NORMAN WHITESIDE

Read today that the ex-Manchester United and Everton midfielder Norman Whiteside had auctioned off all the treasured memorabilia from his football career.

Why?

To cover his pension and keep his head above water in his later years, although he is still only 55.

He got around £200,000 for his FA Cup winners medals, shirts he'd worn for Northern Ireland at the World Cup in 1982, plus other bits and pieces.

Which I guess will last him a few years, but the amount is what a top-level footballer can earn in a WEEK.

Whiteside was of the era just before the real money washed into football as the Premier League dawned in 1992. When winning trophies for Man Utd he was on £250 a week. Good money, and a good living back then, but nowhere near enough to last a lifetime.

He also represents what happens to players when it all ends suddenly.

Having enjoyed a stellar career, starring in the World Cup as a 17-year-old and scoring the winning goal in the 1985 FA Cup final, an injury ended his career at 26.

No vast wages to back him up, meant years later he has to sell every memento to survive ...

People often get hot under the collar when discussing footballers wages, presuming that everyone who plays the game earns millions. It simply isn't true of course, and remembering that football is essentially an entertainment industry, it is seriously playing catch-up with the other industries.

For example, I once watched a documentary on George Formby, where it explained his father, who trod the boards in the music halls around the turn of the 20th century, was earning a staggering £3,000 a week.

A huge sum now, let alone in the 1900s!

Compare that to the footballer Tommy Lawton some 30-odd years later...

He was at the top of his profession in 1939, having won the Championship with Everton, and playing regularly for England, he would have been the top earner in the game.

In his autobiography he mused that in that year he earned £450 for the whole year, which included bonuses playing for England.

Quite a difference to Mr Formby!!!!

Football can reap unimaginable rewards for the very best today, but lower-level players are hanging on hoping for a new contract at their clubs, on unspectacular wages.

DETECTO PUZZLES

Just discovered a 'new' vintage thing.

1970s Detecto Puzzles!!

It gives the humble old jigsaw a whole new twist. The idea was to solve a mystery by completing a jigsaw.

They also look great, the box was made to look like a classic murder mystery style book, complete with dramatic cover!

Open the 'book' to read the short mystery story, giving you the characters, plot, clues and hints as to whodunnit.

The jigsaw then reveals the culprit and how they did their dastardly crime!

The one I have is 'The Haunting of Pelham Grange' from 1975.

Someone is trying to spook poor Norah Vance, next in line to the family fortune.

The ghost of ancestor Sir Norbert Vance keeps appearing at night, calling out her name, and smashing up the place.

Will Norah go mad and thus forfeit the fortune?

And who amongst the gathered crowd could be the perpetrator?

Is it her sister Adeleide, Reverend Hugo Murdoch, Psychic Society secretary Bernard Sibling or ageing journalist Fred Oldacre???

The snooping, but canny Evelyn Whitty (a Miss Marple-type character), is on the look-out, and is determined to find out what's happening!!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Here is the completed jigsaw ...

But who was it?!

You'll have to buy it off me to find out!!!!

VINTAGE BEANO COAT RACK

Have been at the PVA glue again!!!

This time sticking some classic vintage Beano comics on to a tired-looking old coat rack ...

This is always an easy and brilliant way to upcycle something that isn't wanted anymore.

That's always the best thing about our vintage world – the art of reusing and recycling.
Make something cool AND help the environment!!

If you want to do your bit, then pop along to my unit at The Customs House in West Bay, Dorset and find it in my unit there!

GIANT SHEPTON FLEA

Finally some news to give you regarding markets!!!

I'll be at the Giant Shepton Flea Market on Sunday 16th August!!!

I haven't traded anywhere since February, so it has been a long and frustrating time, but as this is a huge outdoor event, this is the best place to get up-and-running again.

Lockdown did at least give me time to work on many restoration and upcycling projects, so I'll be bringing along quite a few of these!

Put the date in your diaries and pop along to this fantastic event!!

OR ...

If you can't make it, run along to my unit at The Customs House in West Bay, Dorset!
Since it reopened in June, it has been absolutely flying, with vintage and football fans snapping up all sorts of goodies I keep in stock there!

ARTPIX MAGAZINE!

Fancy something to read this weekend?!

And you're a fan of vintage?!

Then have a go at my ARTPIX magazine, up on the Issuu website.

There is a special feature on the timeless vintage mag Picture Post, and loads more!

 

 

Click HERE to read all about it!

BIRD BOX!

After working flat out on my computer recently producing my ARTPIX magazine, I decided to do something completely different this week.

Making a wooden bird box ... !!

And its an environmentally friendly one! 
As I've only used recycled wood, as in driftwood, found on my local beach at Chesil Cove on the Isle of Portland.

Its very much a Heath Robinson affair as you can see, but I love the different colours of the wood and how it came out a bit haphazard.

Hopefully one day it will make a nice home for a family of birds!!

It was great to be out in our yard making something instead of being cooped up, but I'm already working on and planning my next issue of ARTPIX magazine, so stay tuned!!

Read the first issue HERE

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

My brand new digital magazine – ARTPIX – is now online and ready to read ...

So if you are a fan of the ace jazz musician LOUIS ARMSTRONG, go and have a look now!!
You'll find some pics of original items, and a rundown of his amazing career.

Plus a whole load more vintage-inspired articles!!!

Go HERE

ARTPIX MAGAZINE ONLINE NOW!!!

The first issue of my brand new digital magazine is ready!!!

Go to the link HERE

I've uploaded it to Issuu, so you can browse through the magazine at your leisure!

I'm pleased to have this now up and running, as it was an idea I'd first had a few years ago.
When the lockdown really kicked in, I revived the idea.
The initial planning, setting out my ideas, sourcing pictures, photographing stock, designing and writing it, was all done in barely 2 months.

I wanted a fairly fluid style and design to it, not a rigid template with the same layout and fonts on every page. I also wanted a 'vintage-but-modern' feel.

It shows my passion for all things vintage and retro, also showing some of the stock I have for sale, and items in collections I've got.
I've also been able to showcase some of my own designs and artworks, with photos and digital collages.

Below is the Contents page, showing what's on all the different pages.

Most of the features will be regulars, including the Retro Football, Classic Movies, Fave Vintage Mags and the For Sale pages.

I hope it will be of interest to someone out there!!

I'm already working on the next issue, as I'm planning to do 4 magazines a year, with a publishing date of Autumn.

Keep in touch here for updates and news of the next issue, including a sneaky look at the cover of Issue 2 ...

GETTING THERE ...!

As usual at ArtPix Towers, we've had some interesting events to stop us in our tracks. Last time it was a swarm of bees getting into the loft, then a leaking water pipe that damaged floor and stock. Lovely.

Despite all this I've just finished the second round of proof corrections for my new digital magazine ARTPIX. Very kindly proofread by Carya Gish from Arcane Publishing!

Once I've done a few boring technical bits, it will be ready to rock 'n' roll!!

There are 44 pages altogether, with many features including vintage items, music, retro football, plus some of my own photos and artworks.

I'll let you know very soon when the publishing date is!!!

PHOTO OF THE DAY

A photo from the ArtPix Archives of a picture I took in Prague ...

In one of the many cobbled streets, with dark alleys, and old buildings.

Prague is an amazing city, packed to the brim with history, of good and bad times, some very bad.

That history has spawned a whole diverse range of fascinating architecture, from medieval castles to space-age Communist-era TV towers.
Some of these have appeared in my digital artworks!

When I went there, I had a really old-school camera, film rolls and all, so I wasn't able to take that many pictures. 
It would be great to go back and once more soak up the unique atmosphere of the place, and go mad with a digital camera and take hundreds of photos.