The Diary Of A Part Time Futurist - The Call Of The Past 

Text by Actuarius

Those who know me, either personally or vicariously through the medium of these pieces, cannot help but realise that I have a yearning for a previous age. I usually explain it as “having an affinity for the years between the wars” but in truth its all a little bit more complicated than that. I grew up in the 70's which meant that my grandparents still had things they'd bought before World War II. Of course, as they had grown older and fashions had changed, most of it had gone to be replaced with something more a la mode. Yet still there were bits and pieces to be discovered which pointed to the era of their own youth. I think even as a child there was something regarding the style of these that drew me in, beyond mere fascination with something so unimaginably old.

A chrome “chinese-esque” tea caddy here, a cut glass scent bottle there; a naturally easy and yet impossible familiarity always accompanied these new discoveries. That is the strangest thing with it, this has never been a conscious focussing of interest but rather a recognition of something that I feel intrinsically at home with. I was fortunate in that, just I was entering my adolescence, ITV released the superlative Brideshead Revisited on an unsuspecting world. This acted as something of a catalyst for me, enabling me to identify and refine what had previously been a vaguely curious feeling. The wider interest it created in an age, at that time, fading away from merely old fashioned to exotic also helped in finding out more.

It is important to state that I am no re-enactor. I do not decry “re-enactors” or necessarily wish to infer a different basic drive but I do not follow the same path as them. True, as I have grown older I have been fortunate enough to acquire original and decent reproduction items of the 20's and 30's, but these have been because I like them rather than a wish to evoke the age in itself. The lounge of our house is unmistakable Art Deco but there is a modern TV (scandalously not even hidden within a cabinet), modern central heating and so on.

This creation of my own path brings numerous advantages when interfacing with the modern world. The movement to promote and encourage social justice at that time is something I find entirely admirable, but of course at the same time there was also the rise of Fascism. As I do not seek to recreate some form of a period in history then I do not have to defend the less salubrious aspects. I can simply point out that most historic periods have a mixture of the good and the bad to them. No re-enacting also means no strictures, I dress in the style of the mid 30's without fear of being called out for incorporating man made fibres. In fact as I type this I am listening to Noel Coward via the medium of the CD. Gramophones are lovely but having to keep stopping to wind them up does rather disrupt the creative flow.

As well as the familiarity of it all, equally strange is a an uneducated draw to various aspects of the era. Now I know enough for this not to really happen any more but I clearly recall how in my youth I would hear a piece of music or see a picture of a racing yacht and think “I rather like that.” Far more often than not it transpired that the subject of my interest was a product of the “jazz age.” There has always been that instinctive tug on my emotions, something that remains today. Don't get me wrong, I can often be found listening to Hip Hop or Punk; or watching a Star Trek or Bond film but nothing modern (or even older) calms, soothes or excites like the music, art or films from this period.

The easy going way I inhabit, at least partially, some far flung shadow of this previous era has been responsible for a number of special experiences. Just recently I attended a vintage car race meeting at a historic circuit just South of Paris; driving my (admittedly 1970's) MG to the ferry before heading down through the night to the track. I watched Bentleys and Bugattis bellowing around steeply banked corners, mixed with folk who race in shirt and tie under their overalls and - I'd like to think - looked entirely the part with cravat, Tweed jacket and Fedora. The latter worn not as a knowing reference but, of course, simply because that's how I dress. All of this added up to a feeling that the sum of the experience closely resembled what it was like to do such a thing “back in the day.” A marrow deep and unlooked for insight that could not be gained by arriving in a modern car or “dressing the part” for the sake of it. It is to live a truth.

Trust me, if you have a similar feeling for some historical period then ignore fashion and peer pressure. Find your own path and start truly inhabiting the world you feel drawn to on your own terms. Don't force it or feel that you have to be pigeon-holed. Then, with a little luck, you too will find the calm affirmation that comes with just such a connection.