Manx Rover's Ramblings

Magnus records the unique artistry of Willie Leece, the modest creator of a unique style of rural assemblage sculpture. 

The ‘Hedge’ art works of this quietly thoughtful Manx farmer are selected to be hung alongside a blockbuster travelling Tate Gallery exhibition for a giant of the twentieth century’s artistic fraternity, Herr Kurt Schwitters. 

An unforeseen consequence of the Dadaist’s exhibition propels Magnus towards entering his artistic endeavours for London’s Royal Academy of Art summer exhibition. . ‘Commander Benedict Forksbeard – The Startled Speed Reader’ and ‘Longnose Peggchin – The Sentimental Viking Poet’ are hung, but not as expected.

Magnus’s photographs preserve the singular contribution made to the world art scene by a modest Manx farmer’s unique creative flair.

The incomparable and unrecognised ‘Hedge’ sculptures of Willie Leece are jointly exhibited with a giant of the twentieth century’s avant-garde art fraternity; a onetime ‘Most Loyal Enemy Alien’ of King George VI, Herr Kurt Schwitters.

It wasn’t all misery! The shore-side base was Singapore, and in the early 1970’s it remained a mysterious and exotic place to explore.

The ancient DC3 bounded and skipped along the rough grass airstrip rapidly gathering speed. With an almighty explosion, the starboard propeller stopped dead, the plane slewed violently sideways, and all was white-faced stillness and silence. And there they were, with a broken aeroplane, somewhere in the South China Sea, trapped on a narrow strip of land on the coastal flank of a monstrous volcano.

Magnus lived under no delusions about his own importance. If he was injured or killed on the rig, he’d be flown ashore, immediately replaced, and just as quickly forgotten

On shore leave, Magnus, at one of Darwin’s notorious ‘Late Nights’ dance parties met the mascara-eyed, choker-wearing, adventurous blond, Sophia Elizabeth. Over the coming months, they became wonderfully close, spending most of their time together when he was ashore.

Just three weeks after leaving England, Magnus was bouncing across the Algerian Desert in the back of a long-wheel-based Land Rover. The vehicle was jam-packed with robed and turban clad Arabs and desert dwelling Berbers.

Before heading Down Under, our hero enjoyed a stint aboard off-shore rigs drilling the Adriatic Sea bed for oil. Perhaps Magnus was bad luck as no oil was found.

Magnus started work with Hawker Siddeley in the autumn of 1964. Providence, destiny, or mere chance guided Magnus to the greener pastures of aviation and away from a seafarer’s life toiling in the oppressive and claustrophobic hell-hole of ships engine rooms.

After a stint in the dole queue, Magnus’s receives a new job offer. His potential employer was one of the biggest whaling companies in the world, with a blubber rendering slaughterhouse on the isolated island of South Georgia. This icy and windswept hell was located in the South Atlantic Ocean approximated due east of Cape Horn and a mere 12 degrees of latitude north of the Antarctic Circle.

For Magnus, working in a ship’s engine room was akin to going on a country drive whilst cooped up under the bonnet of the car with only an unbearably noisy engine for company.

It wasn’t only appearances that needed to be spruced-up to meet the required standard of the officers’ dining saloon; a sailor’s immune system also needed a booster. Magnus was pleased to benefit from the years of research into tetanus, cholera, yellow fever, typhoid and smallpox.

In January 1963, Magnus joined the steam turbine powered, semi-refrigeration ship, City of Winchester, outbound for Australia.

Magnus subconsciously writes and star in his own erratic play. Act one exposes the dangers of self-reliance at the tender age of sixteen.

Initially our ‘star’ opted for hedonism over applied scholarship, but fate intervenes to nudge him towards resurrection.

Magnus subconsciously writes and star in his own erratic play. Act one exposes the dangers of self-reliance at the tender age of sixteen.

Initially our 'star' opted for hedonism over applied scholarship, but fate intervenes to nudge him towards resurrection.