JOHNNY’S DIARY – PART 3 – DURY, BLAKE AND OCEAN

One of the more memorable assignments that came my way while I was writing for Blitz magazine was the opportunity to helm a three-way interview with Ian Dury, Peter Blake and Humphrey Ocean on June 6, 1983, partly in Mike Owen’s photographic studio in Clink Wharf, and partly  in the offices of their agents, Cotton & Carruthers.

The rationale for the piece was that Dury had been taught by Blake and Ocean had been taught by Dury, so they’d all say revealing and interesting things about each other. The peg, I think, was an upcoming Channel Four film about Dury.

I spent a delightful afternoon in their company and the illustration below was added into the diary by Humphrey Ocean, who also contributed a sketch of me, while Peter Blake gave me a working proof of a piece he was doing, which also ended up stuck into the diary.

Ian Dury, meanwhile, contributed a few enigmatic words, as follows :

Bright red is emoti
Green.
Counter claimant’s union
step out
Folkways
Fugs
Norman Mailer is a charming old wanker
Humphrey Ocean can’t draw hands
Security is a turnip

Ian x

Ian also told me the first pro-Irish joke I’d ever heard (the one about the joist and the girder) which I’ve re-told many times since.