Harold Chapman once more attended the annual “Tweed Run” which is a doodle through London clad in tweed by around 700 cyclists on a variety of velocipedes, ancient and modern. Wielding the pen for the Arb, he coaxed the wife and child along for the 18 odd mile round trip including tea in St Pancras cemetery, the oldest in London, a picnic lunch on the lawn in front of the Imperial War Museum, and a knees up and prize giving at Spa Fields in Clerkenwell. The sheer indolence of being passengered finished Daisy off and she fell asleep in her sidecar with a few miles to go. Oh, and they managed to come runners up – as a family – in the “Best Dressed”category. Article to follow shortly.

Some stills from a film shoot for the new museum on Victorian wunderkind Isambard Kingdom Brunel which opens in Bristol early next year. We shot in Benjamin Franklin House which is just off the Strand where the American statesman lived for a number of years as a young printer in London in the middle of the 18th century. Here I created sets for the young Isambard and also for the young woman who was to become his wife. Earlier we shot in a water tank in Norfolk where I created an underwater set of the tunnel under the Thames Brunel helped construct and which was to nearly claim his live when it collapsed, letting in a sudden inrush of filthy Thames water.

Harold Chapman Production Designed a new sequence and pickups in the UK for the feature, “Salty” starring Antonio Banderas and Olga Kurylenko, a comedy about an ageing thrash metal rock star having a career end crisis… The film was shot in Chile last summer. Mr Banderas was alas not present for the UK shoot but David Mitchell was on hand as the rock star’s bungling agent. Directed by Simon West of “Con Air” and “Tomb Raider” fame.

Harold Chapman’s latest review covers the Royal Academy’s new exhibition: “Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932”. If ever there was an unequivocal testament to the dangers of power mixed with ideology and the profound importance of art in a nation’s life, here it is. To all the people of the world, take note, and carefully guard what liberties you have.

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Harold Chapman is back from Tampere where both “Invisible” and “Sweep” screened to full houses. Over four days he attended screenings, events and parties and consumed copious quantities of smoked salmon, pickled herring and beer. A very warm thanks to festival director Jukka-Pekka Laakso and his wonderful team and the lovely people of Tampere. Vivre the Finnish sauna and plunges in frozen lakes!