Saturday, 23 February 2019

The Saturday List #208 - My Top Ten London Underground Advertising posters

When I was at FCHS, we had an art teacher called Mr Nut. His parents had loingly called him Peter, so we all called hum Peanut. I thought I was the worlds greatest artist at the time, but sadly had no talent at all. In an art lesson, he asked us to say what our favourite painting was. For me that was easy. Back in those days, the trains from Mill Hill to St Pancras were occasionally what I called real trains. They had an engine on the front and proper carriages. The carriages had compartments where six people could sit. I felt this was the proper way to travel from Mill Hill to St Pancras. The carriages had paintings and there was one I loved that showed a stag in the Scottish Hills. To me this was the finest piece of artwork in history. My hand shot up and I explained. Peanut told me I was a pleb, adding "look up plebian in the dictionary as you clearly won't have a clue what it means".

When I did this I was perplexed

plebeian

adjective
uk /pləˈbiː.ən/ us /pləˈbiː.ən/ formal disapproving


He used to make fun of what he called her "plebeian origins".
He retained a plebeian taste in food and drink.
I couldn't understand why someone of low social class would appreciate such a magnificent artwork. I have however maintained plebeian tastes in artwork. Over the years, I've realised that I much prefer good advertising posters to proper works of art such as the Mona Lisa. My fave of all are the London Underground Advertising Posters. Here are my ten faves. No explanation, they speak for themselves. Plebs of the world unite!

1


2


3


4


5


6

7

8

9

10

Hope you enjoy them.


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