Psalms for the City: Original poetry inspired by the places we call home

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Best of all, I wrote a book – about finding peace in the places we call home – and I illustrated it too: 50 full-colour drawings, plus the cover – showing the view from my hospital window. Can you imagine how good that feels? I wanted to make art for a living. Forty years passed. And now I do. Starting with an excursion from North London to Westminster Abbey, Participants will be invited to ‘walk’ with John-Paul all over the UK’s capital, and draw meaningful images onto the city, revealing the hidden treasure of London, the magic of the most seemingly nondescript areas.

It’s for a slot called “A Moment That Changed Me”. Here (below) is the copy I filed. Naturally, the piece as it eventually appears – if it eventually appears!– may be quite different. But I thought you might like to see the words just as I sent them.

Blimey, what a reputation to live up to – “a master of improvisation”! That doesn’t allow me any room to fail does it? Again, I was baffled. I understood the individual words, but not the sentence as a whole. I asked for clarification in a group therapy session. I started planting daffodils after my nephew took his own life and now hundreds of others will be able to do the same’ Publishing lunch, from left: Me, Peanut (schnauzer), Elizabeth (editor), Emily (publicity) and Mike (marketing). Picture by my agent, Jaime Marshall

What a beautiful collection. Thoughtful profound, funny, moving. The religious theme is so perfectly handled. And I adored the art - the whole thing is so charming.’ - Anthony McGowan, author But a series of traumatic events, followed by a loss of work, then lost confidence in myself resulted in a breakdown at the end of 2017. I admitted myself to psychiatric hospital, with depression and anxiety. For a short time I was put on what nobody officially calls suicide watch. I was convinced there was nothing in life to look forward to. After facing two deaths in two months, and two loved ones having major health scares, Mr Flintoff said he “lost confidence” in himself to cope with his “savagely cruel, self critical thoughts”. Mr Flintoff, a former journalist, had never seen drawing as anything more than a hobby, but his psychiatrist recommended he keep drawing as a way to express his thoughts.Yeah, that’s how I felt this morning and then into the afternoon, and in fact as I cycled to the tube and then got on the tube, and I wrote some notes, and I went, aaaargh. Mr Flintoff drew around 250 pictures in hospital including the view from the window of his hospital room and pictures of his thoughts about what he had imagined doing to himself. After being discharged, despite not being a religious man, Mr Flintoff found solace in going on walks to churches, and his drawings took a biblical turn. On the subject of being a mere transmitter… I’m standing here saying stuff I owe to other people. The painter Billy Childish told me something once which provided a lovely sense of relief. He said it taken him years and years to stop caring what other people thought of his paintings – and it took him a few more years to stop caring what he himself thought of his paintings. Now, now in a moment I’m going to ask you to do something. I’m going to ask you to turn to that neighbour and say something awesomely original

Absolutely gorgeous...a beautiful, quirky, comforting little book.' - Annalisa Barbieri, columnist, The Guardian and The Observer Mr Flintoff has found particular comfort in the Annunciation, where Mary is told by the angel Gabriel that she's going to have the Son of God as a baby. “When I was not well, I found that a really beautiful thing because there are two parallel stories. Inspired by the psalms – some of the oldest and most soul-stirring poetry in the world – Flintoff’s fluid style and technical skills take us on a private tour of our most-loved urban landscapes and reveal the spiritual nourishment in some of its most famous sights. In countless churches and sacred spaces, he shows us locations to lament; he teaches us to discover joy in crowded marketplaces; and shares how he found hope searching the horizon atop Hampstead Heath.

The Original Talk, In Full

Adam and Eve being cast out of Charles Hill Park, one of Flintoff's drawings (Image: John-Paul Flintoff) The intimate, approachable book provides a collection of day-to-day songs, or psalms, that fit our busy contemporary lives. Always thoughtful, often celebratory, sometimes painful: these rueful verses - and their gorgeous, witty illustrations - build up something both serious and delightful.' - Fiona Sampson, author of Common Prayer and Come Down Anyway, so that’s how it can be. And one of the key insights of of improvisation is don’t be original. Just be obvious. Because your obvious is really original to someone else. I mean, those guys just now [playing flute with their nostrils] that was their obvious!