Tangier

Amongst the numerous hand-written manuscripts that the poet and artist Michael Glendening left after his death in 1995 was the note: "The following story reports a visit to Tangier; it is, substantially, true."



So begins his account of his 1984 ill-fated trip to Morocco. he was 26 and had already hitch-hiked his way across Europe with no money in his pocket and little more than good faith in human nature to keep him going. He had spent one night in a Gibraltan Police cell for his pavement chalk 'street art'; and the next night on an Amabassador's luxury yacht (as the Ambassador's daughter had taken a sympathetic shine to him). Gibraltar was where Michael made his first ever sale of one of his paintings, but to Michael's restless heart, Morocco was calling..



"I came because at the back of my mind I have a half-baked idea: I want to hitch-hike across the Sahara. I have crossed Western Europe by hitching, jumping trains and walking. The Sahara has given me something to aim at, but now I'm here, on its Mediterranean fringe, the prospect proves too daunting. Before committing myself I am making a test. If I can survive roughing it in Tangier the weekend I'll risk it. If not, not. I decide, collecting my courage, to stick to the plan."



Tangier is being published for the first ever time to celebrate the life, art and poetry of Michael Glendening on the 25th anniversary of his untimely death.



Michael was born with a hole in his heart in Kasama, then in Northern Rhodesia, in 1958, the son of a District Officer. After a life in boarding schools he rejected his Masters degree (2.1 Hons in Biological Sciences) becoming an artist and poet. He moved to Paris and then Glasgow to pursue his artistic passions. His poetry was regularly published and he established his studio in Lewes, East Sussex. Just as he was finding success with a number of solo-exhibitions he succumbed to his childhood heart condition, aged only 37.