Saturday pics of the week

Pics 1, 2 and 3 are by John Patton, who blogs at www.phototilly.eu . All three of his portraits are of former pupils at St Columb’s College, Derry.

1. BRIAN FRIEL: “I knew  Brian for many years. When he taught in Brow o’ the Hill, he lived opposite  us in Marlborough St, Derry.  He was a shy , retiring person who let the words on the page do the talking. This picture was taken in his Moville home a few weeks before a season of his plays was staged at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2009. I asked if he would be meeting the Press there: ‘Oh God, no.’ “

Pic 2:  SEAMUS HEANEY: Seamus and I met  occasionally over the years as I have detailed here. In March 2010, he did a few readings at the Stanza Poetry Festival in St Andrews which is not too far from my home. We spent a couple of hours together and this portrait resulted. His wife, Marie, was particularly fond of some of my pictures from that occasion, believing that ‘I had just caught him right’.

Pic 3: PAUL BRADY: I have long admired Paul Brady as a performer and writer   from his early Johnston days but I had never met him.  He spent a few nights at a small theatre in the West End of Glasgow and I approached his management for the opportunity to take a picture. The only time allocated was a small gap between a sound check and his first night performance. As  he was experiencing  a guitar malfunction, I was given 5 minutes to grab this portrait from an intense Paul Brady. On receiving copies of the pics, he wrote me a very pleasant message of apology and sought permission to use one commercially at some future date.

Pic 4 is by our master of verbal pyrotechnics, Perkin Warbeck

Pic 4: THE OULD ORANGE SCOOT

“This Fallback Moment was taken a couple of months ago in Downtown Valletta, Malta, the wee-est wee capital city on Planet E. In a spirit of cross (very) community co-operation one respectfully offers it to the Orange Heads as a Plan B in the event of a LOL march past in August being given the thumbs down. Nelse (who else?): ‘Not to be vague, we’re a resourceful lot, Taig!’ “