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David Bailey

17 of 19 portraits of David Bailey

© John Swannell / Camera Press

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David Bailey

by John Swannell
bromide print on card mount, 1981
11 7/8 in. x 9 in. (303 mm x 230 mm)
Given by John Swannell, 1983
Photographs Collection
NPG x35962

Sitterback to top

  • David Bailey (1938-), Photographer and film-maker. Sitter in 19 portraits, Artist of 35 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • John Swannell (1946-), Photographer. Artist of 128 portraits, Sitter in 2 portraits.

Subject/Themeback to top

Events of 1981back to top

Current affairs

Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral. A crowd of 600,000 spectators filled the streets to catch a glimpse of the Royal couple, and 750 million viewers watched the event on television. The iconic moment came when Charles and Diana appeased the crowds by breaking royal protocol and kissing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

Art and science

Andrew Lloyd-Webber's musical Cats, based on T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, opens in the West End. The show ran for 21 years.
Brideshead Revisited, the 1945 novel by Evelyn Waugh, is adapted for television by John Mortimer. The lavish production featured an all-star cast of Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Laurence Olivier, Claire Bloom and John Gielgud, setting the bar high for future TV costume dramas.

International

Pope John Paul II is shot by a Turkish gunman in St Peter's Square in Rome. John Paul was rushed to hospital where he recovered, and Mehmet Ali Agca was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment.
HIV AIDS is identified in five men in Los Angeles.

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