Richard Cork / Audio interview / Monday 26th March

When somebody told me one day, ‘Oh, you should go to Kettle’s Yard’ and I said, ‘Well, what’s that?’ and they said ‘Oh, it’s run by this marvellous character called Jim Ede who is just incredibly welcoming to students and has the most marvellous collection of modern art’, so I lost very little time in going round there. To discover something like Kettle’s Yard on my doorstep was magical actually. I’ll never forget going around there the first time and ringing this ancient doorbell and then this, kind of, slender figure appeared. He opened the door himself and just the most warm welcome, just wonderful. It wasn’t like the University at all. He wasn’t like some sort of terribly serious-minded academic. He was much more free and easy than that. Much more like a friend immediately. Incredibly open and hospitable and very enthusiastic as well.