graham was 'for real' amazingly enough. Off Graham went.Back Graham came 3 minutes later - 'Oi've rung moy mate and he hasn't heard of you!' Great, thanks Graham. Off he went.5 minutes later he was back again. 'Oi've rung moy woif Sheilah and she's looked you up on the web and you did a picture of Dame Edna!' He was WELL impressed!Somehow we managed to get back into the mood of the interrupted interview and brought it to a successful and picturesque conclusion with Danny flame throwing.
And then a miracle of sorts happened - Danny's wife Fiona had set up tables on the pavement and said tables were laden with BBQd chicken, loads of salads, dips, crisps, bread, wine - an absolute feast! So all of us, including Danny's staff, sat in the sunshine in the middle of an industrial estate in north London enjoying a Mediterranean type feast. I though it was just glorious. Forget about Heston Blooming whatsit or precious Raymond Blanc - this was living! 
In the afternoon we interviewed Danny alone - which worked very well. Somehow joint interviews involving Patrick don't work particularly well, he either goes mute (as with deMarco) or the other person is inhibited. 
Danny the Magician
Sarah left, above Willow, Phillippa, Amal, SarahAfter various last minute hitches and worries that I would either have too many students or too few, it all worked wonderfully and once again I was impressed by their loyalty to Patrick and the effort they'd all put into contributing to the film. For example Sarah Wenden had travelled from Oxford, Nicola Clark from Gloucestershire, Philippa Clayden had cancelled all her afternoon appointments just to be there, and Willow Winston was also ultra busy. They were joined by Amal Ghosh who used to be in charge of the stained glass department at Central so provided an added dimension to the discussion - an absolutely charming man. 
Amal The more I learn about Patrick the more it occurs to me that there are three main facets which need to be highlighted - his art obviously, his intellect and his 'teaching' through Central and Burghlefield. The Central session backed up by interviews with Ray King and Danny Lane (both ex Burghlefield) should illustrate this dimension of Patrick pretty well.Jay and Jeremy put us up for the night again - champagne and a lovely meal, the doors open, the warmth of a summer's day engulfing us - couldn't have been better.
Nicola
WOW! What a treat today - after a quick trip to advise on a possible Brangwyn at Christie's I whisked off to Willesden Junction (as one does) to do a recce on Danny Lane's studio prior to filming there with Patrick. I was just blown over by the beauty, size, scale, colour, inventiveness, imagination of the work - and not just in glass but also metal and wood - this man is A-MAZING! Filming the two of them in the studio promises to be a visual extravaganza - watch this space (24 June).
The images don't do Danny justice but I was taking them primarily to show Charles what he had to work with rather than producing art-shots! Anyway, top is Danny seen through a glass screen (weird!) and below a glass pillar and chair. For more (and better) images go to http://www.dannylane.co.uk/Followed this up with a trip to Central St Martins to meet the wonderfully enthusiastic Peter Cleak, Events Manager, and other members of staff. Following on from my 'cunning plan' wheeze of 16 April, I have been trying to organise a group of ex students for a discussion forum and Central have kindly allowed us to take over the Head's Parlour for the afternoon of 23 June - and they aren't even charging us, which is brilliant news. They couldn't have been more helpful.
Following an exhausting day's filming and interviewing in Broadway (for a film on Gordon Russell) we drove to Sir Roy Strong's beautiful home and garden near Hereford. Unfortunately it was raining so we could not film in the garden as hoped, but set up in the conservatory as the next best thing.Reading Sir Roy's diaries made me realise how fascinated by clothes and appearance the man is - still very sprightly and slim, the dark hair has given way to a silver slightly punk look and the iconic glasses have been replaced by contact lenses but the deep dark puppy dog eyes remain. A diamond earring twinkles, a beautiful crisp white shirt, casual denims, white trainers. Very cool.And the mercurial man was charming, produced some very thoughtful insights about the inner Patrick, whilst my regular request for a succinct one sentence description produced a fabulous image - you'll have to wait for the DVD to find out!
