Gill : Master Forger
Our lives centred on Sevenoaks School ’ s Art department , where we often worked into the evening . The Art Room boys included me , Andy Gill , Mark White , Kevin Lycett , Paul Greengrass , Adam Curtis , and Tom Greenhalgh . Andy and I went on to found Gang of Four ; Mark , Kevin , and Tom formed the Mekons ; Paul became a famous movie director ; and Adam is a hugely respected documentary film maker for the BBC . It was a brilliant department run by Bob White , the teacher who inspired us all . We owe a lot to him .
Public transport wasn ’ t good in the villages clustered around Sevenoaks . To get about , many of us owned motorbikes . Gill had a 50cc moped that was so feeble he had to get off and push on steep hills , and the lights didn ’ t work . To fix this , Andy had a cunning ruse : he sellotaped a tiny torch to the handlebars . But Gill ’ s illegal lights were spotted by a traffic cop , who found it hard not to laugh as he issued Andy a ticket .
It was a downer , but we were privately jubilant . The policeman had been fooled by Andy ’ s criminal masterpiece ! Gill – broke but artistic – had handpainted the road tax disc for his moped , to avoid paying for one . The forgery had taken ages to make and was a fine piece of work ; closely detailed , delicately coloured . A miniature masterpiece !
Sadly , we were stopped again an hour or so later by the same policeman . He checked Gill ’ s moped again , and burst out laughing when he found the fake tax disc , which was , in truth , rubbish . The cop laughed so much , he let Gill off potential fine # 2 - forgery ? fraud ? stupidity ? – sending us on our way with the kindly words ‘ Now f *** off ! I hope I never see you again !’
And he never did . Jon King ( OS 1973 )
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