Document

Novel though the approach of Michael Wolf was (see the previous blog entry), most photographers have to actually get up and go get their story. Some novelists do the same. This weekend saw the 75th anniversary of George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier. Although there’s a whole debate about middle class observers parachuting into poverty, getting their story and leaving through the door marked exit, Orwell’s book remains a vivid snap shot of the Northern working class in the 1930s. Two years after the book was published, Picture Post sent photographer Kurt Hutton to take more than snap shots. The Guardian has a slide show here, and the story behind the book here. The photo I’ve reproduced here was, by chance, used as the cover for a Penguin Twentieth Century Classic edition of Orwell’s book.

And now in a technique borrowed from TV news; a silly feel good story to get you to the advertising break in a mood conducive to spending…  Last week Wigan’s finest export – Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls – celebrated making their 2 billionth sweet! I can personally vouch that they do indeed “Keep you all aglow”.