This artist reader has a relationship with the Guardian going back to the 50s – and his first port of call is always the reviews
I live on the edge of a field in Wiltshire, so I need the Guardian to keep me in touch with the world. I have to drive to get my morning fix. No one will deliver to the sticks anymore. My relationship with the paper goes back to the 1950s: my parents took the News Chronicle and, on its demise, switched to the Manchester Guardian. So I have grown up with it.
I had a brief period of disenchantment when the Guardian had that left-leaning period in the 80s, and I moved over to the Independent for a while, but I soon came back. The Independent didn't have enough money for the more in-depth pieces, and the Guardian came back to the centre-left.
Being a printmaker, ex-publisher and musician, my first port of call is always the reviews page. And due to antiquity, I fear the obituaries have become a regular calling point, as well. After that, I read the news front-to-back. My favourite non-news bit is the Saturday review section, but food articles attract me, being a keen cook. I'm a fan of Steve Bell, I like his anarchic approach and it appeals to the anti-royal in me. I'm a republican, so won't be celebrating the royal wedding. I think there is a street party in the village, but I won't be there.
I've always been keen on painting and art, but I slightly lost my way in my teens and ended up working in publishing. When I retired I went to art college and did an MA in printmaking. I now produce prints and books with my own printing press in the attic. My wife says it's like my picture of Dorian Gray. There is something pleasing about making just one book, after a lifetime of producing thousands.
Printing is very satisfying – it's like following a trail, and often you don't know where it will end. It's like following a track through the mind.