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Tuesday, 28th November 2006

UK: Go west for culture

Neil Sowerby

ARTS: Experience TV

THERE'S a new novel, by David Peace, which fictionalises the turbulent 44-day managerial reign of Brian Clough at Leeds United, back in the seventies.

You could almost class his Damned United as historical fiction. It paints a cityscape barely recognisable today. Even so, if you scratch beneath the smooth surface even now, true Tyke grit still surfaces. But don't let that put you off.

Like Manchester, a transformed Leeds is attracting an increasing number of weekenders. One magnet is its designer hotel - 42 The Calls. This beautiful conversion of an 18th century grain mill, all exposed brick, beamed ceilings, cast iron pillars and showcased original mill mechanisms, is set on the banks of the Aire in the characterful Leeds equivalent of Castlefield.

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What I particularly liked was the individuality of our room with its non-standard artwork and the incredibly comfortable handmade bed.

Alas, its Michelin-starred Pool Court restaurant has sadly called it a day, but a short walk away there is a huge variety of eateries, including the acclaimed Anthony's, as well as a cluster of designer shop-packed arcades.

But we were devoting our West Riding weekend to culture. Not for once the impressive City Art Gallery up on the Headrow. Our first destination was the National Museum of Photography Film and Television in the centre of Bradford. This has long been a personal favourite with its arthouse cinema and IMAX, plus a range of inter-active exhibits and a quirky shop. It attracts more than a million visitors each year.

Ambitious

Now it has launched Experience TV, a permanent gallery on the third floor. This incorporates the existing facility, TV Heaven - a collection of almost 1,000 classic British TV programmes that can be watched free of charge in special booth, but also has an ambitious mission to explain telly.

The new £3m gallery, using a variety of hands-on equipment, explores different themes in sections, entitled the Power Of TV (does society influence the small screen or vice versa?); the Race for TV (a historical look at the medium's founding fathers - John Logie Baird's original television apparatus features); the Business of TV (exploring how what we see is controlled); as well as going behind the scenes in telly production (it could be you reading the news). On our visit, we found the gallery packed and creating a real buzz among the youngsters. I treated myself to a Fanny Craddock cookery programme and an episode of Thunderbirds, which says something about me, I suppose.

After pictures that move, we then went on a quest for those that hang on your wall. David Hockney, long exiled in California but now, amazingly, resident in Bridlington, is Bradford's best-known son and in Saltaire, an outlying village in the Borough, there is a wonderful tribute to him.

It's all down to the late Jonathan Silver, who saw the tourist/cultural potential in the mill mogul and philanthropist Titus Salt's 19th century self-contained model workers' settlement.

Silver first met Hockney at his dad's Bradford Wimpy Bar, when he asked him to design a school magazine cover for their shared alma mater, Bradford Grammar School.

On leaving school, Jonathan started several businesses in Manchester - men's clothing, furniture and art prints. By 1980 he was making millions from his clothing emporia. In 1987 he bought the semi-derelict Salts Mill and invited Hockney to permanently exhibit his works there.

Since Silver's untimely death from cancer, Salts Mill, alongside the Leeds/Liverpool canal, has continued to thrive. With an excellent café and bookshop, it makes a fine day out. Saltaire itself has good pubs and shops.

Back in Leeds, we dropped in on the award-winning West Yorkshire Playhouse, which has just celebrated its 15th birthday. It made its name with groundbreaking productions under the 12-year tenure of Jude Kelly but the citadel-like complex, with its two main theatres, is now run by artistic director Ian Brown.

We only had time for a pint of cask ale in the accessible bar but picked up a programme for autumn and vowed to return to see at least one production out of To Kill A Mockingbird, Cymbeline, The Duchess of Malfi, Wizard of Oz and Thatcher The Musical.

And, of course, we would be staying at 42 The Calls.

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