Painted by a Chris Adcock. And I happen to be William (Bill, for preference) Adcock. The Perrys are based out of Nottingham, which is a 42 minute drive from Leicester, where my great-grandfather was born.
It would not surprise me in the least if it turned out that this Chris Adcock and I are somewhat distant cousins. I joke that holding a university degree in History is the Adcock Curse (I have my degree in History, as does my father, as did his mother, who was one of seven women working towards a Masters Degree at Columbia University that year), but perhaps painting toy soldiers is as well. I paint them, my father built model kits and 1/32nd scale plastic figures until he was in his 40s, and apparently there are Adcocks back in the Motherland working with toy soldiers as well.
'Tis the family curse, young master... dark tales are told of a madness that takes every male in the Adcock line... rumours of spectral painters wandering the corridors of Adcock Hall; servants feeling the sound of a ghostly airbrush; the story of Lord Percy, 7th Earl Adcock, driven insane by trying to paint the eyes on a regiment of 6mm Zouaves... Pray God, young Sir, that you do not venture down that dark path, for it leads only to ruin and the need for a much bigger shed...
ReplyDeleteEvery time I read this it puts the biggest smile on my face. Thanks, Evan!
DeleteThere is allegedly a family castle somewhere - 50 years ago my father got to ride in a limo with it's owner when he crossed the pond to see Niagara Falls.