Frank Skinner reveals how he is settling down to life in Hampstead as he prepares to open art fair
Friday, 19th June 2015
COMEDIAN Frank Skinner has revealed how he has settled into life in Hampstead as he prepares to open an art day in his new neighbourhood.
The Fantasy Football League comic will be at Whitestone Pond on Sunday morning to get things started at Hampstead Art Fair Day.
Artists will be drawing portraits of him, to be auctioned off later as part of a massive fundraising drive for Hampstead School of Art, in Kidderpore Avenue, which needs to raise £2million for a new campus.
He told the New Journal: “It is the sort of thing I would have gone to anyway. They asked if I would like a drawing lesson while I was there, which I am very excited about. I briefly did A-level art, before I was expelled. I wasn’t the kid at school who was brilliant at drawing but my girlfriend assures me there is something special there that I should release.”
Mr Skinner moved from Lambeth to Hampstead 18 months ago with partner Cath Mason and three-year-old son Buzz Cody because they “wanted a garden”.
He said: “With the Hampstead School of Art, I feel I have got a big fabulous facility on my doorstep that I am not taking advantage of.
“Hampstead is great. It has a bohemian feel to it, hence the art fair. And I like the fact that it is OK to be a bit odd in Hampstead. The people are very accepting of that.”
Mr Skinner, who presents Landscape Artist of the Year 2015 for Sky Arts, added: “It is posh, but not that narrow-minded posh. There are a lot of artists and writers and just genuinely eccentric people and I really like that. It is beautiful and it’s got the Heath and I very much like St Mary’s Catholic church, which is my regular church. St Mary’s is a little haven of peace.”
Hampstead Art Fair Day, part of Hampstead Summer Festival, is at Whitestone Pond from 11am to 5pm on Sunday.
SKINNER WANTS A WOMAN TO LEAD LABOUR PARTY
By JANE CLINTON
A LIFE-LONG Labour supporter, Frank Skinner believes the party can recover from its general election defeat with a fresh start and a woman as its new leader.
“I did support Labour in the election and we won here in Hampstead with an increased majority,” he said.
“I would really like the next leader to be a woman. I think the time is right, not just for a woman leader but for a woman prime minister. Everything is ready, the country would want that.
“Also, I have got a bit fed-up of that schoolboy bullying thing going on in Prime Minister’s Questions where poor Ed Miliband got torn apart every week. I think a woman will pull the rug out of all that posturing.
“The party needs a fresh start. I still think Yvette Cooper would be a fresh start. I know everybody thinks she is very tied in with New Labour but I think a woman leader would feel like a fresh start.”
He added: “I’ve got a friend working on Liz Kendall’s campaign and he says she is very impressive and I suppose there is an argument for a new face, at least a new face for most of the British public.
“I listened to a programme recently on the future of the Labour Party and there were a lot of people saying there might not be a Labour Party at the next election and this could be the end and they will never get in again.
“It reminded me of the World Cup. When England loses everybody says: ‘That’s the end, we’re finished, we’ll never come back’. I think that is ludicrous. There is an ebb and flow, and this is just a bad time but I think the idea that the party is finished is a bit hysterical.”
