This talk was recorded live at Firstsite on Fri 25 Nov 2022. Once purchased you will have instant access to the video to watch watch at your leisure.

In this recorded talk Rhodes and Turner as they discuss and celebrate the never-to-be-repeated lives of Chopping and Wirth-Miller, their literary and artistic output and their complex relationship with Francis Bacon.

In the early 1960s Zandra Rhodes was taught botanic illustration by Richard ‘Dickie’ Chopping at the Royal College of Art. Twenty years later Jon Lys Turner was taught creative writing at the College by the very same Richard Chopping. Chopping’s frequent London visits would involve staying at Rhodes’s colourful and beautifully eccentric Notting Hill home. In 1983 he introduced his student Turner to the now mega-famous fashion designer and they have remained friends since.

Friendship with Chopping and his lifelong partner Denis Wirth-Miller involved what has been described as ‘a white-knuckle ride of emotions and events’. Dinners in Soho or holidays in the South of France were rarely without Francis Bacon. Visits to Wivenhoe often featured some spectacularly bad behaviour. But throughout the hellraising, there prevailed a world of creativity and a marvellous lust for living life to its full.

Once you have purchased your ticket, via the “Book Now” button, you will receive the link and password to access the recording – access is available for up to 1 year.