Human Flower Project

Monday, August 11, 2008

Base, Superstructure, Giverny

John Levett tries focussing downward and rediscovers the gap in Marxism—a garden.

Essay and Photos by John Levett

This started with Dave Mackay. Sitting in the garden on a day that was almost Summer I thought of Dave. He played for a variety of football clubs in the ‘60s & ‘70s and was well known for football-with-violence. One story has a journalist knocking on Mackay’s front door on a Saturday afternoon to let his wife know Dave had finished the game with a broken leg. Her (alleged) response was “Whose?”

1953. I got my first pair of birthday football boots. Not just any pair. A pair ‘As Worn By Stanley Matthews.’ No doubt as personally worn and dispatched by Stan immediately on his return home from that Coronation year’s FA Cup Final (Backpool 4 - Bolton 3). In such a year not a sign of a ‘Wayne,’ ‘Kevin’ or ‘Glenn,’ let alone fancy Dans like ‘Ronaldo,’ ‘Didier,’ or ‘Raphael.’ Stans, Alfs and Berts all round—English, working class and tea drinkers.

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