They've urged people not to barbeque in parks or open spaces, not to leave broken bottles or glass on the ground, and asked people to dispose of cigarettes safely.

John Ruskin made the case for art as a language. Crafted visual images are more than frozen icons: they articulate an inner voice. Lines, space and perspective are its grammar, colour its syntax. From his perspective, it’s what you depict that counts: “It is not by the mode of representing and saying, but by what is represented and said, that the respective greatness of either the painter or the writer is to be finally determined.” Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said: "We received a call at 1.35pm today (19 July 2022) to reports of a fire in the open. Forget the tired rogues’ gallery of lords and ladies, forget the tall ships and haywains. These images cut to the heart of England’s psychic landscapes to portray an Albion unhinged, where magic and rebellion and destruction are the horses to which the country is hitched. On these fabled shores we are all castaways, whether our family has lived here for four thousand years or for four. The London Fire Brigade declared a major incident and urged people not to have barbecues or bonfires due to the "unprecedented" challenges facing crews. Mr Smith, the assistant commissioner at LFB, told the PA news agency: "We've had a range of incidents today, obviously a number of which have been the result of the tinderbox dry woodland and grassland both in central London and in the suburbs.But not everything is about ‘greatness’. While art may tell a story, Ruskin is telling his story about art, and as with any story, the narrative unfolds according to who gets to do the telling. England On Fire: A Visual Journey Through Albion’s Psychic Landscape tells a different tale, or rather the same one through different voices. Charles Spencer, who lives on the Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire, tweeted a picture of one of his fields on fire. Fire brigades in London, Leicestershire, Norfolk and South Yorkshire were among those to declare major incidents as flames destroyed buildings and devoured tinder-dry fields in Wennington, east London, and grasslands elsewhere in the capital and in Groby, Leicestershire

We are advising the public to avoid the area and if affected by the smoke to close their doors and windows."SE: Yes. I do spend a slightly unhinged amount of time on the juxtaposition of things. Ages. Fortunately the designer Josse was fantastic. He got it instantly. There is a story element to England on Fire. It’s important the images go together. Basically all the rules of witchcraft were invented in there about a hundred years ago. It’s a bit like The Royal Family. Everyone thinks these are ancient rituals, but The Royal Family reinvented themselves after the First World War. And with modern witchcraft that came out of a basement at around the same time. One regional service said the number of open fires could have tripled this week, while the Met Office warned that most of England was at exceptional risk. Two people were also taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation following a fire in Dagenham, with the full number of casualties unknown. One of my favourite modern artists who embodies this and does it in a really clever way is George Shaw. There’s a couple of things by him in the book. Most of his paintings are based around the estate he grew up in Coventry. So a 40s/50s council housing estate. He paints using Humbrol model paint because when he was a child he was embarrassed about wanting to be an artist. So, what was acceptable was for him to go and buy Humbrol paint, as it was to do Airfix models.

One of the great things about art, as with many things in life, is the discovery of the new. Finding a picture or photograph that may have been thought lost to the ravages of time that stirs something inside, whether it a strange sense of dread or an uplifting rush of joy.SE: Because I’ve done this for so long, well ten years. Previously I was a musician for a while and managed to blag a career in that for a few years before it all ended disastrously. Then I got a job working in a bookshop, near where I lived. Via that I was in publishing, for distributors specialising in art and illustrated books. Thats where I got to know the world of art. SE: I am really interested in the pictures of supernatural events in general. I’m fascinated with stone circles, there’s a lot of that in the book. Things around folklore. I’d love to do a book based on the collection of The Museum of Rural Life. It’s a place near the University of Reading that has the most bizarre stuff. I think it explains quite a lot about the psychology of English people, English rather than British. Journey to Avebury 1973 Derek Jarman (1942–94) S8mm film