A Fish Tale

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The first sign that this wasn’t an ordinary house call was the sixties Mini Moke parked outside the little finca near the beach in Pollença, Mallorca. The second was the garlands of champagne corks, threaded into makeshift curtains over the doors and windows.

'Come in, dear boy!' was the opening greeting of many that I received from this elegant gentleman dressed in his finest silk dressing gown at midday.

There he stood, in his late seventies, a man whose past shimmered with connections to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. An aristocratic celebrity, once a fixture in the society pages of William Hickey’s Daily Express column, his presence still carried the air of a bygone era of glamour and excess.

The walls were a shrine to his past, adorned with photographs of music icons from my teenage years, alongside paintings by his adored stepfather, the late artist Josselin Bodley. But what truly dominated the room were three enormous taxidermy fish, proudly displayed - a trio he always referred to as 'Bob’s fish'.

^{A taxidermy barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda), (£400-600)}

We quickly became firm friends. Over morning coffee, he would regale me with tales of the great and the good from his extraordinary life in London and New York during the sixties.

One day, curiosity got the better of me. 'Why do you call them Bob’s fish?' I finally asked.

He leaned back and said, 'Because Bob Marley was on the boat with me in Montego Bay in the early seventies when I was staying with Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records. Best day’s fishing I’ve ever had! A rare collection even in those days.'

^{A taxidermy wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri), (£500-700)}

The fish - a tuna, a barracuda and a record-breaking wahoo - remained in his home for years. It took countless visits and ever-increasing offers before he finally agreed to part with them. They’ve been hanging in my own kitchen ever since.

Paul Atkinson

Tuesday 13 & Wednesday 14 May | 10am

privatecollections@sworder.co.uk | 01279 817778

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