26 Faces

We've just completed another almost mind-numbing day of studio work. Nell and I are sitting in a Chinese restaurant in something of a coma. I've eaten too many jelly babies, too many bourbon biscuits and drunk too many cups of tea and now I'm crashing! 

We recorded and filmed another 25- or so people today, this time at the BBC in Newcastle. It was fairly insane. They came in, one after another, did their bit, and then went again like a giant merry-go-round. 

I was in tears within ten minutes, utterly moved by a man who is finding it difficult to cope without his wife, who died this year, shortly after celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. A similar thing had happened to a lovely lady called Daphne, whose husband had died just months after celebrating their diamond wedding. 60 years spent together, snuggling up every night, chatting over the breakfast table every morning, and then nothing. Life would genuinely not be worth living. I don't know how they can bring themselves to get out of bed.  

 

...And yet the lust for life these people continue to demonstrate is humbling in the extreme, and heart-warming to the extent that I find myself worrying a great deal less about getting old.

The black and white images are working really well. People just look better in monochrome. It smooths out the blotches and turns wrinkles into beautiful lines of wisdom. We finished the day with Lauren, who actually also performed in the Metro film I made up here. She came with her hair in a wonderful 1950s-style chignon, which, in black and white, made her look like a Hollywood icon on the front of Vogue Magazine.

This genuinely could be a fabulous project.