Maggi, Maggi, Maggi

David had Maggi Hambling as the special guest for his art edition of Magazine on Tuesday. I don’t really know much about her work, Stephen has shown me a few bits and I’ve seen the Oscar Wilde thing by Charing Cross, but nothing has really grabbed my attention. I loved her interview though, even if David sometimes didn’t give her time to answer the question.

I loved her explanation of how she got into art – mucking about in a school art exam and then realising she only had ten minutes to complete her submission. She still came in top of the class and was impressed she could succeed at something so simple.

The stories about her seedy bohemian lifestyle were the funniest. She was once invited on TV but they wouldn’t let her smoke or drink so she refused to speak. She was then invited back by George Melly who would let her get as pissed as she liked and so a lasting friendship was formed. The two worked together on a channel 4 art quiz called Gallery that became a cult hit.

My favourite story was about a gay bar she used to go to that changed its policy to women only. She thought this was really boring so would smuggle in loads of drag queens.

She also talked about the lesbian scene when it was strictly butch and femme. She said she could never quite decide which one she was and I was mentally nodding along. Then I noticed David was pointing at me, grinning, and the audience were laughing too!

It made me think we have almost gone a full circle. The whole butch and femme thing was a reflection of straight life, and after a few years of liberation we have the Civil Partnership, another doffed cap to the mainstream.

Made me all the more glad to have Maggi – a dykon who is proud to be badly behaved. Swearing, drinking, wearing leather trousers and biker boots despite being well into her 60s - that’s a far better role model for the young.