David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


20 December 2010


Vale Norman Hetherington (died 6 December 2010)
the creator of and puppeteer for Mr. Squiggle and friends.


'Mr Squiggle's creator dies at 89' : Sydney Morning Herald article and photos (December 6, 2010) here.


"Mr Squiggle was a cheery, scatter-brained character who would often be distracted and would occasionally go for "space-walks", and his assistant would need to calm him down to get him to focus on the task of drawing."
- Wikipedia

A senior member of our editorial staff...


regularly watched Mr Squiggle through the 1960s, and now wonders if he owes Mr. Squiggle and Blackboard (and therefore Hetherington) a greater debt than previously realised...

click on image to enlarge


The free pencil movement also raise their pencils in salute to Mr. Squiggle and Norman Hetherington. For a generation of children Mr. Squiggle was surely the most wondrous, most appreciated and most influential free drawer in Australia.



we gotta fight
for the right
to
Squiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggle!
after Beastie Boys


Reading the many recent tributes, as well as earlier articles about Hetherington, has lead us to Hilary Talbot's excellent all-things-Australian-puppetry website Dancing Spirits.

On her blog Hilary shows a picture of Mr Squiggle, plus Gus and the moon, that Norman Hetherington drew for her in 2002.
What a treasure! She displays it as Hetherington the up-above-looking-down puppeteer would have created it, and the many thousand other extraordinary depictions, for Mr. Squiggle to declare: "Upside down! Upside down!"

NH_Mr.Sq to Hil
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...

LOGOS/HA HA