Strange Hobbies

[Elite]

1 minute ago, KMD7 said:

Was going to make a PhillyHamann joke but they're actually really good. Fair play mate. I have no talent whatsoever for stuff like this. 

Cheers mate. The thing I like about it is the continuous improvement, my first efforts were really shit.

[KMD7]

5 minutes ago, Elite said:

Cheers mate. The thing I like about it is the continuous improvement, my first efforts were really shit.

Are you getting tips from anywhere mate? You tube etc.

[Elite]

2 minutes ago, KMD7 said:

Are you getting tips from anywhere mate? You tube etc.

Yeah, rapid fire art and I am just googling images and trying to copy them as best I can. Once you start using the line systems it makes it a lot easier.

[Kevin D]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jun/17/experience-i-am-the-dullest-man-in-britain
 

 

 

I grew up in Small Heath, Birmingham, known to most as Peaky Blinders territory. I was interested in football and history at school, and studied art and design at Aston University. Birmingham has 35 miles of canals, which intrigued me because my dad was born on a canal boat. 

My claim to dull fame came in 2018, when I was named Anorak of the Year by the Dull Men’s Club. It’s an international collective of people – we welcome everyone, not just men – who find joy in the mundane. Our motto is “celebrating the ordinary”. Other members include a drain spotter and a guy who has collected 20,000 milk bottles. After that, newspapers began to dub me “Britain’s dullest man”.

I had other brushes with the media before then, too. I run a small print shop in Redditch, and in 2003 I wanted to create a calendar for our customers. Redditch had three prisons, no cinema, but copious roundabouts and so, for the laugh, my employees and I decided on Roundabouts of Redditch.

 

I was in a pub one Friday night when a friend called to say it was on the Graham Norton Show. Graham was flicking through a calendar of gorgeous Greek islands with his guest and brought Roundabouts of Redditch out as a comparison. I absolutely loved it

It changed my life. Demand rocketed for the calendar. We had initially printed 100 copies – soon we were selling to people around the world. In 2004, I was approached by a publisher and wrote Roundabouts of Great Britain, which sold 20,000 copies on its first run, then Roundabouts from the Air Ish in 2005, called that because I took the photos from bridges and the tops of trees. The AA asked me to do the same for car parks – we put out another book, Parking Mad: Car Parks from Heaven (or Hell), and a calendar, Car Parks of Britain. 

The Redditch calendar spawned a series of Best of British Roundabouts. I travelled the country with my camera, following enthusiasts’ tipoffs. I photographed a Kent roundabout with a duck pond and a Yorkshire one with a working windmill. I’ve made calendars of benches, bus routes, telephone boxes and other seemingly unexciting features of British life. I’ve produced calendars of prisons and old asylums. I love grisly subjects, steeped in history, although I’m also thinking of doing one on recycling centres.

 

TV crews from China and the US visited. I was on daytime TV, including on Sharon Osbourne’s show. I downed a bottle of wine in the green room before my appearance to offset my nerves. It went swimmingly, though.
 

I also established myself as president of the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society (my unofficial title is The Lord of the Rings) and the founder – and only member – of the Car Park Appreciation Society. People say I’m obsessed, but that feels derogatory. I prefer “passionate”.

My four sons are fairly embarrassed by it, and my three ex-wives all found me dull; not in the bedroom, but in every other part of the house. But I think women like dull men; when their husbands say they’re going to the shed to make a matchstick model of Winchester Cathedral, they don’t have to wonder if they’re actually up to something else.

In truth, I don’t think I’m dull. It’s my hobbies that are dull. I’m actually full of surprises: I’m a fan of trance music and went clubbing last weekend. In February, I spent my 70th birthday in Malaga with two buddies.

 

I try to do 10 calendars a year. I get inspiration from everyday life. Martin Parr, the celebrated British photographer, sent me a text saying he admired my work. That felt wonderful.

My Benches of Redditch calendar became my second biggest seller last year, at 2,000 copies. The most popular calendar that year was The Wonderful World of Jack Grealish’s Calves 2022. As an Aston Villa fan, I made it as an act of revenge when he was sold to Manchester City, but a lot of people bought it for their girlfriends.
 

I’m semi-retired, and these hobbies have kept me alive. I consider myself a writer – I’m writing a novel about a Brummie abducted by aliens – and I enjoy the knowledge that my photography is on walls across Britain and beyond.

I meet up with the Dull Men’s Club once a year; it’s amazing how charismatic we are when we all get together. And I wear my Britain’s dullest man title as a badge of honour

[Babb'sBurstNad]

People like that are great. They've got their passion for something, and don't give a fuck what others think about it. As I get older, my admiration for trainspotters and their ilk increases.

[Lee909]

Saw 3 fire engine spotters the other day. Never knew it was a thing, as one engine came out the cameras all started. The biggest one nearly fell over trying to run for a better shot and his shorts started falling down. 

 

Don't all fire engines look the same these days. 

[Elite]

1 hour ago, Lee909 said:

Saw 3 fire engine spotters the other day. Never knew it was a thing, as one engine came out the cameras all started. The biggest one nearly fell over trying to run for a better shot and his shorts started falling down. 

 

Don't all fire engines look the same these days. 

I'd class that as more of a fetish than a hobby.

[chrisbonnie]

as stated in previous posts i keep racing pigeons, i also race them, so they're not exactly ornaments.

 

but quick, super boring update. Our pigeons raced from Penzance today, to fly back to Dublin. 

 

sent 3 brave soldiers, currently have 2 back in the loft, first pigeon flying the distance of 222 miles in in 4hrs and 20 minutes. the second lad was a 30 minutes later. 

 

impressive little buggers, thats their second week in a row flying the Irish channel

[redinblack]

10 minutes ago, chrisbonnie said:

as stated in previous posts i keep racing pigeons, i also race them, so they're not exactly ornaments.

 

but quick, super boring update. Our pigeons raced from Penzance today, to fly back to Dublin. 

 

sent 3 brave soldiers, currently have 2 back in the loft, first pigeon flying the distance of 222 miles in in 4hrs and 20 minutes. the second lad was a 30 minutes later. 

 

impressive little buggers, thats their second week in a row flying the Irish channel

Is No3 MIA?

[chrisbonnie]

23 minutes ago, redinblack said:

Is No3 MIA?

he is, and he was the first one back on saturday, oddly enough. 

 

probably looked at the water and said fuck that, im staying in England, he'll probably end up on a plane to Rwanda now 

[redinblack]

2 minutes ago, chrisbonnie said:

he is, and he was the first one back on saturday, oddly enough. 

 

probably looked at the water and said fuck that, im staying in England, he'll probably end up on a plane to Rwanda now 

Serious question....is there a high attrition rate or do they usually get home?

[chrisbonnie]

1 minute ago, redinblack said:

Serious question....is there a high attrition rate or do they usually get home?

when we race on the land, so in ireland, you dont really lose too many to be honest, if you lose them, more than likely they've been hit by a falcon, wore, wind turbine, its rear thy dont make it back from anything under 200 miles on the land.

 

but when they go across the water, you do tend to lose a few. 

[VladimirIlyich]

On 01/02/2022 at 12:01, Elite said:

Just got into drawing. Really relaxing. I've got a hell of a lot to learn and improve but here's a few early efforts.

 

Love doing a few sketches myself. Mainly cute animals for my grandaughter. They are cracking by the way. 

Here are a couple of my feeble efforts

[Elite]

4 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Love doing a few sketches myself. Mainly cute animals for my grandaughter. They are cracking by the way. 

Here are a couple of my feeble efforts

I've started a free online course called drawabox. That's good if you can find the time, it's based around constructing things from solid shapes.

[VladimirIlyich]

1 minute ago, Elite said:

I've started a free online course called drawabox. That's good if you can find the time, it's based around constructing things from solid shapes.

I've seen a couple of youtube channels and those sketch artists tend to talk about using shapes like circles and stuff to construct the features of the object you are drawing,

[sir roger]

I can see a future for the tiger, very cute. Glueworks for the giraffe though.

[Elite]

7 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

I've seen a couple of youtube channels and those sketch artists tend to talk about using shapes like circles and stuff to construct the features of the object you are drawing,

It really does help to break things down and get proportions right but it's just a case of practice, practice and more practice.

[VladimirIlyich]

1 hour ago, sir roger said:

I can see a future for the tiger, very cute. Glueworks for the giraffe though.

Yeah, Gerry the Giraffe will be lucky to survive a Lion attack.

[Bjornebye]

Elite will you draw me Kirsty Allsopp? 

[VladimirIlyich]

1 minute ago, Bjornebye said:

Elite will you draw me Kirsty Allsopp? 

Do your own wanking material.

[Bjornebye]

1 minute ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Do your own wanking material.

You mucky cunt 

[Pete]

Samwise Gamgee.

 

Oh. Strange Hobbies !

[Tony Moanero]

On 01/02/2022 at 12:01, Elite said:

Just got into drawing. Really relaxing. I've got a hell of a lot to learn and improve but here's a few early efforts.

 

 

Seth Armstrong wearing a Stetson - ace!

[Elite]

1 hour ago, Bjornebye said:

Elite will you draw me Kirsty Allsopp? 

Haha, might have a go at some point.

[Bjornebye]

19 minutes ago, Elite said:

Haha, might have a go at some point.

Just put the pad on the floor, squirt some tomato sauce up your arse then have a huge shit all over it.