Drawing: Christie Brinkley in Chicago

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Christie Brinkley gained worldwide fame in the 1970’s and 80’s as a supermodel – the first to have three consecutive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue covers. She has been married four times, most notably to musician Billy Joel. The ‘Uptown Girl’ appeared in a number of his music videos and illustrated the cover of his 1993 triple platinum album ‘River of Dreams.’ Rolling Stone awarded it the Best Album Cover of the Year. After a successful debut on Broadway as the femme fatale, foxy Roxie Hart in America’s longest running musical, Chicago, the 57 year-old razzle-dazzled West End audiences at the Cambridge Theatre in London during a four-week engagement… va-va-va-voooom! Christie signed my sketch in person at the stage door in August 2011.

Drawing: Mike Leigh

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Acclaimed British Theatre and Film director Mike Leigh begins his projects without a script, but a basic premise that is developed through improvisation by the actors who are fully liberated in the creative process. He works with them one-on-one to develop a character and after months of rehearsal he writes a brief shooting script, which is constantly refined during the production.

His vision is to depict ordinary life. Mike was influenced in the 1960s by films such as John Cassavete’s Shadows – an improvised cast of unknown observed ‘living, loving and bickering’ on the streets of New York and plays that included Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker. During the 70s and 80s he divided his time directing theatre and making TV films described as ‘kitchen sink realism’. He also wrote a number of plays, including Abigail’s Party.

He has been nominated for the Academy Award seven times and won the Best Director award at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival for Naked. In 1996 his film Secrets and Lies won the Palm d’or, the Best Film BAFTA and an Oscar nomination.

In 2010, at the 54th BFI London Film Festival, his film Another Year was featured. He received his latest Oscar nomination for writing the original screenplay. Mike signed my sketch for me at the screening.

Drawing: Emma Thompson in Sense and Sensibility

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Emma Thompson has won two Academy Awards and apparently keeps both in her downstairs bathroom because she’s embarrassed to place them in a more prominent place.

She is the only person to have won an Oscar in the acting and writing categories. After winning the Best Actress in Howard’s End (1992) she won again for Best Adapted Screenplay for Sense and Sensibility (1995).

Producer Lindsay Doran spent ten years looking for a suitable writer to adapt Jane Austen’s 1811 romance novel into a screenplay. After reading some of Emma’s earlier comedy skits, she hired her, stating that she had the right balance between satire and romance.

“It’s a story of love and money – some people need one more than the other,” Emma said. She spent four years writing it and continued to refine during actual production.

This was Emma’s first screenplay, and a risk for any studio. The selection of Taiwanese director Ang Lee to helm his first major film was also a surprise. Initially not considered for an acting role, Emma was convinced to join Kate Winslet to play the Dashwood sisters. Both received Oscar nominations for their performances. Any concerns proved unfounded as Sense and Sensibility went on to become a major commercial and critical success, cited as the best adaption of Austen’s work, garnering seven Oscar and twelve BAFTA nominations amongst a myriad of other awards.

An interesting anecdote occurred when Emma was a guest on the TV quiz show QI, hosted by her friend Stephen Fry. It was revealed that Stephen had saved her Sense and Sensibility script when her computer malfunctioned and turned her writing into hieroglyphics.

After 7 hours the script was restored. Fellow participant Alan Davis questioned Stephen’s technical skills and suggested he probably rewrote it. Emma candidly agreed to that possibility and said she would drop the Oscar around to his home.

Emma signed my sketch at her London office in 1996.

Drawing: Alan Cumming in Macbeth

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Alan Cumming has just finished performing a radical re-imagining of Macbeth, single handedly! to sell out audiences on Broadway’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre (of Theater in the American vernacular).

He won the Olivier Award, playing the maniac in Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist in 1996 and the Tony Award for his role as the MC in the Broadway production of Cabaret seven years later. Alan has also been nominated for two Emmys and two Screen Actor’s Guild Awards.

In this National Theatre of Scotland production the 11th Century ‘Thane of Cawdor’s’ murderous ambition and corrosive guilt is cleverly transferred to a chilly chamber of a mental institution where a CCTV camera captures the patient’s every move as he is habited in turn by each of the characters from ‘the Scottish play’. In two hours with no intermission he performs “one power grab, and 16 major roles,” as one reviewer put it. “Cumming’s delivery swiftly shifts characters with stunning clarity.”

Alan signed my sketch yesterday at a preview screening of his latest film Any Day Now at Piccadilly Vue Apollo Cinema in London

Drawing: Miss Polly Rae

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Miss Polly Rae is one of the leading singers and dancers in the Neo-burlesque scene.

Fusing fashion, music and popular culture, her ‘Hurly Burly Show’ was the first major burlesque inspired musical spectacular to be staged in a West End Theatre, playing the Garrick in 2011.

Full of wit and joie de vivre, it transferred, it transferred for a 12 week limited season at the Duchess Theatre in 2012, where Miss Polly signed my sketch.

Drawing: Relatively Speaking at Wyndham’s Theatre

Posted on August 18, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The first London revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s classic comedy Relatively Speaking concludes its three month West End run at Wyndham’s Theatre this month.

The Theatre Royal Bath production, directed by Lindsay Posner stars Felicity Kendal, Jonathan Coy, Kara Tointon and Max Bennett.

Described by the Guardian as “two hours of continuous laughter,” this beautifully crafted and charmingly English play was Ayckbourn’s first great West End success, opening at the Duke of York’s in 1967. Its theme of middle class marital misery and the mistaken identity gag became his speciality.

Greg (Bennett) and Ginny (Tointon) only met a month ago, but he has made up his mind that she’s the one for him. She tells him that she’s off for a weekend at her parents. He finds a scribbled address and decides to surprise her and ask her father for his daughter’s hand.

Sheila (Kendal) and Philip (Coy) are enjoying a peaceful Sunday morning breakfast interrupted by the two visitors. The only thing – they’re not Ginny’s parents…

All four cast members are a delight, on and off the stage. They happily signed my sketch after Friday night’s performance.

Drawing: Katherine Jenkins

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Welsh songbird Katherine Jenkins did a bit of tube busking in November 2011. The mezzo-soprano is more used to performing in front of thousands in some of the World’s major stages.

A 45 minute stint at Leicester Square station for London commuters yielded £16 for a homeless charity, going undercover with a ‘make-under”, hiding her trademark blonde locks behind a scruffy brunette wig and casual clothes. But her distinctive vocal fooled few.

Katherine’s classical crossover style, including operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre and hymns has won her two Classical Brit Album of the Year Awards.

After performing with the legendary Dame Vera Lynn at the 60th VE Day Anniversary concert in 2005, the WWII ‘forces sweetheart’ said Katherine should consider performing for the British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. She did just that. Her helicopter was targeted by missiles, but she eventually landed safely when anti-missile flares were deployed.

She came second in the US Dancing with the Stars and this year ran the London marathon in 5 hours 26 minutes, raising £25,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support in memory of her father. Katherine also performed at a fundraiser in October 2011 to help relief efforts after the devastation caused by the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.

She signed my ‘busking’ sketch at her London office in Chiswick Lane, a couple of days after her underground debut. An earlier portrait was signed in the mid 2000s through the mail.

Drawing: All Round Good Guys Part 2 – Khan and Botham

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Imran Khan is Pakistan’s most successful captain, in a career that spanned almost twenty years from 1971-1992. In 88 Test matches he scored 3807 runs, including six centuries, taking 382 wickets.

He is one of only eight players to achieve the all-rounders Test triple – 3000 runs and 300 wickets . He did so in 75 matches, second fastest behind Sir Ian Botham (72).

He retired twice. First after the 1987 World Cup, but due to popular demand he was requested by President Zia ul Haq to return to Captain the team again. At 39, he lead Pakistan to World Cup glory, winning the 1992 Championship, beating England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the final, then retired again.

An alma mater of Oxford University, Khan entered politics and was a member of the National Assembly (2002-2007). He is also known for his philanthropy, building cancer hospitals and research centres.

In 1996 he faced libel action taken against him by Sir Ian Botham, surrounding ball tampering and associated derogatory comments.

Sir Ian ‘Beefy’ Botham was a genuine all-rounder – a big hitting batsman with a classical straight bat style and a medium paced swing bowler. A controversial figure both on and off the field, Beefy was involved in a number of well-publicised incidents, including a suspension from the National team for smoking cannabis. He also captained England in 12 Tests. His right arm medium bowling resulted in 383 wickets in 102 Tests, accumulating 5,200 runs. He has taken five wickets and scored a century in an innings of a same Test match on five occasions. He still holds the record for the highest number of wickets taken by an English bowler.

A prodigious fund-raiser, he is renowned for his Charity Walks and has raised over £12 million for Leukaemia Research. Sir Ian became Sir Ian in 2007, knighted for services to cricket and cancer charity work.

Imran signed my caricature during Pakistan’s 1988/89 tour of New Zealand. Sir Beefy graphed his in Wellington, when England played New Zealand in the 1992 World Cup at the Basin Reserve.

Drawing: All Round Good Guys Part 1 – Hadlee and Dev

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Sir Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan and Sir Ian Botham were the top four cricket all-rounders of the 1980’s and early 90’s. They are all inductees into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. New Zealand’s ‘Paddles’ Hadlee is considered one of the great fast bowlers of all time. The 2002 edition of Wisden listed him as the second great test bowler in the history of the game. ESPN named him as the 12th Best Cricketer of all time in its Legends of Cricket selection.

Playing for the Black Caps from 1988-1994, his right-arm bowling was initially extremely fast, with devastating control. Over time his pace reduced but he gained more accuracy and movement off the wicket. The master of conventional ‘swing’ batting, he was the original ‘Sultan of Swing’, with his most potent delivery the unplayable outswinger. He was the first player to take 400 Test Wickets and after 86 Matches, ended his career with 431 at an average of 22.29. He scored 3,124 test runs, with two centuries including 151 not out. He was Knighted in 1990.

Kapil Dev replaced Sir Richard’s wicket-taking World Record in early 1994 and was Wisden’s Indian Cricketer of the Century (2002). Known for his grace and pace (involving a majestic leap at the crease) his right-arm outswinger and a potent inswinging yorker enabled him to take 434 test wickets before he retired in 1994. A naturally aggressive batsman, he scored more than 5000 runs in test matches and in ODIs and captained India to the 1983 World Cup Championship, beating the mighty West Indies who were looking for a hat trick of titles at Lords.

‘Paddles’ signed 15 limited edition prints as part of a set of New Zealand’s Best Cricket XI at his home in Christchurch in the mid 1990’s. They were sold for various charities. The caricature was signed at a sporting function in Invercargill in 1989. Kapil Dev signed his caricature on his final visit to New Zealand in 1994 during India’s one-off Test in Hamilton.

Tomorrow: Part 2, Khan and Botham

Drawing: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean stunned the world with their steamy skating synchronicity at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo in Yugoslavia to win the Gold medal for Great Britain in the ice dancing competition.

Performing the memorable ‘Boléro’ the pair became the highest scoring figure skaters of all time, receiving twelve perfect 6.0s and six 5.9s. They earned accross-the-board perfect scores for artistic impression in the free dance section – a feat that has never been matched.

In addition to their Olympic title, they have won 4 European and World Championships and 7 British.

They turned professional after the 1984 Olympics, winning the World Professional title on five occasions, but decided to return to the amateur arena for the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway due to a change in the eligibility rules.

Their routine had an assisted lift, which pushed the envelope of the rules, and despite winning the British and European Championships that year, the Olympic judges placed them third with a bronze medal.

Their 1984 gold medal winning performance has been rated as the eighth most memorable of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments. They retired from competitive skating in 1998.

Jayne and Chris signed my sketch at the O2 Arena in Greenwich in April 2010, as part of their Dancing on Ice Tour.