Boris Johnson

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, popular historian and journalist who has served as Mayor of London since 2008 and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Uxbridge and South Ruislip since 2015. Johnson previously served as the MP for Henley from 2001 until 2008. A member of the Conservative Party, Johnson considers himself a One Nation Conservative and has been described as a libertarian due to his association with both economically liberal and socially liberal policies.

Born in New York City to upper middle class English parents, Johnson was educated at the European School of Brussels, Ashdown House School, and Eton College. He read Classics at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a member of the Bullingdon Club and was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1986. Beginning his career in journalism at The Times, he later became The Daily Telegraph's Brussels correspondent, with his articles exerting a strong influence on growing Eurosceptic sentiment among the British right-wing. He became assistant editor from 1994 to 1999 before taking the editorship of The Spectator from 1999 to 2005. Joining the Conservatives, he was elected to the House of Commons as MP for Henley in 2001. Making regular television appearances as well as continuing with his journalism and book writing, Johnson became one of the most conspicuous politicians in the country. Under the Conservative leaders Michael Howard and David Cameron, Johnson served on the opposition front bench, first as Shadow Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries and then for Higher Education.

Drawing Blood

Drawing Blood is a 1993 novel, the second from author Poppy Z. Brite. Something of a haunted house tale, the novel was originally titled Birdland but the publisher retitled it to make a thin connection to Brite's first novel, Lost Souls, a vampire tale.

Synopsis

The novel concerns Trevor McGee, a comic book artist and sole survivor of a family murder-suicide, and Zachary Bosch, a bisexual hacker, and their arrival at McGee's old family home in Missing Mile, North Carolina, a fictional town featured in Brite's previous novel, Lost Souls.

The characters Trevor and Zachary reappear in Brite's short story "Vine of the Soul", published in 1998 in Disco 2000, edited by Sarah Champion.

Collectibles

When a man set himself on fire in the Los Angeles, California location of a commercial mailbox company, copies of this novel were saturated with the smell of burnt flesh. They were sold by book dealer Barry R. Levin as collectibles.

References

Gerald Scarfe

Gerald Anthony Scarfe, CBE, RDI (born 1 June 1936) is an English cartoonist and illustrator. He has worked as editorial cartoonist for The Sunday Times and illustrator for The New Yorker.

His other work includes graphics for rock group Pink Floyd, particularly on their 1979 album The Wall, its 1982 film adaption, and tour (1980-81), as well as the music video for "Welcome to the Machine". Scarfe was the production designer on the Disney animated feature Hercules (1997).

Family

He is married to actress Jane Asher, whom he met in 1971. The couple wed in 1981.

Early life

Scarfe was born in St John's Wood, London, and was severely asthmatic as a child. He spent many of his early years bed-ridden, and drawing became a means of entertainment as well as a creative outlet. It has been speculated that the grotesque and diseased images that often characterise his work are a result of these experiences. He has himself stated that the irreverence apparent in much of his work can be traced back to "dodgy treatments" and a reliance on what he feels were incompetent doctors.