This pile of chalk is ready to be used to re-chalk the figure and keep it white and visible from a distance.
The Uffington White Horse sits below Dragon Hill.
This was the scene for the video of 'Cloudbusting'.
The music video, directed by Julian Doyle, was conceived by Terry Gilliam and Kate Bush.
The video features Canadian actor Donald Sutherland playing the role of Wilhelm Reich, and Bush playing the part of his young son, Peter, wearing a short wig.
In the book, King explains how the video features imagery of rural England
a blue sky over a green hill
a Fair Isle cardigan worn by Bush
Sutherland's tweed jacket
a vintage car
It's inspired by Peter Reich's book 'A Book of Dreams'. He built a house in Oregon called Organon in 1948, named after his discovery of 'orgone': a universal libidinal life force. He built instruments to try to capture this force. He believed orgone was responsible for drought and started to build a rain making / stopping machine. Reich was worried that in the wrong hands this could become a weapon. A model features in the video.
By the mid-1950s, Reich linked orgone with the presence of UFOs.
He was arrested and his work destroyed. The authorities are present in the video.
The book mentions her use of the Fairlight (also used by Peter Gabriel). This was particularly evident on her suite of songs: 'The Ninth Wave' on the 'Hounds of Love' album.
An alphabet of bands and artists as a series for the next 26 days. These were selected by the Spotify algorithm. There aren't many X bands.
"XTC were clever and came from Swindon, so therefore we were crap ... I was always jealous of bands like Talking Heads, who were doing similar things to us but were from New York, and therefore cool. But the English don't like normal people doing intelligent things."
Andy Partridge (2004)
I used to listen to XTC quite a lot, particularly in the 1990s, in car journeys heading for the Peak District or in and around Rotherham and Sheffield, particularly Moorgate and in the company of my friend Caroline. They produced a lot of very fine albums.
XTC were founded in Swindon in 1972, with the two founding members: Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, growing up on a large council estate in the city. Their style is a blend of various musical influences and styles.
Their breakthrough track in 1979 involved them 'Making Plans for Nigel', (with its line about British Steel) which established their sound. I was 15 at the time and remember it being played quite a lot.
My dad worked for British Steel at the time... but he isn't called Nigel.
One of my favourite XTC albums was produced by Todd Rundgren and is called 'Skylarking'.
It has quite a nature-based theme including referencing the cycle of the seasons in an early song. The production of the album was not without its problems.
Check out the Smartest Monkeys from their album Nonsuch: named after a large house which was demolished
Another classic album is 'Oranges and Lemons', which was influenced by The Beatles in their more psychedelic phase.
This included some memorable tracks including the off-kilter 'Mayor of Simpleton', 'King for a Day' and the final track 'Chalkhills and Children'.
Here's a review of 'Skylarking', which is described as a "pastoral" album.
I'll finish with one of my favourite of their song, a letter to God... 'Dear God'.
David Gregory from the band also played with the progressive band 'Big Big Train' (who will feature on the blog a number of times).
Partial XTC Discography - AI generated
What X would be in your algorithm? There aren't many to choose from to be fair....
