I was recently at London’s Design Museum to see the Alan Aldridge exhibition, The Man With Kaleidoscope Eyes. (Great show but the bastards wouldn’t let us take photos). There were 20ft reproductions of book covers I hadn’t seen since the age of 8 or 9. It turns out that Mr Aldridge was the art director at Penguin Books – hence a huge influence in my early days. I ran out that evening and picked up the book by the same name. What a life this man has had. He gives an account of an impromptu drawing battle with Salvador Dali. And then there is the story of old Alan dancing with Princess Margaret at Kensington Palace. All this and some insane illustration, graphic desgn and animation. The back cover contains a great quote from Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason: “Who needs drugs when Alan is available to translate music into visual imagery?”.  Word.