My love affair with London began in 1996 just before Christmas, when I and newspaper Kaleva’s photographer Jarmo Kontiainen were assigned to cover a story on Finnish nurses. The blond, blue-eyed nurses were top stories in both countries. I interviewed them in St Bartholomew’s Hospital and in The Royal London Hospital.
The real eye-opener for me was London itself per se. The recession had had its claws on Finland making the atmosphere gloomy with all the bankruptcy and unemployment figures in the media. Everything was different in the Capital of the UK; a joyful, well-dressed crowd wearing colourful padded waistcoats bustling on the subway stations and main streets. That sight was hope-stimulating. And the amount of people was overwhelming. As a matter of fact, it still amazes me every time I visit London.
Since then I have been there about a dozen times. The terrorist bombings in the summer of 2005 have been fixed indelibly in my mind. On our family holiday, we shared the same underground lines and the streets with the bombers only a few weeks prior. I greatly interestedly followed the newscast of the attack in my home country. Had the strikers been scouting the grounds while we had spent our time exploring London? That question is still unanswered.As the most important tourist attractions started to feel all too familiar, my wife Tiina and I extended our horizons. In the summer of 2014, our lodgings were in Ilford. We made a habit of spotting the happiest person of the day. The leader of this list is still an afro-haired woman sitting on a bench on the Ilford train station platform in her shabby clothes. Her restful essence breathed her being at peace with herself and her environment leaving an indelible mark in the minds of both of us.
The most recent visits to London happened in 2019 and 2020. On these two trips, we observed different places in London with extreme prejudice. The last one was a trip that was unforgettable due to the COVID-19 emptying the underground trains up to Oxford Street. The Gallery Pub in Pimlico, Waterloo Station in South Bank, The Banksy Tunnel near Waterloo Station, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Soho and Covent Garden… Those and many more are the places we scoured thoroughly with our antennae raised, ending up in the pages of my new Papparazzi novel.
Comedy is a sport of courage, a necessary one in its own right. The best feedback I can get from readers of my creative work is the smiles on their faces. Why are the celebs in the center?
I’ll quote the founder of Madame Tussauds Wax Museum Marie Tussaud: “Because they are images of our time.” That’s why.