LeftLion Magazine - October 2021 - Issue 140 by LeftLion

#140 October 2021

Credits

Supporters These people #SupportLeftLion

Al Gilby Al Ucination alan.gilby@leftlion.co.uk

Ashley Carter Editor ashley.carter@leftlion.co.uk

Lizzy O’Riordan Editorial Assistant lizzy.oriordan@leftlion.co.uk

Natalie Owen Head Designer natalie.owen@leftlion.co.uk

George White Editoral Assistant george.white@leftlion.co.uk

Katie Lyle Marketing & Editorial Assistant katie.lyle@leftlion.co.uk

Daniela Loffreda Food Editor food@leftlion.co.uk

Jared Wilson Editor-in-Chief jared.wilson@leftlion.co.uk

Adam Pickering Marketing Manager adam.pickering@leftlion.co.uk

Curtis Powell Head of Video and Photography curtis.powell@leftlion.co.uk

Fiona Carr Design Assistant fiona.carr@leftlion.co.uk

Jamie Morris Screen Co-Editor jamie.morris@leftlion.co.uk

Anna Murphy Fashion Editor anna.murphy@leftlion.co.uk

Al Draper, Alan Phelan, Alison Gove-Humphries, Alison Harviek, Alison Hedley, Alison Knox, Alison Wale, Andrew Cooper, Ankunda, Annie Rodgers, Ant Haywood, Anthony Blane, Anthony Gariff, Ashley Cooper, Bad Squiddo Games, Barbara Morgan, Barrie the Lurcher, Ben & Jack, Ben Jones, Ben Lester, Ben Lucas, Betty Rose Bakes, Bob Allison Âû, Bridgette Shilton, Carla Prestwich, Caroline Le Sueur, Chloe Langley, Chris Rogers, Claire Henson, Clare Foyle, D Lawson, Dan Lyons, David Dowling, David Knight, Dawn Pritchard, Diane Lane, Donna Rowe-Merriman, Eddie, Eden PR, Ellen O'Hara, Erika Diaz Petersen, Felicity Whittle, Frances & Garry Bryan, Friday Club Presents, Hayley Howard, Heather Hodkinson, Heather Oliver, Helena Tyce, House of Pain Wrestling Academy, Ian Storey, Ian Yanson, In memory of Anna Novak (Bradford and Scoraig), In memory of Jenny Smith, Ivy House Environmental, James Medd, James Place, James Wright, Jane Dodge, Jason Jenkins, Jayne Holmes, Jayne Paul William & Pirate Jack, Jed Southgate, Jim Lloyd, John Haslam, John Hess, Jon Blyth, Joshua Heathcote, Julian Bower, Kate Newton, Kath Pyer, Katherine Sanders, Kathleen Dunham, Kay Gilby, Kaye Brennan, Kiki Dee the Cat, Livi & Jacob Nieri, Lizzy and Margot, Luke and Flo, Marc Weaver, Mark, Mark Barratt, Mark Gasson, Mark Rippey, Martin, Matthew Riches, Matt Turpin, Matthew Riches, Max Sherwin, Mighty Lightweights, MinorOak Coworking, Monica White, Nick G (real living wage rocks), Nicola Baumber, Nigel Cooke, Nigel King, Nikki Williams, Norman the Dog, NottingJam Orchestra, Oliver Ward, Paul Woodall, Rachel Ayrton, Rachel Hancorn, Rachel Morton, Raphael Achache, Richard Barclay, Richard Goodwin, roastinghouse.co.uk, Rob Arthur, Ron Mure, Ros Evans, Roy Manterfield, Ruth Parry, Sam Hudson, Sam Nahirny, Sarah Manton, Simon Evans, Siobhán Cannon-Brownlie, Spicer, Steve Lyon, Steve Stickley Storyteller, Steve Wallace, Stuart Jones, Sue Barsby, Sue Reader, Tara de Cozar, The Sultan, Tim Foster, Tom Markkanen, Tracey Newton, Tracey Underwood , Tracy Lowe, Wolfgang Buttress

Fancy seeing your name (or the name of your band, small business, loved one, pet etc) in this mag every month? It only costs a fiver and the money supports this magazine. Plus you get all kinds of other treats too.

patreon.com/leftlion Rebecca Buck Stage Co-Editor rebecca.buck@leftlion.co.uk

Fabrice Gagos Photography Co-Editor fabrice.gagos@leftlion.co.uk

Hamza Hussain Web Developer hamza.hussain@leftlion.co.uk

Cover Curtis Powell

Photographers Mercedes Assad Dani Bacon David Cooper Cameron Craw Tom Haslam Kai Holton Matt Hubbert Paul Kaye Justyna Kopycinska David Levene Wesley Morgan Georgianna Scurfield Idil Sukan Steve Wallace

Writers Dani Bacon Love CeCe Jah Digga Christina Greggus Jake Leonard Sam Nahirny Penny Reeve Georgianna Scurfield Emma Walsh Nadia Whittome Frieda Wignall

Dom Henry Stage Co-Editor dom.henry@leftlion.co.uk

Tom Quigley Photography Co-Editor tom.quigley@leftlion.co.uk

Tom Errington Web Developer tom.errington@leftlion.co.uk

Illustrators Pete Gray Kasia Kozakiewicz Tracey Meek Kate Sharp Ruth Skrytek Emmy Smith Carmel Ward Editorial Illustrations Emily Catherine Creative Digital Assistant Ekam Hundal

Featured Contributor Jake Leonard Jake was born and raised in Leicester and studied at the University of Nottingham. As well as writing for LeftLion, he is a freelance theatre director. Having worked with Curve, Upstairs at the Western, Chronic Insanity, and Lakeside Arts, he is also a member of Nottingham Playhouse’s AMPLIFY programme. Jake has previously written for online magazines Film Inquiry and Impact, covering the 2016 BFI London Film Festival, and the press screening of Best Picture winner Spotlight. You can read Jake’s interview with Simon Amstell on page 27

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Contents 16

Mods of the Arena

We catch up with Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson ahead of their arena-headlining debut at the Motorpoint Arena next month

Golden Girls

We talk to Paralympic Gold medalists Tully Kearney and Charlotte Henshaw following a recordbreaking Tokyo games

Home Truths

Roger Van Schaick of Host Nottingham explains how the charity supports those going through the asylum seeking process

Nadia Whittome

Good Grief

Matter of Facts

Back with a Bang

Way of the Kaye

Witness to History

Simon Says...

A Scary-tale Story

Burger and Better Things

Out of Time: Sir Peter Mansfield

Our regular columnist and Labour MP for Nottingham East returns after a short break to discuss the importance of safeguarding refugees

The popular No Such Thing as a Fish podcast is heading to Notts for a live show. We catch up with co-host Dan Schreiber to find out more

From attending uni in Notts to starring in two of the biggest TV series of the past decade, Paul Kaye has just about seen it all… Stand-up comedian and filmmaker Simon Amstell talks lockdown, threesomes and ayahuasca ahead of his performance at the Playhouse They shook up the Notts vegan food scene with their meat-free fast-food delicacies, and now Mocky-D are looking for a permanent home

Filmmaker Robert Sharp and Forever Stars’ Jo Sharp have teamed up to create Good Grief, a film about baby loss narrated by Vicky McClure

Detonate’s James Busby explains how a small club night in the late nineties grew into one of the mainstays of the Notts live music scene

Lizzy O’Riordan speaks to Suzie MacMurray about Witness, her striking new art installation at the National Justice Museum

The Nottingham Horror Collective is a spooky new zine that resulted in a collaboration between friends Ruth, Emily and Bren

On what would have been his 88th birthday, we take a look at the legacy of one of Notts’ finest minds: MRI pioneer Sir Peter Mansfield

Editorial You’d think that two-and-a-half years as Editor at LeftLion would dull the excitement of seeing covers for the first time, but you’d be wrong. I was as giddy as a child when Curtis, our long-serving Head of Video and Photography and debut cover artist, showed me the finished shot of Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson. There was something delightfully retro about it that felt right, and it was great to be able to feature him before they headline an arena for the very first time next month. You can read more about it in Katie Lyle’s interview on page 16. You may have noticed the change in masthead colour, too. We’ve opted for the pink and blue to show our support for Baby Loss Awareness Week, which takes place between 9-15 October. Nottingham is blessed with several charities that do remarkable things for recently bereaved parents, not least of all Forever Stars, who we talk to on page 34, and Zephyr’s, who we have also featured recently. If you find yourself enjoying this magazine and wondering how such a fine publication could possibly be free, why not chuck either of them a couple of quid to help continue their superb work.

It feels like every idiot with a platform has been saying this at any given opportunity, but it genuinely does feel like live events are back now. So now it’s this idiot’s turn, and we’ve got a bevy of interviews to prove it. We speak to Simon Amstell (page 22), No Such Thing as a Fish (page 27), the Mayhem Film Festival team (page 35) and Detonate’s James Busby (page 36), all of who have live dates penned in for this month. Exciting times indeed. Chuck in some features on Notts’ Paralympic gold medallists (page 20), Host Nottingham’s campaign to house refugees from Afghanistan (page 19), an interview with Paul Kaye (page 23) and loads more, you’ve got yourself a real humdinger of a mag, even if I do say so myself. Until the next one…

Ashley Carter, Editor ashley.carter@leftlion.co.uk

LeftLion Magazine is fully recyclable and home-compostable. We print on paper that is recycled or made using FSC certified sources, on a renewably powered print press. leftlion.co.uk/issue140 5

Going Underground Our mole on the ground isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty to bring you the Notts stories you might have missed... illustration: Kate Sharp Wuthering Heist No mole can call themselves a proper journalist until they’ve reported from a war-torn, Third World nation. So off to Birmingham I went, in search of a scoop that could move me one step closer to the Pulitzer. Unfortunately, all I saw was some berk getting his £9k watch nabbed after being distracted by the thief’s dance moves.

Halloween We will, of course, be selling pumpkins in the shop. One of our customers, Mrs Jones Senior, is well into her seventies. She told us about some tricks they used to play for Halloween when they were younger. They were quite serious back then. They used to put treacle on people’s door handles so they couldn’t get into their houses. They’d also wire up people’s metal gates to the electricity mains. We think it’s all got a bit tame. Let’s bring back proper tricks, as well as the treats.

Hide and Squeak We all know someone who thinks they’re aren’t ratist. “Oh, I’ve got rat friends!” they’ll say, or “I’m not ratist, but…” One family in Lenton recently displayed their deep-rooted, systemic bigotry by calling the press to complain of a friendly family of rats living in their garden. It’s 2021, how about we start treating each other with a bit of decency?

National Poetry Day (Thursday 7 October) Although we can barely read or write, we do appreciate a bit of poetry here and there. It’s a wonderful thing. We went to Waterstones many years ago and we bought two books. One was a collection of the nation’s favourite 100 poems. The other was a collection of work from Rupert Brooke, the First World War poet. He wrote some fantastic poems about the country we know and love. We’d encourage everyone to read a poem on the day itself.

Water Idiot Speaking of rodents, Lee Anderson, the MP for Ashfield, recently suggested that members of Notts’ Extinction Rebellion should be blasted by water cannons. In fairness, the Tory, whose achievements include refusing to support England because they took the knee during the Euros, could have been preparing them for the inevitable global warming-caused tidal wave that will eventually wipe us all out.

e: ball gam y? ” t a foot d a d r a e D t h u g o and dau k man, don’t y Fat her c la b e te th “You ha y that” ck m a n Don’t sa u hate the bla er o “W hat? a numb y ay s s ay n’t have s e lw a o d u t o “Y tha T h e on e D a dd y ! E .” k c A NS T H a SH E M E on his b ? e e r fe re “Oh, the E!” R EF ER E “She had three bir one for thdays: her her work mates, one for people a nd one fo all those people s r he do e s really lik n’t e b ut h a d to see ”

Goose Fair Don’t you think they cancelled it all a bit too early? Most events seem to be up and running again now. We’ve just had the Robin Hood Marathon, so why can’t we have Goose Fair back? We’ll miss it this year. We’d always go along and have a go on the Helter Skelter, the Cyclone and the Dodgems. Where will we go to get our mushy peas now? I know we can have them at home anytime, but it’s just not the same!

“Oh I don’t know. Just make a deci sion you bloody hipp ie” Woman on phone “…Yeah, well you ain’t fulfillin’ ma needs!!” “Yeah, well no-one is fillin’ me!”

“She's got a LIDL muss face like a el”

a h ad ever pton" I e tim verham first ol " T he a s i n W w C KF

Nottingham’s most opinionated grocers

e l or is h B en re a " "Is Uncle lmio puppets? o D e th e lik

“I w ish I coul d go back to school know ing wha t I know no w” “W hat do yo u know now ?” *Long paus e* “I don’t kn ow ” "And that's why, from now on, I'm in charge of the pigs in blankets"

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‘

interview and photo: Georgianna Scurfield Pride week was full of so many events. I went to the Louisey Rider Cup, which is a party put on by my roller derby team glittery, fancy dress, nice music, nice DJ. Middle of the week was Drag Bingo at Rough Trade. Then Pride was Saturday. I also went to Dirty, Filthy, Sexy. It was weird doing so much in one week after having a year off. I’ve been doing roller derby for about four years; my friend got me involved after she had been doing it for about ten years. I’ve never been much of a sporty person, but now I’m hooked. You forget that it's a sport because it’s so fun. Last week we had our first full contact session after COVID, bodies were flying and limbs were everywhere, but everyone had a massive grin on their face. As for how I dress, I’ve always just worn black and leopard print because they’re the most comfortable things. It started as an emo phase in secondary school and just continued. I don’t have any eyeliner on today, but normally I have eyeliner stamped all over my face. I do design for a job - marketing and project management, that sort of thing. I also make ceramics. My friends dubbed me the ‘ratty girl’ because I make ceramic rats. Sonia Tyrna

Pick Six

This month, we’ve tasked rapper Jah Digga with picking a few of his favourite things...

Film Apocalypto I can watch this film over and over again. It’s subtitled, so you really have to concentrate, but I love history films that have true storylines. It’s educational, too.

Meal Minted Lamb You know what, because I’m Jamaican you’d think it was rice, peas and chicken… But it’s actually minted lamb with potatoes and veg. In fact, I’m having it tonight.

Song Slippin’ - DMX This is tricky because there are many, but Slippin’ by DMX always makes the hairs on my neck stand up. You can feel the pain in every word, and that vulnerability is where the magic is.

Notts Spot Horse & Groom Pub, New Basford This Jamaican-owned pub sells Jamaican and English food, and the vibe is spot on. After a hard day at work it’s a great place to wind down and relax with great people and music.

Book The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle I was given this book when I first became aware of my spiritual journey, and it felt like it answered all of the questions I had at the time. You can read it over and over and still learn something new.

Holiday Destination Jamaica I have to say Jamaica. It’s a beautiful country and my first choice, but I also love Cancun in Mexico and Harlem, New York, which felt like home. But Jamaica is my place.

@jahdigga

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Notts Shots

Late night light bite Kai Holton - @kxi.png

Train in vain Tom Haslam - @thomas_haslam_

Want to have your work featured? Send your high-res photos from around the city, including your full name and best web link, to photography@leftlion.co.uk

Sunset reflections Steve Wallace - @jamesgraceart 10

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Concrete jungle Wesley Morgan - @drk_room

Early risers Natalie Owen - @natalieowen91

Two tired to carry on David Cooper - @david_g_cooper

For all your political needs Cameron Craw - @cameracraww

Heaven Trent Dani Bacon - @danijuliette_

Buck you, I won’t do what you tell me Matt Hubbert - @joytheconvoy leftlion.co.uk/issue140 11

Nadia on... Refugees words: Nadia Whittome photo: Fabrice Gagos

It was impossible to watch the images and videos coming out of Afghanistan as the Taliban assumed control and not feel horrified. Thousands scrambled to escape - some people so desperate that they risked their lives clinging to the wheels of planes. The British public rightly demanded our government do more to help Afghans trying to flee. And I was inundated with emails from both the Afghan community here in Nottingham East with relatives in Afghanistan, but also from many other constituents outraged at the situation. The government ramped up its rhetoric in response, with the Foreign Secretary saying: “We are a big hearted-nation that provides a safe haven to those fleeing persecution.” But their rhetoric does not match their actions. In recent years, the Home Office has rejected the asylum claims of many Afghans fleeing the Taliban, claiming they would be safe in Kabul, and deported them back to Afghanistan. Many were just teenagers. How many will now be imprisoned, tortured, killed? And right now, the government is pushing through a Bill which will make it harder for Afghan refugees to find safety here. The Nationality and Borders Bill proposes a series of reforms to the asylum system that the government claims will deter illegal entry, increase the fairness and efficacy of the system, and make it easier to remove those without leave to remain. However, make no mistake, this Bill is an attack on the fundamental human right to seek asylum. The Bill seeks to reward asylum seekers who come to the UK via legal routes, however there are currently no such routes, and the Bill makes no reference to creating any. Those who come

‘unlawfully’ may have their claims treated differently, such as being offered a shorter period of leave or finding themselves with no recourse to public funds, amongst other discriminatory provisions. Additionally, the Home Secretary recently proposed plans to push boats in the Channel back to France. Not only is this tactic severely lacking in compassion, it directly breaks international maritime law and will only lead to more deaths at sea. I strongly oppose the use of push-backs in any context. Refugees are forced to take to the waters in unseaworthy dinghies because of a lack of safe routes to claim asylum.

Make no mistake, this Bill is an attack on the fundamental human right to seek asylum The Bill also removes protection for victims of modern slavery and human trafficking. Under the new proposals, survivors identified as potential trafficking victims will not be automatically released from detention, leaving them in an environment that exposes them to risk of serious harm. Without safeguards in place to protect survivors from detention, they may be discouraged from coming forward, playing directly into the hands of the traffickers and criminals that the government says it wants to get tougher on. It’s clear that our asylum system needs a serious overhaul - this is something human rights groups and campaigners have been advocating for years. But this should be in order to improve it, not to create a two-tier asylum system, reinforcing the good vs. bad refugee

narrative and jeopardising our international legal obligations. This year marks the seventieth anniversary of the Refugee Convention and it seems the government needs reminding that seeking sanctuary is not a crime. There are so many voices from refugee and asylum seeker communities that deserve to be heard, and these are the voices that need to be amplified, rather than divisive and false narratives spun in the right wing media. I know many of us feel hopeless when facing the cruelty of this government’s legislative agenda, the faulty and harmful rhetoric surrounding immigration, and the immigration system as a whole. But there are also so many fantastic organisations fighting for the rights of refugees and asylum seekers - from groups monitoring human rights abuses in the Channel, to people providing legal advice and food to asylum seekers, to those protesting against deportation flights. I’ve recently been in Brighton for the Labour Party Conference. While I was there, I marched with hundreds of others through the streets to demand that the holiday company TUI stop running brutal deportation flights. These flights tear families apart and put people in danger. In July, my office successfully fought for two constituents who were to be deported to Zimbabwe. Both had been in the UK for years and had family here. If you are looking for ways to help refugees and asylum seekers locally, get in touch with some excellent community organisations such as the Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum, Refugee Roots, Nottingham Arimathea Trust and Host Nottingham to find out more about how you can get involved. nadiawhittome.org

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A Session Musician in Notts It was almost decided from when I was a small child that I’d become a musician. I’ve been playing since I was five years old and I haven’t stopped since. That was always what I was going to do, even if I didn’t know it myself. I was practicing violin all through school but it just wasn’t seen as a career option. You can tell people that’s what you want to do, but they’ll give you no advice on how to make it happen. At the time the only way to make it work was to meet people and do things off your own back. That was quite a challenge, but once you’re in there you’re set - if anything, I have too much on now. I want to do everything but it’s sadly not possible. There are large periods where I probably won’t do much during work days. I’m usually just told to go here and do this when I’m needed. We’ll have a little bit of a run through to warm up and then we’ll play, that’s the typical structure. The role involves lots of travelling, as well as plenty of preparation having a look at the music beforehand and that sort of thing. There are tons of emails back and forth too. After a long day I enjoy going online and playing Rocket League or Call of Duty. Because of my line of work a lot of my friends live in different parts of the country and all over the world, so that’s the best way to stay in touch. Over lockdown gaming became really important and we bonded even more as a result. We had nothing else to do so we practically played every night.

illustration: Kasia Kozakiewicz

Sometimes things don’t go as expected, which can be challenging. People have a plan in place and stuff comes up that affects that plan, like gear not working. I’d like to emphasise that I’ve got better at this now, but in the past I’ve forgotten to bring equipment with me, like a music stand. I’m pretty sure that happened a couple of times! Other difficulties are that people might ask for a piece of music they haven’t asked for beforehand, and sometimes you have artistic differences with those you’re working with but thankfully that doesn’t happen very often.

know them and hear about them. There are always loads of interesting stories. Often you hear from musicians that have been where you’ve been or played where you’ve played, and they’ve had a completely different angle on things.

The people you meet are one of the best things about the job. There are people from all over the place, with all different backgrounds, and you get to know them and hear about them

My proudest moment might sound silly, but it’s just being told by my parents that they really liked my show. We did a gig at the Rescue Rooms, Captain Dangerous back in 2013, and it was one of those rare times where my parents came to a show. There was this sixteen-piece orchestra I’d arranged, and my mum, my dad and his friends were quite moved by it. It’s always such a nice feeling to be told that you’re doing alright, it gives you a personal buzz.

Despite the challenges, I’m so grateful that I get to do what I’m passionate about every day. I just love playing music. The people you meet are one of the best things about the job too. There are people from all over the place, with all different backgrounds, and you get to

You can share your experiences and then think, ‘Oh, when I go back there I know now to do this thing or check out that thing.’ There’s a whole network in the industry and you feel like part of a family, regardless of where you go to play. I honestly can’t imagine doing anything else now I’m in that family.

As I’ve progressed through my career I’ve got to travel more and meet people further afield. When you’re playing in an orchestra you get to see yourself physically moving forwards too, progressing one row at a time towards the front, and you’re given more responsibility. Going forward I’d like to do more stuff in Europe, keep choosing the jobs that I really care about and continue doing what I love as much as I can.

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That famous rage might have dimmed ever-so-slightly, but it’s clear to see that Jason Williamson is still a man with a lot to say. With their most recent album, Spare Ribs, being their most successful to date, and a first headlining arena performance happening next month, we chat to Sleaford Mods’ charismatic frontman about capitalism, getting older and seeing Iggy Pop’s parrot dancing to his music... First off, how does it feel being back playing live and to be performing your first headline arena show in your hometown? Yeah, I’m really excited. After selling out Rock City five times, it’s like: let’s just try it. If it doesn’t work out we will just go back to Rock City. Do you think it will feel different? I think it might be a bit weird, but you’ve just got to work that out when you go on stage. I don’t know if it will be weird for the audience. We made the mistake of playing the Theatre Royal a few years back, and that didn’t go down well with people at all. But you’ve got to try it, haven’t you? We’ve just done Rock City so many times. It’s brilliant, it’s a classic venue, but we just thought we wanted to play somewhere different. And as we’ve gotten bigger, why not? You know, there’s no point in doing Rock City with a number four album if we can do the Arena. If you’ve got the opportunity to do it, do it. You recorded your latest album, Spare Ribs, in Notts studio JT Soar during lockdown. What made you choose it, and what was the process like? We just needed somewhere around the corner. We tried doing it in London which was fine, but it was easier getting something that was closer to us. And so that's why we met Phil (Booth - JT Soar founder) a couple of years ago and started recording there. We’ve been there ever since and it just works out, it's convenient and it's a great studio. And we don’t need a massive setup. Not yet anyway.

We made the mistake of playing the Theatre Royal a few years back, and that didn’t go down well with people at all Where did the title, Spare Ribs, come from? Just from the idea that we are all potentially collateral damage, kind of; acceptable losses in the face of capitalism, the day-to-day. The machine favours its wellbeing more than the occupants that serve it. And we all serve it. We are secondary to the idea of it.

Mork n Mindy has received a lot of play on 6Music… Again, it aligned us with this idea that we wanted to be bigger, and to move up. And it helped that it’s a real earworm, it's one of the poppiest things we’ve done. It’s a great single innit, it works. It's a classic really. We met Billy Nomates and were thinking we would try and get her on a track. Love her voice. And then Andrew had this beat. We’d had it from as early as 2019, playing around with it. It just came together like that really. You have a reputation for being outspoken. Is this something you feel like you have to live up to? Nah, not really, I wouldn't say so. I don’t think I’ve ever felt any pressure to mouth off, you just do it when you feel like it. These days, I’ve taken a step back, because you just don’t want to pigeon yourself as a moaning bastard, you know what I mean? But in reality, you are. How did you cope during lockdown? Like anyone else I guess, just trying to get on with it. Music has taken a hit. And musicians especially have taken a hit. The music industry, I would imagine the majors, the corporates, they’re doing fine. But independent artists, or even just bands in general, have taken a hit because there has been no income. Your top one percent, the Ed Sheerans and all that, are probably doing great. But the rest of us have suffered. You have spoken out about the importance of the vaccine and are one of the faces of Nottingham’s campaign… I just think it's the common sense thing to do, you know? Fatalities due to the vaccine have been very very, very low. Like anything, there’s gonna be risks, it's not fool-proof. But it's shown it fights to a certain degree the intrusion of coronavirus, so therefore why wouldn’t you have it? There’s been a lot of unfounded messages sent out by individuals that want to cause a landscape of chaos, panic, and doubt, and that's really caught on with people - because I think just a lot of people won’t accept that it purely has been a virus. This is how it is, you know? It’s something that hasn’t happened to us for a very long time. Some people just can’t accept that and would rather blame it on some kind of corruption. It doesn’t help that we have got a government that is completely weak.

You have worked hard to get where you are, and found success later in life. How did you find that? Yeah, it's good. You worry that you are getting too old, but stuff happens - what are you supposed to do? You just carry on. Most of our contemporaries are 25-30 years younger than us. Which is quite funny, really. But you’ve just got to accept it and move on.

I think I’m dulled now. I think lockdown has knocked it out of me, I find it hard to get angry Iggy Pop tweeted a video of him and his pet parrot dancing to your music. That must have been surreal... So good, yeah. That’s brilliant. It was so funny when he sent it. He is the master, Iggy Pop. Absolute master. Is there a contrast between your stage persona and who you are on a day-to-day basis? There is a little bit of a contrast. I don’t go round shouting and screaming, obviously it's a performance. I just switch off as soon as I come off. I calm down, get over it and you’re back to normal. There isn’t that much of a difference between what I’m like on stage and off in the sense of who I am, it’s kind of a feet on the ground performance. We’re not big time cabaret entertainers. There’s some theatre in there and there’s some dramatics and obviously showbiz. But what you see is what you get. Frustration and anger is a big part of your sound - are you as angry as you were when you started? I think I’m dulled now. I think lockdown has knocked it out of me, I find it hard to get angry. I do get angry, but on stage I feel a bit numb. Whereas before I could channel anger and I’m finding it hard to channel anger now on stage. What’s next for Sleaford Mods? Just touring, and next year we are looking at touring abroad again - hopefully Europe, America and Australia in 2023. And a new album soon. Just keep writing, stuff like that. Sleaford Mods are performing at The Motorpoint Arena on Saturday 27 November

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words: Katie Lyle photo: Curtis Powell

Mods of

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Golden Girls

We catch up with two of Nottingham’s Paralympic heroes after a record-breaking games in Tokyo...

Tully Kearney World Championship success in Montreal, Glasgow and London, a European title in Dublin and two Paralympic medals in Tokyo - Nottingham-born swimmer Tully Kearney is undoubtedly one of the nation’s finest athletes. We hear from the 24-year-old after she achieved her lifelong goal of winning on the world’s biggest stage… On Nottingham…

I’ve got a lot of family there and I still support Notts County, that’s my main connection these days. Cerebral Palsy Sport have their hub in Nottingham too and I’ve tried a lot of different sports with them, so I do visit quite a bit.

On winning four golds, a silver and a bronze at the 2015 World Championships… That was crazy. I was struggling going into Glasgow, I had a shoulder injury at the time and I wasn’t feeling that confident. Then my coach pulled me aside and said, “No pressure, but you could be GB’s highest medal earner at this competition.” I looked at him like, “Don’t be ridiculous.” But thankfully that’s what happened!

On being nominated for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year… I think it’s important to get para-athletes out there alongside able-bodied athletes because it’s not often that we’re paired up or put together. So that was a really big thing for me, to make it to the last three.

When I got in the water I didn’t feel like a disabled person, I just felt free. I think it’s so important for every kid to see that as a possibility

On Tokyo 2020…

Before Tokyo I was quite concerned. I’d been dealing with an injury, so I was in a place where I couldn’t do proper training and I had no idea where my speed was. But once I got to the Paralympic village I was a bit more relieved. That was such a shock, it was massive, and it made me think about how my goal was just to get to the Paralympic Games - so I just wanted to enjoy it after I was forced to pull out of Rio five years ago.

On inspiring others… Growing up, swimming was the only sport where I could keep up with kids my age. When I got in the water I didn’t feel like a disabled person, I just felt free. I think it’s so important for every kid to see that as a possibility if they want it. My message is I’m proof that even if things have rocked your world, you can still achieve your goals.

interviews: George White illustration: Emmy Smith

Charlotte Henshaw After a stunning swimming career, which included a silver medal at London 2012, Mansfield’s own Charlotte Henshaw decided to try her hand at canoeing. Several world titles and a Paralympic gold later, it’s safe to say it was a good choice. We chat to the champ about her hometown, her trip to Tokyo and her love for musical theatre… On Mansfield… We have such a rich history of creating world-class swimmers and athletes through the pathways we have. Sometimes Mansfield gets a bad reputation, but I think with our sporting achievements we’re encouraging a bit more positivity. I’m really proud to represent my home town and hopefully we can continue to breed the success that we’ve had for such a long time.

On London 2012…

It’s hard to put into words what it was like to compete at a home games. It was amazing to be a part of. London started to change the perception of the Paralympics in the UK. We went from an hour’s highlights on the BBC in Beijing to full coverage on Channel 4.

London started to change the perception of the Paralympics in the UK. We went from an hour’s highlights on the BBC in Beijing to full coverage on Channel 4 On switching from swimming to canoeing…

I knew after Rio I’d come to the end of what I had to offer in terms of my swimming career, but I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to the Paralympic movement. When I came home I had a meeting and I was matched up with canoeing. Straight away it’s where I knew I was supposed to be for the foreseeable. I absolutely loved it!

On Tokyo 2020… The volunteers there were so involved and excited to be a part of things - they made it feel like there was a real crowd. It was very different to previous years but I had an amazing time. I think because we thought it would never happen there was this massive sense of gratitude when we got there. We were all really thankful that we’d been given the opportunity to race.

On relaxing outside of work… It’s no secret that I’m a massive musical theatre fan. I’m not ashamed of it! That’s my kind of escapism, the world I like to go into for a couple of hours and completely switch off. I’ve missed being able to do that so I’m looking forward to getting back into the land of jazz hands and singing and dancing. leftlion.co.uk/issue140 19

HOME TRUTHS Despite what the right would have you believe, every time there’s an influx of refugees from a war-torn country, the UK is not overrun with people claiming asylum. In fact, the UK holds only about 1% of the total number of refugees the world over. UK refugees have to go through a gruelling process to achieve settled status, which often lasts years and leaves any failed claimants without money or a place to stay while they lodge appeals. Host is a Nottingham-based charity that provides support to those going through the asylum seeking process, making their lives just a little easier. Penny Reeve sat down with Host chair Roger Van Schaick to find out a little more... What is the purpose of Host? We support those seeking asylum in the UK through hosting, practical support and advocating for a just asylum system. With hosting, our guests are going through the process of gaining status, working with their solicitors, and advisors at the Nottingham Refugee Forum. Now, feeling safe and having a solid base is very important while going through this process, which is very difficult, especially if you’re sofa surfing or worse, sleeping rough. We mostly get referrals from the anti-destitution project at the Refugee Forum. Our job is to pair people seeking asylum up with volunteer hosts, who offer out a spare room from one day up to three months. There must be so many people in need of help. How do you decide who to take on? Together with the advisors at the Refugee Forum we decide through a selection process because there are people, for example, at the extreme end of PTSD who wouldn’t be suitable for hosting. We also need to know that there’s some prospect for guests to get status in the foreseeable future. We say three months maximum currently. Hopefully when we have more hosts we’ll be able to offer longer periods but the duration of processing has gotten worse as the asylum system has gotten more clogged up. When we started, three months to get an answer to a fresh claim was sort of realistic but it’s now years. We recently had some very good news that a former guest of ours finally got status. It took seven years and three attempts. Can you give us a brief rundown of the asylum process? Refugees claim asylum in this country when they first arrive. There’s an initial interview and then they’re dispersed to places where housing is cheap. Glasgow receives the most, but we get a reasonable number. Refugees often end up in a shared house somewhere cheap like Hyson Green or the Meadows while their first claim is considered by the

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Home Office. At some point there will be a substantive interview to assess their claim. It’s supposed to take a maximum of six months to hear about the claim but that’s a dream, it’s more than that. It varies from year to year, and with country of origin but overall around half of claims are rejected first time around. At that point asylum seekers are evicted from their accommodation at short notice and the money stops. They have a right to appeal or submit fresh evidence; a fresh claim. So that’s what our guests are doing, basically. If you look at the figures nationally about half of those second or third claims are successful, which suggests that the decision making process first time around is flawed.

Our job is to pair people seeking asylum up with volunteer hosts, who offer out a spare room from one day up to three months Are there many appeals to initial rulings? In our experience we quite often find it difficult to understand why a guest’s claim has been rejected, looking at it from a common sense point of view. We had a guest who was an Iranian Christian, and his prayer meeting had been shot up by the Iranian police. He had very serious bullet wounds, you could see them in his neck. He was lucky to survive. He made it to this country and his first claim failed. Happily, his second claim was successful. It depends on the technical legal process, not common sense. There’s a disposition on the part of the Home Office to disbelieve, there’s a bias towards saying no to be honest. So the ruling is quite often on a technicality, a person seeking asylum will have told a story once but if you’ve been

recently traumatised trying to remember things accurately isn’t always easy. So the Home Office will say ‘well, you’re lying’ because these details don’t match. This is why it’s very important to have a good lawyer. Are there many lawyers in Nottingham who undertake this kind of work? Sadly not. There’s a huge bottleneck due to the fact that the number of lawyers who are either willing or able to do this sort of work is vanishingly small. It’s legal aid work: it’s very poorly rewarded and it’s difficult. It’s a lot easier to do house conveyancing rather than prove that somebody’s been tortured in some obscure Sudanese police cell. The top three nationalities to take refuge in the UK are Iranian, Albanian and Eritrean. Considering recent news, this is quite surprising, is it not? Around one percent of refugees from Afghanistan will end up in the UK. There are around 70,000 people seeking asylum in the system at the moment, being assessed, and of those, about 3,000 are Afghans. That doesn’t include those who have come over in this last wave. The people who we see on the television who have come over since the middle of August, they are kind of in the first class lounge of the asylum seeker. Those in the ARAP and ACRS schemes will have status when they arrive, so they won’t be going through - thankfully - the process I’ve just described. Do you feel there's bad feeling towards refugees? We don’t really see much negative feeling through Host. Through our social media we are talking to a sympathetic audience. You get the occasional hostile comment but we just ignore that. There’s been a lot of good feeling growing from the Afghan crisis. We’ve had almost fifty people enquiring about hosting since then. The impulse tends to be “I want to help the Afghan refugees,” but when you talk to people and explain that we

don’t have any Afghan refugees but we have quite a few Iranians and Kurds and they’ve been here quite a few years, people are fine with that. What other activities does Host get up to, for people who want to help but can’t host? We have a clothes bank, located at the Refugee Forum. It’s purely for people in the anti-destitution project, in other words destitute asylum seekers. It’s going great guns at the moment. We also run a project called Side-by-Side which pairs volunteers with those seeking asylums who need accompaniment to appointments, just for moral support really, or a bit of navigation.

We had a guest who was an Iranian Christian, and his prayer meeting had been shot up by the Iranian police. He had very serious bullet wounds, you could see them in his neck. He was lucky to survive How did the pandemic affect Host? It affected us badly. At the start of the pandemic a lot of hosts stopped hosting, for obvious reasons. Since then we have lost a lot of hosts either because of the pandemic or illness, relocation. There’s been a natural wastage and although some people have started to host again, we’re not back to previous figures. As the Everyone In scheme ends, will there be more people seeking asylum who need to rely on Host again? Absolutely.The Everyone In scheme actually didn’t include destitute asylum seekers because they have no recourse to public funds so the local authorities couldn’t really help. Nevertheless, during the pandemic the evictions that would normally take place for failed claimants staying in Home Office accommodation were suspended. Now that will end. There’s a trickle of people being evicted already but it’s difficult to get proper information about how many failed claimants will be evicted locally, when, and what will

happen to them. We’ve been expecting a tsunami of people for months. Maybe it’ll be very gradual. We understand that there are currently 120 or so asylum seekers in Nottingham who may, in the foreseeable future face eviction. We have no way of meeting that demand, nor have the other organisations in the city who do similar things, like the Arimathea Trust. So these people could all end up homeless again? That’s a bit of a crisis, isn’t it? Yeah. And how many host families do you have at the moment? Four. Who tends to volunteer to host? Anyone with a spare room can host. There’s a lot of empty nesters but there are families with children too. It’s generally a very positive experience, as it teaches the kids compassion and more besides. What’s the language barrier like? You see the full range of English skills. There are those who speak brilliant English and those who speak none at all. At the handover meeting, we’ll be there, as well as anadvisor from the Refugee Forum. An agreement will be signed and details will be discussed; what time guests can stay out til, what to do with keys, whether there are any pets, etc and if necessary we’ll have a translator present then. It’s obviously not practical to have a translator around all of the time but you get by. Obviously there can be cultural sensitivities having hosts from different countries? Absolutely, though these can often be quite trivial and you work through them as you go along. More importantly, we ask our guests to be sensitive to the refugee experience. We ask hosts not to interrogate. Some people will want to talk abouttheir experience and some people don’t. You have to be sensitive to that. What can a host expect from their experience? Guests come to us after they’ve failed their first asylum claim, so they come to us at a low point, that’s the first thing to consider. The other is that these are independent adults, they don’t need looking after.

They’ve already lived for a couple of years in Nottingham; they’ve got friends, they’ve got contacts, their own life. But you also have to be aware that they can’t work, there are very limited options for study. They’re in limbo, their future is uncertain. Is there a support network for hosts themselves? Absolutely. Host was set up to provide mutual support to hosts. There’s a phone number you can phone 24/7 and hosts can talk to other hosts through the charity. If you’re hosting, you need back-up and you need to know it’s not your responsibility to end the placement. If you invite someone into your home to stay and they stay too long, that puts you in an uncomfortable position. With Host, the host is in control of how long they want the placement to be and we end it. Or if there is ever any problem, we would end it. Hosts will never have to be in the morally uncomfortable position of making somebody homeless. Do hosts keep in touch with their guests? Oh yes. The process of hosting is asymmetric: you host the guests for a few weeks or months and they remember you for life. We regularly get messages from former guests. I hear Host’s tenth anniversary is coming up in October! How will you be celebrating? Well, we’ll be having a party! It’s on Friday 22 October at St John’s Church in Carrington. Hosts, former hosts and prospective hosts are invited. There will be some former guests there, plus live music and food. It’s partly a celebration and partly a chance for people to find out more about the hosting process. Everyone is welcome to drop by and say hello. To find out more about Host or register interest in hosting yourself, visit the Host website hostnottingham.org.uk @HOST_Nottingham FB: hostnottinghamrefugeeforum

interview: Penny Reeve illustration: Fiona Carr

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Founded by the QI researchers, No Such Thing as a Fish is the weekly British podcast celebrating facts, comedy, and all things nerdy. We catch up with co-host Dan Schreiber and chat about the upcoming tour, weird accents, and raising money for Comic Relief… For any readers that might not already know, can you describe the concept behind No Such Thing as a Fish? We’ve been going for about seven years now, originating as a kind of spin-off sister show QI. Essentially, it’s four writers from QI, sitting around and discussing the best fact they found that week. It happened because we were always sitting in the office, wondering what to do with these interesting facts that didn’t make it onto the show, so we decided to record it. Now you’re taking the podcast on tour. What can we expect from a podcast on the stage? It’s a good question and one we hoped nobody would ask. On paper it sounds a bit wrong, but it actually works. When we first decided to do it, I was already doing stand-up on the alternative comedy circuit in the UK, which is a very geeky, nerdy circuit. There was this amazing mix of comedians and scientists coming up on stage and the buzz was electric, so we decided to try that with our show. We do the podcast live in the second half but we also wrote a whole comedy show for the first half, so you’re getting a full evening of stuff that’s not just the podcast. But really, it’s a nerd community - that’s what the tour name, Nerd Immunity, is all about. We wanted to celebrate nerds, so there’s going to be a lot of audience participation sussing out people’s nerdity and getting their best facts. No Such Thing as a Fish has been going for seven years now. How do you think it’s evolved over that time? I mean, it hasn’t, that’s the nice thing about the format. We just start the show, say our fact, and get talking. You don’t even need a real ending, we just put some music on and go straight into the next fact. It’s a sort of bullet-proof idea because it doesn’t rely on us going on adventures, it’s just about the facts. I imagine you were grateful for that simple format over lockdown… Yeah, I mean we had those basic problems of learning how to have a conversation over Zoom and lagging internet speed. Anna from our podcast was out in the countryside so there was a whole period where you could hear tractors and all sorts of wildlife. But we were very lucky, because we didn’t have to stop for even a

week. A lot of shows had to shut down and we weren’t one of them. Have you gotten used to hearing the sound of your own voice yet? I actually don’t mind my own weird accent. My pronunciation is all over the shop, but as a result it’s a voice I never get bored of. Sometimes I see a word I’m about to say and I have no idea how it’s going to come out – it’s usually going to have an extra R in it. I’m incapable of pronouncing ‘Covent Garden’ without saying ‘Corvent Garden’.

It’s a nerd community, that’s what the tour name Nerd Immunity is all about We’re in the golden age of podcasts. What do you think it is about that format which works so well? I think podcasting generally allows people to host a show really easily. It’s so great that a kid can get a microphone and make a show, it removes the elitism around being creative. With our show particularly we started off really rickety, but people enjoyed growing with us. As a result, there’s no hero worship - most people who meet us just tell us a fact or correct us on something. Do listeners of the podcast often share facts with you? Yeah, and that’s especially great when it comes to the live shows because we often get heckled with people saying we got the fact wrong. Say if we tell a fact about a camel, there is often the world-leading camel expert in the audience. What’s been your favourite part of working on the podcast? I think chatting with my buddies is the best. I’ve loved making comedy my whole life and I think we’ve nailed the best format for having a comedic conversation. Have you always had an interest in facts? Definitely. I don’t know where it came from because I

didn’t come from an academic family and I didn’t go to university or really even properly finish high school, but I’ve always been obsessed with people doing interesting things. It began with writers, starting with fiction then moving onto non-fiction. I realised I can’t meet Harry Potter, but I can meet Jon Ronson; I can’t hang out with Arthur Dent, but I can meet Bill Bryson. I thought these non-fiction writers were like living superheroes. You recently did a twenty-hour podcast marathon for Comic Relief… We’d been talking about how we would love to do something for Comic Relief pre-pandemic, but Zooming from home made us realise it was entirely possible. We followed the sun and interviewed people around the world. It would have been tough to get someone to interview at three in the morning, but that’s the morning in Australia or the evening in America so it suddenly became a really tangible idea in a way it wasn’t before the pandemic. What did you find most interesting about that experience? We had amazing people on: we opened with Michael Palin, then Maggie Aderin-Pocock who I’m a massive fan of. We had a bunch of people who I’d bumped into over the years, for example Karen Gibson, who founded Kingdom Choir - they sang at Harry and Meghan’s wedding. We also had Mary Roach, who is an amazing non-fiction writer who has just written this incredible book, Animal Vegetable Criminal. It was a huge undertaking and we thought we were going to fall asleep, but that’s impossible when you’re always so excited for who is up next. Anything else you’d like to say to LeftLion readers? We’re about to start this tour and we would love to see you there. It’s a great night of comedy, which feels weird saying about yourself. The other three will give you a great night of comedy, and I’ll be there too. No Such Thing as a Fish: Nerd Immunity Tour is coming to Nottingham Playhouse on Saturday 9 October nosuchthingasafish.com

interview: Lizzy O’Riordan photo: David Levene leftlion.co.uk/issue139 19

The Way of the Kaye From fighting in the Greyjoy Rebellion to giving Ricky Gervais therapy sessions, Paul Kaye has had an onscreen career like no other since studying Theatre Design at Nottingham Trent University. We hear from the 56-year-old about his time in Notts, filming in Iceland and his love for Sleaford Mods… What made you want to study in Nottingham? I visited the city and fell in love with it. The Theatre Design course at NTU felt a bit like Fine Art with a purpose. They had a big studio theatre which was ours to use. I ended up writing, directing and designing a play with my mate Andrew Purvin centred around a seventeen-year-old Luddite called Daniel Diggle, who was hanged in Nottingham in 1817. I found out years later that he was an ancestor of the Buzzcocks’ Steve Diggle, so revolution obviously runs in the DNA. How was your experience of the city? I found Nottingham to be really friendly and it had such a romance about it. There was a community vibe down in Forest Fields and Hyson Green which I’d never really experienced in London. I was really into my reggae and we had the Marcus Garvey Centre on our doorstep. I got to see Steel Pulse, Burning Spear and Lee Perry down there. The long gone Cricket Players on Radford Road was such a great pub, a hatch would open on the side of the building at midday and you could buy a can of Red Stripe and an oiled reefer for less than a quid. I lived on Ewart Road for my first year with an amazing guy called Matt Marks who sadly passed away a couple of years back. He became known as the accordion man of Forest Fields. What are some of your favourite memories from your time here? We had a rooftop walk that we’d all do on our way home from the Garage nightclub in Hockley at 3am. It was so dangerous. We’d jump from building to building, slide down roofs and walk along walls that were four stories up. You could pretty much get all the way to Canning Circus that way. One night we climbed up some scaffolding outside the huge Co-op store and found an open window right at the top. We all climbed in and had a threefloor department store to ourselves for the night. It was carnage. Like an idiot I went back there the following morning to look for my jacket and got myself nicked. I ended up being locked in a cell with Mr Scary who pissed in my lunch. He then told me he was going to have a little sleep and that when he got up he was going to kill me. That was the worst few hours of my life but I was released before he woke up. What did you think of Nottingham’s music scene? Back when I lived there I can’t really remember there being one to speak of. We used to go and see a guy called Clint Bestwood and there was a local band called The Dinosaurs. I saw The Vibrators and Spizzenergi down the Union bar. But it's all about Sleaford Mods now! Culturally, I think they’re the most important band for decades. The sheer power of Jason Williamson. Astonishing. He’s like a Lydon, a Dury and a Cooper-Clark all rolled into one. Since leaving the city you’ve had a fantastic career, and one of your most high-profile roles was Thoros of Myr in Game of Thrones. What was that like? Working in real locations was one of the best things about the job. Nothing prepares you for the wonders of Iceland - that place was out of this world. It felt like we were on Jupiter. We spent three days just walking across a glacier, it was such an amazing

interview: George White

leftlion.co.uk/issue140

adventure. I got very close to Rory McCann, who played the Hound, and Richard Dormer, who played Beric Dondarrion. We’d always have our guitars with us wherever we went and would jam the night away.

After Life was a blast. I kept reading that people were fast-forwarding through my bits which I got quite a perverse thrill out of You have also recently starred in other TV hits like The Stranger and After Life. How was your experience on those? I really enjoyed The Stranger. I signed up to it when there were only a couple of scripts written, but my storyline just got better and better as the new episodes came in. And After Life was a blast. I hadn’t worked with Ricky Gervais since the late nineties, pre-Office. He’s such a clever guy and just doesn’t care what people think, which is so rare these days. I kept reading that people were fastforwarding through my bits which I got quite a perverse thrill out of. You’re an accomplished theatre actor too. Do you enjoy performing live? The highlight of my working life was playing Mr Wormwood in the RSC’s Matilda The Musical. I did over five hundred shows in Stratford and the West End and I loved every single one of them. Maybe because I studied Theatre and played in bands for so many years, I’m always happiest when I’m on stage. What are your plans going forward? I lost my Dad to COVID last year and then worked non-stop for twelve months, so I’m going to take a bit of time off and deal with stuff. I’ve also been trying to write something for ages, but a job always turns up which drags me away

from it. I’m going to dedicate myself to that or it will never get done. Will you be returning to the city any time soon? I never went to my graduation ceremony in 1987, but recently NTU invited me to come up in December and pick up an honorary degree, which was very unexpected and very nice of them. My Dad was annoyed that I never picked up my original one, so I’m going to go and get this one for him. After Life Series Three will be on Netflix later this year

My Photo Moment Justyna Kopycinska (@not_just_flowers) leftlion.co.uk/issue140 25

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Simon Says...

It’s fair to say that Simon Amstell has come a long way since the days of broadsiding bemused musicians with snarky questions on Popworld. We caught up with the stand-up comedian, filmmaker and presenter as he heads back on tour with his new show, Spirit Hole, to talk lockdown, dodging threesomes in New York and drinking ayahuasca with a Peruvian shaman... You're currently on the road with your latest stand-up tour, Spirit Hole. What can you tell us about the show? It’s about being terrified of getting older and dying, and then realising that it’s going to happen anyway and feeling much better about it. I suppose there’s a lot in there about shame. There’s a journey to Peru where I drink ayahuasca with a shaman. There’s a bit about going to New York and having an age crisis, dyeing my hair blonde, and almost having a threesome. There’s some stuff about magic mushrooms...something for everybody, I would say!

If you say something out loud you can really free yourself of all the stuff in your head that’s causing you distress Obviously we have to address the elephant in the room. How does it feel to be touring during a pandemic? How has the last eighteen months affected you and your work? I feel very happy that we get to do it again. There was a period where it was just impossible and that was challenging. A lot of my sense of self comes from this idea that I can get on stage and be funny. So it was great to be able to do that again. Everyone seems really relaxed about it - I think I’m the one who’s most paranoid. In the audience, people are laughing and coughing - nobody cares! I guess everyone is vaccinated and just trying to live their lives again. On this ayahuasca retreat in Peru, we learned how to surrender, and once the pandemic hit that’s all we could do. I can’t speak for anyone else and their experience, but over the course of lockdown I felt like I grew as a person. I understand myself better, and a lot of this has ended up in the show. As well as a comedian, you’re a writer, director and presenter. What is it about live comedy that brings you back, and how do you jump between art forms? I feel very grateful that I can move between stand-up comedy and making films. They bring me the most joy. If I could come up with a new stand-up show, then a new film every few years, that would be the ideal. At the end of a tour, you’re so exhausted you think you could never possibly get on stage again, so having a set of actors that can do it all for you is very appealing. Then, after months and months of being sat in an editing suite, you’re desperate to get out and show off in front of people again. So they work quite well together. I keep coming back to comedy because every few years I go through some kind of crisis that I need to resolve. It’s my route out of the confusion. I just get the urge every now and then to get up on a stage and make people laugh. It starts as a build-up of material, where I Google stuff and think about how I can talk about it, and

then eventually there’s a thumbnail on my laptop that’s full of these thoughts that could become jokes. Then I do these work-in-progress gigs and the show gets built and I find myself on tour again. It just seems to happen!

me again at the end, and we’ll let you know how it’s all going!

A lot of your recent projects have been very open and personal (your second feature, Benjamin, and your Netflix special Set Free). Do you find something cathartic in your work? At some point I realised that the truth sets you free. If you say something out loud (without editing out the embarrassing bits you find most shameful), you can really free yourself of all the stuff in your head that’s causing you distress. You can create a fictional version of it in a film, but stand-up comedy is the place where you’re allowed (and encouraged) to tell the hideous truth. It would be a shame not to use the stage in that way. There are a lot of jobs to apply for if you want to lie for a living. It’s strange to me that a stand-up comedian wouldn’t just tell you who they are, because that’s the funniest thing: the actual stupid human being you are. All I’m doing is talking about stuff that’s happened or that I’ve felt. Whenever I’m confused or sad about something, through working out what’s wrong with me, I end up writing a load of standup comedy and then there’s a show.

Simon Amstell is performing Spirit Hole at Nottingham Playhouse on Monday 18 October nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

What have your experiences with audiences been like so far on the tour? Usually it works out well if everyone knows what they’re there for. On this tour, audience members have bought a ticket to see me, specifically, so the only thing that can go wrong is if I forget to do stand-up comedy! There was a charity event years ago where people thought I was supposed to be making a speech rather than performing, and that didn’t go well... but this tour has been amazing. My ego would like to believe that people are just happy to see me, but I think they’re really thrilled to be in a room laughing communally, and having what feels like the kind of night out they’d have taken for granted before. We’re at the beginning of the tour, so me and my lovely team are all getting along and having a great time - I have a wonderful support act called Leo Reich, and a brilliant tour manager. We keep making the show better in the car on the way to the next place, which is exciting. But ask

interview: Jake Leonard leftlion.co.uk/issue140 27

FOOD AND DRINK

burger and better things

words: Daniela Loffreda

Mocky-D has been shaking up the meat-free fast food scene in the city for the past five years. We chat to owners Ben Lord and Clare Morrissey about pioneering the way forward for vegan street food in Nottingham, the ‘Cult of Mocky’ and finding their forever home… Mocky-D has pretty much become a household name for those living in Nottingham. The pop-up stall is raved about by vegans and meat-eaters alike, and owners Ben Lord and Clare Morrissey have built a cult following for their burgers that offer the same great taste of meat, but without the guilt.

food for thought food for thought

When the duo first launched Mocky-D, they never could have expected the response they'd receive from the Nottingham community.

“We just love it,” says Ben. “We’ve been watching everyone from Clemie's Vegan Cakes to No. Twelve. We all know and support each other. We all do something a little bit different, but we add to this big vegan jigsaw.” “Nottingham’s really soaring with the vegan community and it's great to be a part of that,” Clare adds.

“We’ve been blown away by the support. When we started we just sort of appeared and we kept it under the radar, and now the reputation of Mocky-D is quite big, and we’ve just got lovely customers they’re wicked people,” exclaims Ben.

We’re really proud to be in Nottingham. I think we stirred the scene up quite a bit

The pair met back in 2008 and bonded over their shared passion and vision for ethical food. After experimenting with fake meat products, they wanted to show people just how good vegan and veggie food can taste. It was Clare’s trip to Chicago that first introduced her to seitan. The gluten product, renowned for its ability to absorb flavours, can act as a perfect meat substitute.

“We’ve got kind of a cult around us, the Cult of Mocky, and through Instagram and social media we’ve made a lot of great connections, so it’s like we’re a little family!”

Half a decade on, Mocky-D has successfully paved the way for a new breed of street food in Nottingham city centre.

“When people eat with us they don’t have to worry about the ethics of the business. We’re really proud to be in Nottingham. I think we stirred the scene up quite a bit,” Ben muses.

But Mocky-D isn't just about great tasting food - the business aims to be as ethical as possible by using compostable packaging and ethical wholesalers.

The pop-up stall has enjoyed so much success that Mocky-D is now looking to find its ‘forever home’ somewhere in the city. “The next thing is to get a permanent place, but we're just waiting for the right place and the right time. We talked to the council and we’re interested in the Broadmarsh redevelopment and the green element that they might be doing. We just need to pick the right location,” Ben says. The pair hope that having more stability for Mocky-D will allow them to explore some exciting ideas they’ve been keen to try. “We condensed our menu a bit for this year’s event season but I think we still counted maybe over fifty items,” Clare explains. “We realised we were basically trying to be a small cafe from a truck and because we have so many ideas, it's time to move up,” Ben adds candidly. It's safe to say that Mockys is here to stay, and much to the delight of Nottingham’s foodies. If you’ve not tried it, then go and find them. We promise it won’t disappoint. facebook.com/mmmockyd @_mocky_d

New Business Giggling Squid

To Nosh Pumpkin Soup – The Angel Microbrewery

To Sup Pumpkin Spice Latte – Effy Nottingham

If Thai food is your thing, be sure to check out one of Nottingham’s newest gems. With nationwide success already under its belt, this family-founded restaurant is bound to be a city favourite.

Choose from in-house brewed ales while you slurp down some hearty pumpkin soup. With all its ingredients ethically sourced, this little dish will be sure to brighten up any gloomy October night.

Warm up this winter with Effy’s take on one of the nation’s favourites, which blends unique homemade syrups, maple and spices with their glorious in-house espresso. Spicy.

words: Daniela Loffreda illustrations: Fiona Carr

review: HAPPY DOUGH LUCKY Forget the debate about whether pineapple belongs on pizza. Screw the argument that having more toppings is inherently better. The ultimate pizza is the most simple. The OG, if you will, the one that started it all, is without a doubt the most special. That’s right, the margherita still rules supreme. Call me boring. Call me dull. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before, and it doesn’t change the truth - tomato sauce, cheese, olive oil and a hint of basil is all you need for the ultimate Italian experience. And, as far as producing this pure delicacy goes, I’ve heard Happy Dough Lucky are tough to beat. Nestled in The Lacehouse, sitting proudly opposite the famous Annie’s Burger Shack, they boast a sleek bar with a stylish oven tucked neatly in the corner.

This is, to borrow an underused saying, where the magic happens. As I take a sip of my generic ‘cola’ - a little disappointing - I watch (not in a creepy way) the magician (the chef) get to work, and just from the look of the fresh ingredients and soft, thick dough, I already know I’m in for a treat. From the very first bite, though, I realise ‘treat’ might be an understatement. This is one of the best pizzas I’ve had on British soil (yes, I’ve been to Italy. And yes, I mention it a lot). Every slice gets better than the last. The cheese is gorgeous. The tomato sauce is unreal. The dough does in fact make me happy. But the key? The olive oil. The olive oil. I love a Papa John’s or Domino’s as much as the next chump, but these mainstream chains just don’t appreciate the importance of the oil. Happy Dough Lucky gets it, though. And I’ll sure as hell be getting more of their pizzas in the future. George White happydoughlucky.co.uk

review: notts posh dogs The street food scene in Nottingham is constantly expanding to welcome new and exciting local businesses, and Notts Posh Dogs is no exception. Stationed on Clinton Street West are some of the best hot dogs you can get in the city. Owner Sam doesn’t hold back on the fillings, so these buns are stuffed with premium ingredients. You’re guaranteed both quality and quantity here. Sam kindly offers to let me try two from his growing menu. The stall has something for everyone; whether you’re feeling adventurous or want something more traditional, Posh Dogs has you covered. I opt firstly for the limited-edition Halloumi Dog at Sam’s recommendation. The roll is packed with premium sausage

Enjoy colourful shots of freshly prepared authentic Italian dishes on your Insta feed. Give La Storia a follow for some seriously good-looking grub.

The spookiest season of the year is finally upon us, and we think there’s no better way to mark the occasion than sipping your way around the city centre. The Alchemist is a popular stop on Nottingham’s drinking scene, establishing itself as a staple stop on any bar crawl. We take on the extremely laborious task of finding the creepiest cocktails on the menu to quench your thirst this October… Dead Red Zombie - £9.50 This blood red refreshment combines Bacardi Carta Blanca Rum with Wray & Nephew to create a dangerously good combination. Served in a tall glass with billowing smoke, and made with pineapple, lime and The Alchemist’s own Zombie Mix, this apocalyptic drink is perfect for a spooky night out.

and fried halloumi, and topped with aioli, basil and pomegranate seeds. I also drizzle some sweet chilli on top of mine. The pomegranate adds a hint of sweetness which perfectly complements the slight tanginess of the aioli, while the basilinfused freshness keeps the dish feeling light while filling. Next up is the Supreme, which boasts a mouth-watering sliced BBQ pork belly topped with crispy onion and barbecue sauce. The slow-cooked pork is tender and the crispy onion gives a slight crunch to the hot dog. The perfect ratio of bread to filling means it goes down a proper treat. But that’s not all, team any Posh Dog with a mac and cheese side and drink of your choice for £9. Sam thoughtfully wraps up the rest of the hotdogs I can’t finish to take home. All of the packaging is recyclable which is a great bonus. I enjoy the second half later and can confidently confirm they taste just as good cold as they do freshly cooked. Daniela Loffreda @nottsposhdogs

To Follow La Storia – @la_storia_nottingham

Creepy Cocktails

Want your Nottingham foodie business featured in the mag? Fancy writing for us? Email us at food@leftlion.co.uk

Caramelised Rum Punch - £9 You know you’re on to a winner when ‘fire’ is literally listed as one of your cocktail’s ingredients. This exotic, mildly terrifying cocktail brew blends Appleton Estate rum, Grand Marnier, Bristol syrup, watermelon, lime and pineapple, topped off with a healthy dose of flames to rival anything Moe Szyslak ever concocted. Zombie Apocalypse - £39 This is not one for the fainthearted. Think Dead Red Zombie, but on a whole other level. This drink serves four but if you’re feeling particularly brave, or just don’t care about your liver, try it out all for yourself. Served in an authentic volumetric glass, you’ll not only get the full Alchemist experience, but your own syringe as a memento of your escapade. Bitter Cherry - £9.50 This concoction is a pretty selfexplanatory one. To describe this drink as bitter is a serious understatement – don’t say you weren’t warned. Once you’ve peered your way through the smoke pouring out the glass, you’re met with a blood red liquid, and leave with your very own mini skull as evidence of your extremely brave drink choice. Colour Changing One - £8.50 If violating your tastebuds isn’t quite your vibe, try something a little tamer from this vibrant menu. I think we can all agree there’s something pretty spooky about drinks that completely change colour right before you. With the help of its secret ingredient of magic, watch your bev turn to dusty rose. If you’re looking for something mystical this Halloween, this vodka cocktail is worth a try.

thealchemist.uk.com

Our new regular columnist Love CeCe takes an alternative and holistic approach to wellbeing, and will be giving advice on improving your spiritual side... Greetings and welcome to Love CeCe, a safe space where I'll let you into my weird and magical world of spirituality, holistic therapies and healing, showing you a different perspective to life. I've been a holistic therapist for about four years and I have deﬁnitely found my purpose. It can be pretty intense, but extremely humbling, knowing I've helped someone see themselves for who they truly are, and let go of the pain and trauma that conditions us to behave in ways that stunt our growth, cause more pain and dim our light. I'd describe myself as an energy worker, and some of the tools I use are crystals, singing bowls, holy herbs and frequency altering audio to clear blocked and stagnant energy from the seven main chakras and Aura which, in turn, releases the dis-ease we feel in our emotional body, physical being and mental health. Don't worry, I'll go into depth about what these ‘new age’ buzz words mean over the coming months. I am excited to connect with you all, share some tips and tricks for navigating your journey to inner peace and I really really hope in the madness that is life, I can aid you in living it to the fullest, feel love and bask in gratitude. We'll end with an ‘I AM’ afﬁrmation. When repeated regularly, this can bring about a positive mental state and self-empowerment.

words: Lizzy O’Riordan

Founded by Damien Reynolds during the pandemic, The Wolfpack Project are dedicated to tackling loneliness in young people from ages 16-35. The charity supports young people in Nottingham with their mental health, and aims to break the stigma for young people experiencing loneliness… Young people aren’t often associated with loneliness, but as we speak to Alex from The Wolfpack Project it becomes evident that youth loneliness is a rising issue. “It was a growing problem even before the pandemic,” Alex says, “But coming out of the other side of the pandemic, ﬁgures have pretty much doubled.” This is particularly true of new university students who were forced to complete their ﬁrst year online. “They didn’t get the experience that they were hoping for” Alex says, “Lots of them weren’t able to see their families either and found themselves completely alone.”

It was a growing problem even before the pandemic,” Alex says, “But coming out of the other side of the pandemic, ﬁgures have pretty much doubled. This is why Damien Reynolds decided to found The Wolfpack Project in 2019, as a response to growing statistics around youth loneliness. The aim being to “set up a variety of social groups for young people to help them get out of the house, make new friends and improve their social skills.”

Often mental health isn’t taken seriously in young people, with symptoms like insomnia and apathy being branded as laziness. “There's a massive lack of understanding for young people and the way they function” Alex tells me, with many adults proposing the ‘pull your bootstraps up’ approach. Rather, Alex proposes we need to have “empathy to know that not everyone works the same” and to provide spaces where young people can reach out. This is especially important when it comes to neurodivergent young people Alex says, “we get a lot of young people who are autistic or have ADHD, many of which have grown up being labelled as difﬁcult.” The feedback from service users has been positive. “For a lot of them, even leaving their house is a big step and doing that a couple times a month is really helpful to them.” Alex is excited to tell us that the young people are starting to form friendships independently of the group, “Which is really the point of the project, for young people to come along, but ultimately not to need us.” Looking to the future, The Wolfpack Project are hoping to expand. Right now, they focus on the city centre but hope to eventually cover all of Nottinghamshire, and then set up in other cities across the UK. First though, they aim to do more outreach in the form of support groups for schools, alongside groups for ex-offenders. thewolfpackproject.org.uk

SHOWER THOUGHTS

‘I AM’ are two of the most powerful words in our vocab. Whatever comes after, you are afﬁrming that's what you are. To start off, I'll keep it pure and simple: I AM LOVE Repeat while showering, washing the dishes, on hold to your energy provider or wherever you ﬁnd yourself with the time and see how you feel after a week.

If you really think about it, kissing is weird. Like two mouths, used primarily for eating, breathing and speaking, put together whilst moving your faces and lips about. Who invented that? Imagine the ﬁrst couple who did that, everyone else just staring at them with raised eyebrows.

Until next time, my loves: be safe, no fear and stay blessed.

Love

CECE X words: Love Cece illustration: Fiona Carr

words: Dani Bacon illustration: Fiona Carr leftlion.co.uk/issue140 31

WELLBEING

WOLFPACK PROJECT

words: Christina Geggus and Adam Pickering

Something In The Air In September 2021, 200 leading medical journals united to warn that the climate crisis represents "the greatest threat to public health” currently facing humanity. Both our changing climate and the ongoing collapse of biodiversity throughout ecosystems are already having a dramatic impact on human health - from the quality of the air we breathe to our deteriorating diets. Little seems more crucial to life than the air we breathe, and there’s growing evidence of air pollution’s impact on both our mental and physical health. Notts can claim fairly clean air relative to other cities and regions, but the World Health Organization this month dramatically lowered their recommended “safe levels” of pollutants, and many scientists have warned that there’s no such thing as a proven safe level. We'll be paying more for pasta soon, owing to major durum wheat crop failures in Canada and Europe, caused by extreme and unseasonal weather. More expensive staple foods inevitably result in a disproportionate number of economically disadvantaged people going hungry. Nutrient values of our grains and vegetable crops have also broadly declined due to industrial farming’s depletion of healthy, biodiverse soil and increased use of chemicals.

Our planet's health is intrinsically linked to our own. Whilst some of these risks might seem distant in lukewarm, landlocked Notts, they serve as warnings to the sort of very sickly future we can expect if we don't act soon.

words: Adam Pickering

No ordinary neighbours, Nottingham’s Clean Champion volunteers are helping to keep your city clean. These modern day Wombles give up their spare litter picking all over the city in the hope of tidying up Nottingham and changing our approach to rubbish... Nottingham City Council started the Clean Champions scheme to help encourage more locals to keep their neighbourhoods tidy. It’s a fastgrowing initiative, with some 4,615 adult and children champions registered. All champions are provided with free equipment to do the job. Whether you choose to pick on your own, with your family, friends or with other champions, it’s a scheme that provides everyone with an opportunity to make a difference and improve their neighbourhood. Mapperley Ward Councillor Rosemary Healy, who’s responsible for the Clean Champions brief at Nottingham City Council, says: “Clean Champions are heroes. They are people who give up their time to go out and do something wonderful for their community and take pride in it.” One active Clean Champion is Kate Loewenthal, who plays a key part in keeping her local area of Lenton clean. She says the group aspect of it is important: “It really makes a difference having more of us tackle the streets, and is so rewarding for us to see what we can achieve together and how clean our streets can be.”

One of the toughest challenges being faced by Nottingham Clean Champions is trying to implement a change in people’s culture, particularly in the way people dispose of their waste. Muhammad Ali, Community Officer at University of Nottingham Students’ Union who joined in on the litter pick we attended, says it is a great way for students to give something back and address the issue: “There's nothing that says that you care about your area, and you are a part of this community, than going in and trying to clean it up.”

There’s nothing that says that you care about your area, and you are a part of this community, than going in and trying to clean it up Lisa Hampson, a PhD chemistry student from UoN and founder of the Lenton Clean Up Group, is just one of the many Clean Champions

who organises regular pickups. Lisa’s pushing for more education for residents on how they can keep their areas clean and follow Nottingham’s household bin rules. “The main thing I would like the people of Nottingham to do is manage their areas. Whether that be outside their house or road. If everyone picked up the litter they see directly outside their house, then I think every road would be clean, along with more people signing up to their local picks and being educated on how they can dispose of their household waste correctly.” Although all this work may go unnoticed by many, the Clean Champions have already made a huge difference to Nottingham. If more get involved with such initiatives and raise awareness around the issue of litter and waste management, we might one day see a litter-free Nottingham. Fancy getting involved in your local litter pick? Sign up to become a Clean Champion here and make a difference to your area today. nottinghamcity.gov.uk/ cleanchampions

DIG THIS

Then there’s the weather. This year saw Arctic temperatures in Texas (hitting -18०C) and extreme heat (nearly 50०C) in Canada taking hundreds of lives. If you’re living near the coast or a low-lying Pacific Island, which admittedly we’re not, rising sea levels are going to seriously start to affect your life.

environment

a winning team

Nottingham Green Quarter

Shop Zero

Green Meadows

Nottingham Good Food Partnership, Nottingham Cohousing, and Architect Designers’ vision for Broadmarsh spawned one of the liveliest local forums for green chat.

The city centre’s go-to sustainable living emporium moves to a roomy new spot on Friar Lane in early October, and we’re itching to delve in. Shop online in the meantime.

A transformative and diverse project empowering people living in The Meadows to tackle the climate crisis, by providing the knowledge, tools and support to make change.

facebook.com/groups/ nottinghamgreenquarter

shopzero.co.uk

greenmeadows.uk

SCREEN

words: Emma Walsh photos: Mercedes Assad

good grief

Baby Loss Awareness week takes place between 9-15 October, which we’re supporting with the pink and blue masthead on our cover. Nottingham is home to several great charities that do a huge amount to help parents going through the awful process of losing a baby, including Forever Stars. Emma Walsh speaks to Operations and Funding Manager Jo Sharp, as well as Rob Sharp of Sirloin Films, about Good Grief - the new short film featuring Vicky McClure, which aims to provoke conversations around the grieving process and baby loss... Losing a child is, without a doubt, one of the hardest things a person can go through. Unfortunately, the idea of talking about stillbirths, miscarriage, and even grief is still considered a taboo subject. That is why Sirloin Films and Forever Stars have teamed up to create the short film Good Grief, narrated by Vicky McClure. “The film follows four women who lose their child at different stages,” says filmmaker Rob. “It aims to show the devastation of child loss, but the themes that run through it are based around anyone and everyone’s grief. It’s something that we will all experience at some point in our lives and we hope to offer an explanation of what the pain of grief is and why it’s so important.” In partnership with baby loss charity Forever Stars, the aims for the film are shared by both parties. “We hope that this can be used as a starting point or platform to encourage people to talk about their loss,” says Rob. “Our hashtag is #talkaboutthem,” Jo adds. “They did exist and will continue to exist in your life. You will always have your memories and thoughts about them and I think the film really encapsulates that.” As far as the two of them are concerned, any platform that enables people to talk about their loss and grief is, quite frankly, a no-brainer to push into the public eye through film and media. The inspiration for the film was personal for Rob too. “Grief was always a subject that I wanted to write about,” he explains. “But the main drive for Good Grief was two of my close friends, who sadly lost their baby. They were the inspiration for the positive message that we’re hoping to show in this film.” So, it seems apt that he chose to partner with a charity set up to commemorate another baby lost by a friend. Jo’s best friend Richard, and his wife Michelle, sadly suffered a stillbirth and lost their daughter, Emily Daniels, in 2013. At her wake,

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Richard asked Jo if she would help raise some money because, unfortunately, Michelle had to go back to the usual labour ward after the stillbirth. “It was horrific,” Jo recounts, “so we just wanted to create a nicer area in the hospital where women experiencing similar devastation didn’t have to go through the same thing as them; hearing successful babies crying, or people on the phone telling families that their babies had arrived.” Thanks to Forever Stars, both the Queen’s Medical Centre Hospital and Nottingham City Hospital now have dedicated bereavement suites. “Our mission, really, is to make sure that all facilities and resources that are required by baby loss families are available to them in Nottingham,” Jo states.

Talking with people about the film and the topic has been a huge eye opener. I didn’t realise how common child loss is And as if it isn’t enough to balance trying to make a film tackling this calibre of subject matter, good old COVID-19 always has to stick its oar in as well. “What kind of fool tries to make a film during a pandemic?” jokes Rob. “It was definitely a challenge, especially with locations. Trying to get access to film in a hospital was almost impossible, but people are lovely and once they knew what we were trying to achieve with this film, lots of things started to come good for us.” But COVID hasn’t just impacted the filmmaking process; it has impacted the very subject behind the film as well. During the lockdowns, people have been cut off from their loved ones, and this has had a particularly devastating impact on those grieving. “The isolation has made grief even more difficult to deal with,” Jo states. “You’ve not had that personal

contact with your family, and can’t do those personal things like doing their shopping for them or putting the kettle on. The really simple things in life are just pulled away from you.” Good Grief is clearly going to give audiences a lot to think about, as it did for Rob during the film’s production. “Talking with people about the film and the topic has been a huge eye opener. I didn’t realise how common child loss is, but it’s also highlighted how people just don’t talk about their loss and grief,” he says. “The stigma attached to baby loss especially has some very dark, misogynistic roots and anything this film can do to help to break these outdated taboos and encourage people to be more open about their grief will be a massive achievement for us.” But what can we do to work through the grief attached to baby loss? “Talk about them. I can’t emphasise that enough,” Jo says. “You aren’t alone; there are lots of support networks out there. They - for a second, for a minute, for a month - existed, but they will live within you, in your life, forever.” Forever Stars itself has a number of resources that you can draw on to help you through the grieving process. From their bereavement suites, to their counselling services (for both adults and siblings) that will open at the Serenity Centre on 9 October, to my personal favourite, the Serenity Garden - a remembrance garden in Highfields Park home to two beautiful sculptures, one of which you can apply to have a petal with your child’s name and date of birth woven into to remember them. Anybody lost, a baby or otherwise, was and is a part of your story. The grieving process may be long, but there is support available, and it’s important that you talk about them. Good Grief is sure to shed a new and important light on the grieving process and, while I’m sure there won’t be a dry eye in the house, it will spark some much-needed conversations. There is a special screening of Good Grief at The ARC Cinema in Beeston on Friday 15 October

unleash the mayhem

The Big Scream With the Mayhem Film Festival getting ready to welcome back Nottingham’s horror fanatics once again, I felt inspired to figure out exactly why a genre filled with slashes and scares is so beloved by so many. Now, as (the countless) die-hard readers of F for Film will know, I’m not a massive fan of horror myself, but even I can appreciate that it is perhaps the one area of cinema with the most passionate, close-knit community in the world. But why is that? Well, I thought it best to get an actual expert to help me tackle that question. For the University of Nottingham’s Dr Liz Evans, the answer is simple: horrors create a shared experience like no other. “These films deliberately try to unsettle you, but you're surrounded by people going through the same thing,” she says. “When you gasp or jump at the same time as dozens or hundreds of other people, that generates a strong sense of community. That’s why horror festivals really work - they're all about creating that communal feeling.”

So, will the spooky section of cinema continue to strike a chord with global audiences? You bet your life it will. Metaphorically speaking, of course. “Academics don't like predicting the future,” warns Dr Evans, “but we've recently seen a lot of sequels and the return to established horror franchises - and I suspect that will continue.”

words: George White

Mayhem Film Festival returns from beyond the grave this month with a gloriously gory line-up of contemporary cult cinema – Screen co-Editor Jamie Morris speaks to programmers Steven Sheil, Chris Cooke and Melissa Gueneau about what they’re most looking forward to... According to co-founder Steven Sheil, plans for what shape this year’s Mayhem would take were being deliberated right up until the last minute, following 2020’s one-film-a-day Skeleton Edition. “What's been quite weird about this year is just having to continually play it by ear,” Steven says. “But once we saw things like football matches going on with tens of thousands of people, we started thinking cinemas – where people are still socially distanced – must be workable as well.”

drawn nightmare. “And gore. Plenty of gore.”

“It’s a feat,” muses Chris Cooke, the other half of Mayhem’s dastardly duo. “It’ll be good to be back as part of a community, but it's also rather daunting. However, Broadway is a great venue, so I'm really looking forward to the return of the atmosphere of Mayhem.”

The element of surprise that comes with films like this is why the in-person cinematic experience is so crucial to Mayhem, say the programmers. “One of the great things about the films that we show is that they can be quite visceral experiences,” Steven explains. “People can respond to them with screams, jumps, gasps or laughs. The films almost demand a physical response, and that's a really good thing to enjoy in a cinema with a bunch of other people.”

What’s quite different in Nottingham – and always has been – is that there is more of a sense of community and of people helping each other out, and we’ve always had that with Mayhem This year’s festival boasts one of its most diverse programmes to date, and begins on Thursday 14 October with the offbeat documentary Alien on Stage. “We very rarely do documentaries, but this one's so up our alley,” raves Steven. “It's about a group of Dorset bus drivers who put on a stage adaptation of Alien. It's very funny and very heartwarming – not what you'd usually expect from Mayhem.” Other upcoming highlights include underwater frightfest The Deep House, Alan Moore’s The Show, three South Korean thrillers, and feature-length animation The Spine of Night. “It’s like an insane psychedelic trip into realms of ancient fantasy and magic,” teases Chris of the hand-

Mayhem 2021 will also include a preview of the muchanticipated Swedish horror movie Lamb, which festival manager Melissa Gueneau insists is a must-watch. “It follows this couple on a farm and their lamb, and it's best not to know too much about it,” she says, cautious not to give anything away. “It's very beautiful and very quiet, but unnerving as it goes along.”

Chris echoes the sentiment: “The festival experience is about sharing – sharing the experience, sharing views on films, catching up with each other and being really inclusive and welcoming to new viewers.” “The Mayhem audience is very open-minded,” Melissa adds. “They’re very happy to watch pretty much anything that you put in front of them and make up their own mind on what they think about it.” The crew suggest that it’s the enthusiasm of the Nottingham film community as a whole that allows spaces like Mayhem to thrive. “What's quite different in Nottingham – and always has been – is that there is more of a sense of community and of people helping each other out, and we’ve always had that with Mayhem,” Steven asserts. “That sense of community is really unique in Nottingham, and I think it's much stronger than in a lot of other places.” Mayhem Film Festival is taking place between Thursday 14 October - Sunday 17 October at Broadway

short reels

Not only does the genre create a sense of unity, but it also has a special ability to send serious messages while remaining entertaining for audiences. “The trend from films such as Get Out, where horror is used to explore political issues around race and gender, is interesting,” Dr Evans explains. “Horror has always done this, but the fact that it does is getting a lot more attention at the moment.”

words: Jamie Morris

To Watch Joker Live in Concert

To Remember This is England (2006)

To Follow The Television Workshop

One of the most talked-about movies in recent years, this unsettling drama will always get under your skin - but hearing the film’s iconic music from a live orchestra will make it a more immersive experience than ever before.

Arguably Shane Meadows’ most famous film, This is England featured at the London Film Festival fifteen years ago this month. As well as winning a BAFTA, this gritty drama inspired three stellar follow-up series and helped to launch the decorated career of a certain Vicky McClure.

While this local institution still kept people entertained virtually during lockdown, they’re now putting on in-person performances for you lot once again. Drop them a follow for behind the scenes photos and updates on events.

Wednesday 27 October, Royal Concert Hall

@thetelevisionworkshop

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MUSIC

interview: Katie Lyle photo: Curtis Powell

BAck with a bang

From humble beginnings as a small club night in the late nineties to getting ready to put on their biggest indoor event to date at the Motorpoint Arena this month, Detonate has gone from strength to strength, firmly establishing itself as a bedrock of the Notts live music scene. On the back of the first post-COVID festival and just ahead of their landmark Halloween Arena Rave, we speak to creator James Busby about how it all happened... As we speak it’s the first Detonate Festival back since before COVID hit. How are you feeling about thousands of ravers descending on Colwick Park? Excited that it’s finally happening! It feels like so long since we’ve been able to do what we’ve been doing non-stop for twenty-odd years. But also anxious because of all the extra requirements and hurdles this year. Everyone who comes to the festival has to show a negative lateral flow test and we’ve been working with Public Health England to make sure we’re doing everything we can to reduce the COVID risk. It’s been hard to plan and book suppliers for the festival until we knew it was definitely going ahead, and so navigating lorry driver shortages, beer shortages, supply chain issues, staff shortages, key people getting ill etc. has been challenging! But we’re really happy to have been given the go-ahead, and also think it’s super important, for young people especially, that festivals are back on. We’re also conscious of the importance of green spaces for the community overall though, and so throughout lockdown we’ve been working on ways we can reduce our impact. 22 years ago Detonate was a tiny club night. How did you grow to host some of the biggest events in Nottingham? Not really sure! We’ve always had the attitude that we can do it ourselves, and have stayed independent, and I think that keeps us going. Because we’ve been going for so long it’s easy to zone out and focus on the real music. Trying as best we can to represent what we think is good rather than just ‘hot’ has kept us going also, and built good foundations. We’re just doing what we did in the first place. We’re fans of the music and its culture and we try to create the right environment and context for it to be experienced. The Halloween Arena Rave is your biggest indoor party so far. What can people expect? We’re super excited about it. Over the past five to ten years we’ve been seeing these huge arena events happening across Europe, where they’re able to put on big productions, so we’ve been influenced by that. Halloween is always a big night. It’s probably bigger than New Year’s Eve now, and tickets have flown out so far, so I think it’s going

leftlion.co.uk/issue140

to be a good one. Nottingham’s always had a great reputation for the music we put on, and we think these huge arena parties will add to that.

We’ve always had the attitude that we can do it ourselves, and have stayed independent, and I think that keeps us going What made you choose the Motorpoint Arena for this event, and how is it going to work as a club setting? We’ve been looking at the Arena for years. It’s one of the only venues in the city we haven’t hosted. Previously we couldn’t make it work because of the ratio of seats to dancefloor, and the number of seats visible. Last year they installed a draping system that means the higher seated areas aren’t visible, and we worked out how we can make the venue free-flow between the dancefloor and the lower tiers of seating. Those had been the two barriers previously, so now we’re all set. We’re confident it’ll be one of our best parties to date. Before we started Detonate, Nottingham had a thriving party scene but the music we were into was under-represented in the main clubs (shout out to Fly, Fusion, Steel, Rewind, and others doing parties back then). When we started planning our first event in 1998, we realised the reason was that Drum and Bass/Jungle wasn't really welcomed in any clubs. It was viewed as a problem by venue owners. Once we got it off the ground, and proved we could fill venues, we set about putting our music on the biggest stages we could. The line-ups for both the Detonate Festival and Halloween in the Arena are really exciting. How do you stay inspired and on top as a programmer? I don’t really view myself as a programmer, more a fan of the music. Like many other people, since I was young I've been sharing the music I'm into.

Whether that’s recording tapes, DJing, working in Selectadisc, working for D&B Arena in the early internet days, or putting on parties. It’s all the same thing, and the music keeps me inspired. Usually it’s the smaller, more underground acts that inspire me more, but backing those from early on has meant we’ve gone on to work with them as they’ve gained popularity, and often go on to headline stages. Skream for example, who headlines our Woodland stage on Saturday, is someone we started booking in 2004 before dubstep was really called dubstep. You’re also sponsoring Sneinton Town Football Club’s Under Nines team along with Art of Football... Yeah, we’re buzzing about that one. We’ve been inspired by the B-Corp approach of extending who you view as stakeholders in your business, so we started thinking about what we could get involved with, and obviously Detonate Festival is on the edge of Sneinton. Football’s like music in the way it brings people together, and after seeing the Euros do that, and inspire so many people, we were really into the opportunity when we got offered it. Art of Football, who are also in Sneinton, were really up for collaborating and designed the kits which look amazing. Since they got them, they’ve been smashing in double figures and keeping clean sheets. At the moment, we’re just sponsoring the under nines but it’s something us and Art of Football are looking to expand on. What are your plans for Detonate in 2022 and beyond? Detonate Festival will be back in June 2022. We’re in the process of finalising the Detonate Portal. It’s an app which will be the main place for everything Detonate. So recordings, music, archives and so on. It’s on the app store currently but is still a work in progress. There are some live recordings from previous events on there that we’ve never shared. Check it out. Detonate Halloween is taking place at the Motorpoint Arena on Saturday 30 October

detonate1.co.uk

music Reviews Gaffa Beaks & Bones for Buttons (Album) Back in 2017 we interviewed guitarist and singer John Maslen. Now he and his band Gaffa are back with their new album Beaks & Bones for Buttons. The album, which has been released exclusively on CD, has a light British folkrock sound. The lyrics are reminiscent of the sixties and the counter cultural sensibilities of that era, covering topics like war, over medication, and our tendency to play God. Stand out tracks include When the Beatles Went Weird, alongside titular track Beaks and Bones for Buttons. Lizzy O’Riordan

Chloe Rodgers Back to The Quay (Single)

Blondes Street Fight (single)

Nottingham singer-songwriter Chloe Rodgers is back with another sentimental single. With breathtaking vocals that are best described as iridescently eerie, this track is a stunning piece to follow her previous releases. Back to the Quay offers heartfelt emotion, with deep meaning behind the words. An ode to Chloe’s grandfather, the song grows throughout becoming more ethereal and touching one step at a time. Fiery but delicate, it makes for the perfect balance. Katie Lyle

The indie-pop four piece of Nottingham graduates bring back their atmospherically youthful sound with their most recent single Street Fight. Making you feel like you are in a nineties movie, this single offers nostalgia and excitement with Blondes signature looping synths and reverb heavy, jangled guitars. Feelings of familiarity throughout, reminiscent of anyone’s teenage years, and a reminder of what it feels like walking home at the end of a long night out. Katie Lyle

Tori Sheard Pulled Loose - Sun Edit (Single)

Cosmic Will Meanwhile (EP)

Alt-Pop artist Tori Sheard has released her new single Pulled Loose in two versions: The Sun Edit and Moon Edit. Pulled Loose (Sun Edit) is a fun and atmospheric track, with a bass heavy pop production that makes it great dance music. The Sun Edit is almost pure pop, making lyrics that are melancholic in The Moon Edit, take on a new tone as reckless, youthful and exciting. Lizzy O’Riordan

University of Nottingham graduate Cosmic Will is back with, as the kids say, a bop of an EP. Across a varied, energetic and encapsulating five tracks, Meanwhile... takes you on a trip that keeps you hooked from start to finish. Opening number Never Look Back is an earworm of an indie rock tune, and things come to a close with SSTM, a pop punkesque slap that’s perfect for whacking on during a nighttime drive. George White

If you’re from Nottingham and want to get added to our music writers list, or get your tunes reviewed, hit us up at music@leftlion.co.uk

NUSIC BOX

Your new Notts music tip sheet, as compiled by Nusic’s Sam Nahirny. Want more? Check out the fortnightly podcasts and live sessions on the Nusic website.

Divorce The phrase ‘supergroup’ gets thrown around a lot - but I think a good definition of it is ‘a collection of humans, all of which are freaking amazing, interesting, and mind-bendingly talented’. And that’s exactly what Divorce are - born out of a DNA-mashup from Megatrain, Do Nothing and Son is Big, they are (cliche alert) something really special. Eccentric, chaotic, melodic goodness. The best bit? They’ve only released one tune so far and we’re already ‘join a postal fan club and start a fan zine’ obsessed. @divorcehq

Kid Trash One of our favourite things is being in other cities and hearing someone go, “Yeah, I love this artist from NG” - and we’ve been getting loads of that recently for Kid Trash. They are the joyous, ‘had lots of sugar but you don’t feel sick yet, you just feel happy’ type that’s dominating the hyperpop space right now. And dominate they do indeed - beautiful melodies chopped and thrown into the bleep bloop sphere in a way that works for our eardrums. @kidtrashpop leftlion.co.uk/issue140 37

witness to history

words: Lizzy O’Riordan photo: Ekam Hundal

He’s been at LeftLion for bloody ages, but our Jason Williamson cover is Curtis Powell’s first. We chat to our Head of Photography and Video about how he approached it... Tell us a bit about yourself… I’m Curtis, the Head of Photography and Video at LeftLion. I’ve worked here for four (glorious) years. I’m also a DJ and music producer who goes by the name LVNDLXRD. What was the inspiration behind the cover? I just wanted to capture Jason from Sleaford Mods in a natural setting. It's the first time I’ve done a LeftLion cover so I wanted to make it as striking as possible. Jason is famed for his expressions in photos and video throughout his career so I thought capturing that would be most relatable to anyone that knows his style and personality. I love taking photos and filming local artists and talented people, being from Nottingham myself it always feels so rewarding and, of course, looks great for the portfolio. How does it compare with some other projects you’ve worked on? It’s quite different taking a picture for a magazine cover compared to just shooting a series of video clips and editing them in post. I generally take photos for the mag on a weekly basis, however there's quite a few things to think about for this kind of shoot: leaving headroom above the artist to fit the title in, lighting and focal point. What was the biggest challenge that you faced in creating the piece? I really wanted to use the outdoor shots in the drizzle as I thought that would capture the mood a little better. With Jason coming from a working class Nottingham background, a bit of British rain always looks good when trying to capture emotions, innit? Tell us about some projects you’ve worked on in the past… We’ve recently done a couple of video pieces for the Rebel City series that is currently being shown in Nottingham Castle. In this job I’ve had the chance to meet some amazing people, famous and not famous. The interview I directed with the musical Kanneh-Mason family was really special as we got a deep look into their upbringing and what motivates them to be great musicians. Also the interview with paralympian Richard Whitehead was really inspiring as he proves that you can really do anything you put your mind to, not just your body. What have you got planned for the future? As well as working for LeftLion, I currently run my own freelance animation and video service called Loud Planet. We’ve worked on videos for local artists such as Bru-C, Snowy, Vandull, Smedz, Jimmy Rocket just to name a few. We specialise in full-length music videos and animation for social media and advertisements. The plan is to keep hammering away and provide great content to whoever needs it. Is there anything else you’d like to tell the LeftLion readers? Check out my Loud Planet and music accounts and look out for me on a DJ lineup near you soon! @loudplanetuk @curtz_lvndlxrd soundcloud.com/lvndlxrduk

Created by artist Susie MacMurray and curated by Andrea HadleyJohnson, Witness is a striking installation art piece made to be displayed at the National Justice Museum. We head over to have a gander and chat to Susie all about her intentions behind Witness and the creative process... Walking into the National Justice Museum’s courtyard, you’ll spot six sculptures made of very heavy rope. The material means that they’ve started to sag over time, resulting in each having a distinct shape and personality. This is Suzie MacMurray’s new exhibition, Witness - a sitespecific art installation commissioned by the National Justice Museum. The installation is built to engage with the long history of our once County Gaol, and to spark conversations about the justice and injustice that has gone on there. I ask Susie if each structure is meant to represent a prisoner, and she replies that they aren’t. “I personally read them as entities,” Susie tells me. “I think it’s a bit naff to say each one represents a person, but they’re sort of standing for the idea of the body. That’s why it’s so important that they’re sagging. Like the human body, they age and they succumb to the conditions they’re in.”

I wanted to celebrate the resilience of the human being, and to remember that we’re capable of awful things, but we’re also capable of amazing grace, resilience, and endurance When I visit Witness, I meet with curator and artistic programme manager Andrea HadleyJohnson, who tells me that she became instantly attached to the pieces. I understand why, there’s something oddly human about the installation, and very sad. I tell Susie about my reaction to the exhibition, and she affirms my feelings, “Isn’t it strange that they are so big and so solid and yet they do feel very vulnerable? I wanted to capture that strength and power and roughness, because my God you would have to be tough to survive that, yet they have such humanity and vulnerability.”

Witness was created on site at the National Justice Museum, in what turned out to be a somewhat gruelling process. The heatwave meant that working conditions were tough, and the rope started to mould after being left out over lockdown. In many ways, this only added to Susie’s intentions of mirroring hard penal work. “I didn’t expect it to be easy,” Susie admits. “I knew it would be performative in that way. People could come in and see us doing our hard labour.” The material likewise was chosen to reflect a prisoner’s experience in the gaol by referencing picking oakum, a Victorian form of penal labour that involves picking tar from old rope. Witness was made by weaving and looping the rope together in a movement inspired by French knitting. Susie says that creating it made her reflect on her own craft. “It’s a more rugged thing than my other work, so in a lot of ways it was a push to my practice. But then, in many ways, it was completely the same because all my work has involved that repetitive movement.” She comments that it made her muse about repetitive movement in a more philosophical sense: how it can be a punishment in one way, or a meditative activity depending on the context. Although striking, the installation avoids goriness. “There’s more than enough shock in the world, horrifying people with statistics,” Susie explains, “and not many things that allow you to put yourself in the shoes of other people, and to imagine yourself in a position where you have no power.” I ask Susie what she hopes the piece will achieve and she laughs, saying that it’s an impossible question. After a moment she answers, “I wanted to celebrate the resilience of the human being, and to remember that we’re capable of awful things, but we’re also capable of amazing grace, resilience and endurance. I hope it makes people muse on the issues for a while and sticks with them. When a piece of work does that you can feel you’ve made something of worth and use.” Witness is an ongoing installation at the National Justice Museum. To learn more, visit the NJM website or search #NJMWitness nationaljusticemuseum.org.uk leftlion.co.uk/issue140 39

ART

UNDER COVER ARTIST

interview: Lizzy O’Riordan illustrations: Ruth Skrytek

Formed by three friends with a love for all things spooky, The Nottingham Horror Collective is Nottingham’s new horror magazine, full of content to send shivers down your spine. We chat to creators Ruth, Emily and Bren about tarot cards, contemporary horror films and plans for Halloween… Can you describe what The Nottingham Horror Collective is? Primarily, The Nottingham Horror Collective is a magazine. We release three times a year and it’s filled with fiction articles, opinion pieces and art – all with a suitably spooky horror twist. It’s a way to share our passion and bring in local creatives. We’re lucky now because the zine is going to be shipped to places like America, Canada and France, so it’s nice to showcase what Nottingham’s got to offer. How did the zine come into being? We wanted to combine our love of horror and our creative skills to make something. We were sitting in the Jam Café after the first lockdown when we decided to make the zine, and just like everyone else we were creatively starved. There was a bit of a resurgence of zines at the time because everyone was stuck inside and wanted that sense of community back. We grew really quickly during lockdown - people liked having something physical in their hands rather than scrolling on a screen. I imagine it also capitalised on the ‘shop local’ messaging that everyone was getting during the lockdown… Yeah, that was a huge part of it and we had a lot of support locally. The first interview we did was with Claire from Bone Arrow in Sneinton Market, she was really supportive and stocked some of the zines when they first came out. It was great because her clientele are the perfect people to be picking up the mag. We also met a lot of people through Claire which was fantastic. The cover art on the zine is inspired by tarot cards, why did you choose this? The first issue that we released was the tower tarot card which we chose because it was a time where everything was crumbling around us, so that was very pointed. Tarot is perfect because each card has strong imagery but there’s also not one true meaning to each card as contextually it means something different to everyone. It allows for creative freedom while tapping into that theme which keeps each issue consistent. It would have been easy when throwing ideas around to say ‘this one is the slasher edition’

etc, but we all thought that would be too restrictive and it’s also a bit played out, really. Is there a large horror community in Nottingham? Surprisingly so; we were all blown away by the reception we had. Every issue more people approach us - there are a lot more horror heads out there than we originally thought. Society is so atomised that people don’t have central hubs for their interests, but we’ve found that, when there’s a chance, people are really interested to get involved.

We’re in an absolute renaissance at the moment with contemporary horrors like Midsommar, Hereditary, and The Witch What’s your favourite thing you’ve done for the zine so far? The interview with Epidiah Ravachol, who made the game Dread. Especially hearing his thoughts on how you make a tabletop horror game inclusive and safe while still pushing those boundaries of horror. We also loved going to the Huldra film festival in July. It was a festival of horror shorts which we were invited to. It was incredible and we can’t wait until next year. In the Elwood Quincy Walker interview you talk about horror being used to discuss OCD. How do you think horror grapples with the psychological? Horror in general has the capacity to be cathartic and a safe space to explore the real and difficult aspects of being human. Take The Babadook: obviously he’s a creepy guy, but he also represents something much deeper which is grief and depression. Horror is that safe space to explore dangerous ideas through different lenses. Often when people think of horror they think of gore and cheap jump scares – do you think it’s misunderstood as a genre? Cheap jump scares and gratuitous gore are definitely

part of horror, but it’s an enormous genre with so much depth to it. There was a period during the 2000s where horror had a creative dark age. It was the era of multiple Saw films and slasher remakes and that’s where a lot of people’s idea of horror still comes from. Are we heading in a better direction for horror now? We’re in an absolute renaissance at the moment with contemporary horrors like Midsommar, Hereditary, and The Witch. Cabin in The Woods was the ringing out of that old kind of horror, it hasn’t aged particularly well but at the time it took all those horror tropes and laughed at them. Everyone had to stop relying on all those tropes. In light of the season - do you have any Halloween favourites when it comes to horror? We wanted to say Hocus Pocus for the sheer Halloween nostalgia, but that’s not horror at all. You can’t go wrong with any John Carpenter film, he’s an incredible director and musician. His horror scores have dominated for years in the best way. What can we look forward to from you in the future? We’ve got our fourth issue, The Moon, being released on 26 October. In the back of our mind, we’re also thinking about the March magazine which is going to focus on women in horror for International Women’s Day. Anything else you’d like to say to LeftLion readers? If there are any writers, artists or creatives out there then please get in touch! You can follow us on Instagram which is where we announce calls for submission. We also have an Etsy page where you can access all of our prints and zines. Also, come to our launch party on Halloween! It’s at Liquid Light from 7pm - we have DJs, food, drinks and also films screening on their walls. Issue IV of The Nottingham Horror Collective will be available later this month thenottinghamhorrorcollective.co.uk leftlion.co.uk/issue140 41

literature

The Nottingham Horror Collective

words: Ashley Carter ilustration: Natalie Owen

words: Daniela Loffreda illustration: Natalie Owen

From becoming a University of Nottingham lecturer to winning a Nobel Prize for his work on the technology behind MRI scans, Sir Peter Mansfield is one of the finest minds in Nottingham’s history. On what would have been his 88th birthday, we celebrate the life and legacy of a true genius who, despite his incredible achievements, always remained humble… This month marks the birth of groundbreaking physicist and inventor Sir Peter Mansfield, a man who was, and undoubtedly remains, one of the most notable professors in the history of the University of Nottingham. It's people like Peter who have helped to make this Russell Group uni world class, and put Nottingham on the map in the process. From failing his eleven-plus exams and leaving school at fifteen, to being the only Notts scientist to receive a Nobel Prize for his contribution to MRI research, Mansfield’s story is one of sheer grit and determination to succeed against all odds. What started as a tearoom discussion at UoN and a study of a lupin stem from his garden developed into an MRI scan of the human body within just two years. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the use of large magnet and radio waves to look at organs and other structures inside the human body. Its ability to diagnose illnesses, from ligament injuries to tumours, alongside its use for examining the brain and spinal cord, has made it a life-saving piece of kit. Unlike X-Rays and CT scans, it doesn't use damaging ionising radiation, and health complications are rare. Over 100million MRI scans are performed across the globe annually, making it a fundamental instrument for hospitals everywhere. And who would have thought that such a groundbreaking invention holds its origins in Nottingham, most specifically in the Physics department on the University Park campus? Throughout the seventies and eighties, Peter Mansfield

and his team worked tirelessly to develop Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technology to change medical diagnosis for the better.

When Mansfield expressed his interest in pursuing a career in science, he was advised to consider something less ambitious.

Sir Peter Mansfield was born on 9 October 1933 in Lambeth, London, to a humble family background. As a child of wartime Britain, he was evacuated three times - but he didn’t let the disruption dampen his curiosity for physics. During a brief return to the capital, Mansfield saw V-1 flying bombs and the first V-2 rockets over the skies of the city and instantly fell in love with science.

Mansfield left school at fifteen years old and became an apprentice bookbinder at Ede and Fisher. Yet this was short lived, and he soon moved to Strakers as an apprentice compositor.

Mansfield’s route into academia was not plain sailing. The chaos of life during the Second World War understandably took a toll and the youngster failed his elevenplus exams But Mansfield’s route into academia was not plain sailing. The chaos of life during the Second World War understandably took a toll on his education and the youngster failed his eleven-plus exams. Instead of attending a grammar school as intended, he spent the rest of his education at the Central School in Peckham.

It was not until Mansfield secured a job at the Ministry of Supply that he was able to rediscover and explore his love for science. Here he was encouraged to attend evening classes five nights a week at Borough Polytechnic, where he achieved his general certificate of education. After obtaining A-levels in physics and mathematics at Oxford Poly, the budding scientist went on to Queen Mary College at the University of London to secure an undergraduate degree in physics. Mansfield thrived as an undergrad. He even initiated a new society during his studies, the Interplanetary Society (which we imagine had some mad socials), and edited their journal The Rocket. It was in his final year that he first took an interest in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance - or for those in the know, NMR - and achieved the small task of building an earth’s field proton magnetometer. No big deal. As you might expect, he graduated with a first class degree in 1959, and opted to stay at Queen Mary to pursue a PhD. From here, his interest in NMR only grew, and alongside his supervisor Jack Powles, Mansfield discovered that a

now and then

Clumber Street, 1950

leftlion.co.uk/issue140

Clumber Street, 2021

pair of short radio-frequency pulses could generate an echo in a solid - scientists only knew this was possible in liquids at the time. This was a revelation and presented an opportunity for further research in the future. In 1962, both Mansfield’s academic and love life were flourishing. He completed his PhD and married Jean Margaret Kibble, with whom he had two children. The newlywed couple relocated to the University of Urbana in Illinois, but after a brief stint in his doctoral-fellowship post researching NMR of metals, Mansfield returned back to England in 1964 to take up a lectureship role at the University of Nottingham. UoN is one of the world's largest and most prestigious universities, proudly part of the 24 elite public research institutions in the UK known collectively as the Russell Group. Mansfield’s new appointment offered him the perfect opportunity to revisit what he had discovered during his PhD studies. During a tearoom chat with Peter Grannell and Allen Garroway in 1972, the lecturer wondered whether magnetic field gradients could be used to achieve spatial resolution - put simply, MRI could be used for the determination of crystal structures. Mansfield planned to build on the recent findings of American chemist and professor at the State University of New York, Paul Lauterbur. Lauterbur was the first researcher to successfully produce an image with NMR and apply it to medical practice. Mansfield imaged various objects including the stems of lupins from his garden. But the first notable scan came in 1977 when, accompanied by his team, he produced the first MRI image of a living human body part - a cross section of one of his PhD student’s fingers, Andrew Maudsley.

The success of this initial scan meant the group obtained further funding from the Medical Research Council to produce a magnet big enough to scan an entire human body. But there were widespread concerns about the dangers of using such a large magnetic field - it was feared that such intense exposure could cause heart attacks. Truly committed to his project, Mansfield volunteered to test the MRI and became the first human to have their abdomen imaged. This was a major success for the Nottingham team and provided motivation to push the team forward to fine tune their invention. First on Mansifled’s list of improvements was the speed. The process of imaging was considerably slow. It had taken fifty minutes to complete a full body scan of Mansfield, so the lecturer set about developing what would be known as echo-planar imaging. EPI, which would be known as Mansfield’s brain child, would allow images to be formed 100 times faster than before, and would be particularly useful for cardiac scans.

Truly committed to his project, Mansfield volunteered to test the MRI and became the first human to have their abdomen imaged By the mid-eighties, Mansfield was hot property. Various universities scattered across the globe approached the renowned academic to aid him in his studies. Oxford University proposed funding to enable Mansfield to work with other world class scientists at the institution. Yet the appeal of Nottingham was too strong and he ultimately decided to stay in his role.

EPI became a key focus for Mansfield for the rest of the decade. It was a complex technique to understand, yet one which had the potential to be highly rewarding. Faster imaging speeds meant more rapid diagnosis for patients. The MRI had already transformed modern science and consolidated itself as a fundamental piece of technology, so advancements in speed were highly welcomed. He took an early retirement in 1994 and was knighted the same year. Despite his departure, he remained a prominent figure in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance research and worked to try and reduce the noise of the scanner. He also continued his presence at the University of Nottingham where he became Professor Emeritus. Nine years later, Mansfield shared the Nobel prize with Paul Lauterbur for his seminal contributions to MRI. Mansfield passed away on 8 February 2017 at the age of 83. He spent his final years living in Beeston with his wife, pursuing his hobbies. He was a man dedicated to his work, but he still found time to sustain his interest in foreign languages and was particularly confident conversing in German and Russian. During retirement, he was also able to pursue his passion for aircraft and obtained his private pilot’s license. All those who knew Peter praise his dedication and passion for his work; he was determined and driven. Yet not only was he a great academic, but a kind human too. His colleagues note his humility and desire to connect not just on a professional, but personal level with all his staff. Since his sad passing, the Imaging Centre at the University of Nottingham was named in memory of the influential work the inventor participated in during his life. Such impressive recognition is little surprise - Mansfield’s creations changed modern science, and countless people’s lives, for the better.

Object walk We’ve teamed up with the National Justice Museum to put objects from the past into the hands of people of the present. This month, we took a pair of slippers that were designed for prisoners to Sophie Barker of White Rose. These loafer-esque slippers would have been worn with trousers and a shirt at a time when joggers and jumpers were nowhere to be seen. This particular pair were possibly a prototype, acting as a template for the production of more comfortable footwear for those living their lives behind bars.

They look like they’re made of wool, which suggests they're British-made to me. I studied Design at university so I’m trying to think back and see if I can relate them to anything I’ve seen before.

The slippers look handmade, they seem better quality than items you get from a factory. I’m guessing they were made by prisoners at some point?

(After learning what the items were) You don’t really think about those sorts of necessities, like things to keep warm during the day. Obviously on TV you see the clothes prisoners wore but you don’t really see what they had on their feet.

They’re surprisingly quite fancy. They’re really different to most slippers where you just slide them on. You’d see people wearing these as proper shoes now!

whiterosefashion.com

WHAT’S ON? FRIDAY 1 OCT

SUNDAY 3 OCT

WEDNESDAY 6 OCT

FRIDAY 8 OCT

MONDAY 11 OCT

🎵🎵🎵Elvana Rock City £20, 6.30pm

🎵🎵🎵Slow Readers Club Rock City £17.50, 6.30pm

🎵🎵🎵John The Bodega £10, 7pm

🎵🎵🎵Liz Lawrence The Bodega £11, 7pm

🎥🎥🎥Fortune & Glory: Mean Girls Nonsuch Studios £21.75, 7pm

🎨🎨🎨Art Workshop: Exploring Sculpture and 3D Nottingham Contemporary Free - £15

🎵🎵🎵Sam Fischer Rescue Rooms £12.50, 7pm

🎵🎵🎵Nerina Pallot The Bodega £19.50, 7pm

🎵🎵🎵Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening Lakeside Arts £20, 7.30pm

🎵🎵🎵Belinda Carlisle Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £27.50 - £62.50, 5.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Martin Harley Full Band Rescue Rooms £18.50, 6.30pm

🎵🎵🎵Michael Bolton Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £30.10 - £65.10, 7pm

😂😂😂😂It’s a Trap! The Improvised Star Wars Show Nottingham Playhouse £7 - £9, 7.30pm

🎵🎵🎵The Total Stone Roses Rescue Rooms £17.50, 7.30pm

SATURDAY 2 OCT 👪👪👪About China: Traditional Dragon and Lion Dance Lakeside Arts £5, 1.30pm 🎵🎵🎵The Lathums Rock City £16, 6.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Big Country Rescue Rooms £25, 7pm 😂😂😂MissImp: Improv Nonsense Nonsuch Studios £9, 7.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Steve Hackett Genesis Revisited - Seconds Out & More Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £44 - £47.50, 7.45pm 😂😂😂Comedy Pryzm PRYZM £9.50 - £15, 7.45pm

MONDAY 4 OCT 🎵🎵🎵Talk Show The Bodega £9, 7pm 🎵🎵🎵Mason Hill Rescue Rooms £12, 7.30pm

TUESDAY 5 OCT 🎵🎵🎵Inhaler Rock City £14, 7pm

WEDNESDAY 6 OCT 🎭🎭🎭Bedknobs & Broomsticks Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £20 - £57 🎵🎵🎵The Staves - The Good Woman Tour Rock City £20, 6.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Picture This Rescue Rooms £20, 6.30pm

😂😂😂Nabil Abdulrashid Just the Tonic, Metronome £16 - £18, 8pm

🎵🎵🎵Fun Lovin’ Criminals Rock City £26, 6.30pm

THURSDAY 7 OCT

🎵🎵🎵Ferris & Sylvester Metronome £10, 7pm

🔧🔧🔧Script & Play Reading Nonsuch Studios £5 - £15, 10.30am 🎵🎵🎵Henge The Bodega £12.50, 12pm 🎵🎵🎵John Power Rescue Rooms £17.50, 6.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Nottingham Global Roots Festival - Global Carnival! Nottingham Playhouse Free, 7pm 🎵🎵🎵Jesse Malin Metronome £18, 7.30pm 😂😂😂Mark Thomas: 50 Things About Us Lakeside Arts £18.50, 7.30pm 🎵🎵🎵An Evening With Diana Jones The Running Horse £12, 7.30pm 🚲🚲Women’s Ice Hockey Olympic Qualifying Tournament Motorpoint Arena £2.16 - £6.50, 7pm

SATURDAY 9 OCT 👪👪👪About China: Puppet and Lantern Making Lakeside Arts £5 , 1.30pm 🎵🎵🎵The Music of Zimmer vs Williams Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £29 - £47, 3pm 🎵🎵🎵The Coach Party The Bodega £9.50, 7pm

SUNDAY 10 OCT 🎵🎵🎵George Hinchliffe's Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £26 - £29, 7.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Evergrey Rescue Rooms £20, 7.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Morganway + The Most Ugly Child The Old Cold Store £12, 7.30pm

🎵🎵🎵Wasuremono The Bodega £8, 7pm 😂😂😂Jon Richardson: The Knitwit Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £25.50, 8pm

TUESDAY 12 OCT 😂😂😂Rob Brydon - A Night of Songs and Laughter Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £38.50 - £38.50, 7.30pm 🎭🎭🎭Carmen Lakeside Arts £5 - £20, 7.30pm

WEDNESDAY 13 OCT 🎵🎵🎵Villagers Rescue Rooms £22.50, 6.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Noisy The Bodega £8.50, 7pm 🎵🎵🎵Level 42 - From Eternity To Here Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £34 - £39, 7.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Canalhouse Comedy Nights Canalhouse £2, 7.30pm

THURSDAY 14 OCT

SUNDAY 17 OCT

THURSDAY 21 OCT

TUESDAY 26 OCT

FRIDAY 29 OCT

🔧🔧🔧Candle Making Debbie Bryan £38, 5.30pm

🎵🎵🎵A1 - The A Game Tour Rescue Rooms £22.50, 7pm

😂😂😂Loyiso Gola: Pop Culture Lakeside Arts £16, 7.30pm

🎵🎵🎵Vukovi Rescue Rooms £11, 6pm

🎵🎵🎵Salem Rescue Rooms £10, 6.30pm

🎵🎵🎵Julia Bardo The Bodega £8.50, 7pm

FRIDAY 22 OCT

🎵🎵🎵TV Priest The Bodega £7.50, 7pm

📣📣📣Online Talk: Memorial Jewellery with Jane Wildgoose The Harley Gallery & Portland Collection Free, 12pm

🎵🎵🎵Holy Moly and The Crackers Metronome £13, 7pm

MONDAY 18 OCT

🎵🎵🎵The Magic Gang Rock City £15, 7pm 🎵🎵🎵Notos Quartet Lakeside Arts £20, 7.30pm

FRIDAY 15 OCT 🎵🎵🎵The Skids Rescue Rooms £23, 6.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Shawn James The Bodega £15, 7pm 🎵🎵🎵Edgelarks The HopBarn £14 - £14, 7.30pm

SATURDAY 16 OCT 🎵🎵🎵The Macc Lads Rock City £25, 6.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Nothing But Thieves Motorpoint Arena Nottingham £27, 6.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Field Music Rescue Rooms £16.50, 6.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Laura Veirs The Bodega £21.50, 7pm

🔧🔧🔧Art Workshop: Exploring Sculpture and 3D Nottingham Contemporary Free - £15 🎵🎵🎵Saint Agnes The Bodega £8, 7pm

TUESDAY 19 OCT 🎵🎵🎵Egyptian Blue The Bodega £7.50, 6.30pm 🎭🎭🎭Birth Lakeside Arts £5 - £19, 7.30pm

WEDNESDAY 20 OCT 🎵🎵🎵The Professionals The Bodega £16.50, 7pm 🎵🎵🎵Le Vent Du Nord Lakeside Arts £20, 7.30pm

THURSDAY 21 OCT 🔧🔧🔧Script & Play Reading Nonsuch Studios £5 - £15, 10.30am 🎥🎥🎥Film & Food: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Nonsuch Studios £5 - £20, 6pm

🎵🎵🎵Children of Zeus Metronome £15, 7.30pm 🎨🎨🎨🎨Fashion Spies Nonsuch Studios £8 - £12, 7.30pm

SATURDAY 23 OCT 🎵🎵🎵Karma Weekender The Chameleon £15, 4pm

WEDNESDAY 27 OCT 🎭🎭🎭Exile, Magic & Power Lakeside Arts Free, 6pm 🎵🎵🎵All We Are The Bodega £10, 7pm

🎵🎵🎵Jon Gomm Rescue Rooms £17.50, 7pm

🎥🎥🎥Joker Live In Concert Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £32.50 - £67.50, 7.30pm

🎵🎵🎵Glass Caves The Bodega £10, 7pm

🎵🎵🎵Bloxx Rescue Rooms £11, 7.30pm

SUNDAY 24 OCT 🎵🎵🎵Binns Organ Concert Albert Hall 2.45pm 🎵🎵🎵Showhawk Duo The Glee Club £13.50, 7pm 🎵🎵🎵Caribou Rock City £22, 7pm

MONDAY 25 OCT 🎵🎵🎵Plastic Mermaids The Bodega £10, 7pm 🎵🎵🎵Trash Boat Rescue Rooms £13, 7.30pm

THURSDAY 28 OCT 🔧🔧🔧Script & Play Reading Nonsuch Studios £5 - £15, 10.30am 🔧🔧🔧Candle Making Debbie Bryan £38, 5.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Squarepusher Metronome £20, 7pm 🎵🎵🎵Hey Colossus The Bodega £10, 7pm 🎭🎭🎭24, 23, 22 Nonsuch Studios £12 , 7.30pm

🎵🎵🎵Unknown Era Rescue Rooms £10, 6.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Nick Waterhouse The Bodega £15, 7pm 🎵🎵🎵Courtney Marie Andrews Metronome £18.50, 7.30pm

SATURDAY 30 OCT 🎭🎭🎭The Unexpected Adventures of Darwin the Chimp Circus Hub £8 - £10, 2pm 🎭🎭🎭Yours Sincerely Nonsuch Studios £12 - £12, 7.30pm 🎵🎵🎵Jason Donovan Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £36 - £45, 7.30pm

SUNDAY 31 OCT 🎵🎵🎵Bullet For My Valentine Motorpoint Arena Nottingham £32.50, 6.30pm

FOR THE FULL RUNDOWN, VISIT LEFTLION.CO.UK/ LISTINGS

ONGOING EVENTS

🎨🎨🎨Through the Forest of Denial Four/Four Collective Free , 12pm Fri 24 Sep - Sat 23 Oct

🎨🎨🎨Mélanie Matranga Nottingham Contemporary Free Fri 1 Oct - Sun 31 Oct

🎨🎨🎨Erika Verzutti Nottingham Contemporary Free Fri 1 Oct - Sun 31 Oct

🎩🎩🎩Power: Freedom to Create The National Justice Museum Free Fri 1 Oct - Sun 31 Oct

🎨🎨🎨Allison Katz: Artery Nottingham Contemporary Free Fri 1 Oct - Sun 31 Oct

🎭🎭🎭Eulogy Lakeside Arts £12.50 Fri 1 Oct - Sun 31 Oct

🎨🎨🎨Coast, Country, City - The Jerwood Collection The Harley Gallery & Portland Collection Free Fri 1 Oct - Sun 7 Nov 🎭🎭🎭Hairspray Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £23.50 - £53.50 Mon 11 Oct - Sat 16 Oct

👪👪👪Dino Kingdom Thoresby Park £14-£17 Fri 15 Oct - Sun 31 Oct 🎭🎭🎭Chicago Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £22 - £54.50 Mon 18 Oct - Sat 23 Oct

🎭🎭🎭RSC The Comedy of Errors Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £12.50 - £38.50 Fri 22 Oct - Sun 24 Oct 🎭🎭🎭9 to 5 the Musical Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £19.50 - £57.50 Tue 26 Oct - Sat 30 Oct

BEST OF OCTOBER Eulogy When: Wednesday 22 September – Sunday 31 October Where: Lakeside How Much? £12.50 Most well-known for creating theatre in pitch black shipping containers, Darkfield presents their newest project, Eulogy. Combining technology and theatre, Eulogy is an immersive 35-minute experience created with binaural sound and speech recognition technology. Together the audience will be guided through a dreamlike labyrinth hotel in what promises to be an exhilarating and innovative experience.

Mayhem Film Festival When: Thursday 14 October – Sunday 17 October Where: Broadway Cinema How Much? £80 (full pass) Spanning over four days, the Mayhem Film Festival is back showcasing the best horror, science-fiction and cult films from across the world. As well as showing new films like The Deep House, Spiritwalker, and Alien on Stage, the festival will also be screening vintage classics like Queen of Spades and Phantom of the Paradise.

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Ella Knight & Friends When: Friday 1 October, 9pm Where: The Chapel at the Angel How Much? £5.50 Nottingham singer Ella Knight is hosting an intimate night of house, UKG, disco and soul music with musical friends Jack Wolff, Stress Less and Kojay. As well as plenty of music, there will also be live street art from Nottingham artist Boasters Yard, as well as visual art from Bikini State in celebration of the evening. Looking to kick off October with good vibes and chill beats? This is the one for you.

An Artistic Wonderland When: Friday 15 October 2021 Friday 22nd October 2021 Where: Nottingham Society of Artists How Much? Free Showcasing the winning pieces from the SAA Artists of the Year competition, An Artistic Wonderland will exhibit up to 100 pieces of art for the public to come and see. Five entry levels will be on display: junior, young, beginner, amateur and professional. As well as the exhibition, the SAA will be running painting workshops taught by community artists.

Nerd Immunity When: Saturday 9 October, 7.30pm Where: Nottingham Playhouse How Much? £24.50

Wigflex 15th Birthday Festival When: Saturday 9 October – Sunday 10 October, 12am Where: Multiple How Much? From £17.50

The No Such Thing as a Fish podcast is going on tour with their new live show, Nerd Immunity. As well as a live podcast, the show will also be full of comedy and fact sharing. As the name implies, the Nerd Immunity tour aims to celebrate all things nerdy and geeky, creating a night of community for podcast listeners.

Record label and party crew Wigflex are celebrating their fifteenth birthday in style by throwing a mega festival all across Nottingham. Spanning over twenty venues, the Wigflex festival boasts artists like AceMoMA, Yazmin Lacey, Daisy Godfrey and many more. Alongside music, the venues will be packed with art and visuals. Plus, Wigflex promises plenty of weird and wonderful interactive experiences.

Dino Kingdom When: Friday 15 October - Sunday 31 October Where: Thoresby Park How Much? £15 If you’ve ever fancied playing palaeontologist for a day, then Dino Kingdom at Thoresby Park is perfect for you. Dino Kingdom will be hosting a whole array of animatronic dinosaurs, 3D installations and interactive dinosaur activities. This one is perfect for a family day out with heaps of places to stop for a picnic, and lots of street food vendors too.

Detonate Halloween: In the Arena When: Saturday 30 October, 8pm-3am Where: The Motorpoint Arena How Much? TBC Detonate are throwing their biggest ever indoor party this year at the Motorpoint Arena. Following last month's outdoor festival at Colwick Park, Detonate are back for a spooky Halloween special featuring DJ sets from Sub Focus, Wilkinson, High Contrast and more. In light of the season, fancy dress is definitely encouraged.