Joe Tucker. The Secret Painter.

This is a beautiful book; funny, political, sad, uplifting and surprising.

It is the true story of the author’s uncle who left school at 14 and worked various manual jobs before retiring early due to arthritis. Outside work he was at once an enthusiastic boozer and a quiet but passionate lover of art. And, as it transpired after his death, a painter or remarkable ability who quietly and capably recorded the people who surrounded him from drinkers to pigeon fanciers, circus workers to musicians. His ambition was to have an exhibition, but that only happened posthumously.