Last month I gave a talk at the London Sketch Club about the benefits of keeping a sketch book. They were nice enough to invite me back to their life drawing class. I used to do a bit of life drawing, as a result of studying architecture for a while in Strasbourg. At Strathclyde they had taught me to draw by looking at tomato crates and piles of stools. In France they taught drawing by looking at a model. The first few look like Godzilla but it’s the fastest way to improve your skills.

I had a great time: thanks to Mark Prizeman for inviting me.

At the dinner afterwards, I enjoyed meeting Violet Ryder, who’s father I remember from an eighties pop group.
‘We were so in phase
In our dance hall days
We were cool on craze
When I, you and everyone we knew
Could believe, do, and share in what was true’Wang Chung, Dance Hall Days, of course!Sitting looking at Wallis Gilbert and Partners’ exuberant Glaxo Building. They designed the more famous Hoover Building, but this one certainly has panache. A streamlined base course, as if from the pen of Raymond Loewy . I hope we can do something great with it.