Ben Birdsall (born 1967) is an English writer and artist. He is known mainly for his travelogue books “by Vespa”, published in Italy and the Netherlands.

Life

Birdsall was born in West Yorkshire, England, and raised in

Cross Hills Cross Hills is a village in the county of North Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Skipton and Keighley. The village is at the centre of a built-up area that includes the adjoining settlements of Glusburn, Kildwick, Eastburn, West Yo ...

. He was educated at Glusburn County Primary, South Craven Secondary,

Sedbergh School Sedbergh School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school, day school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, North West England. It comprise ...

and

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

, where his studies in English literature left him with the intention of becoming a writer. Following a succession of jobs to gain materials for his stories, from road sweeper to bingo caller, he moved to Italy to study painting in Tuscany. He remained in

Palaia Palaia is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pisa in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southwest of Florence and about southeast of Pisa. Palaia borders the following municipalities: Capannoli, Montaione, Montopoli in Val d' ...

twelve years, before moving to

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

, Switzerland in 2005.

Writer

Reviewing Birdsall's play ''Staggart Lane'' at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

in 1987, Mario Relich wrote in

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

that ''the playwright shows great potential''. Birdsall's first novel ''Blue Charm'' was published by

Blackstaff Press The Blackstaff Press is a publishing company in Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland. Founded in 1971, it publishes printed books on a range of subjects (mainly, but not exclusively, of Irish interest) and, since 2011, has also published e- ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, in 1995 and was shortlisted for the

Authors' Club First Novel Award The Authors' Club Best First Novel Award is awarded by the Authors' Club to the most promising first novel of the year, written by a British author and published in the UK during the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is presented. ...

. This was followed by a series of travelogue books published by Arteventbook, Pisa: ''Tuscany by Vespa'', 2005, ''La Mia Umbria in Vespa'', 2007, ''Vespa Valdarno Tour'', 2009. ''Whisky Burn - Distilleries of the Highlands and Islands by Vespa'', and ''Whiskey Burn - The Distilleries of Ireland by Vespa'', published by Wittenborg University Press, 2015 and 2018 respectively. All the journeys for the books were made on Birdsall's own 1979

Vespa Vespa () is an Italian brand of scooters and mopeds manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy, to a ...

50. His screenplay ''Galatea'' was filmed by the artist Jamie Boyd in 2005.

Painter

In Italy Birdsall lived and assisted in the studio of the Australian artist

Arthur Boyd Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd (24 July 1920 – 24 April 1999) was a leading Australian painter of the middle to late 20th century. Boyd's work ranges from impressionist renderings of Australian landscape to starkly expressionist figuration, ...

at Paretaio. Moving away from his earlier ‘Florentine’ mannerist style, in recent years he has painted on small wooden panels with the palette knife technique inspired by the nineteenth century Tuscan

Macchiaioli The Macchiaioli () were a group of Italian painters active in Tuscany in the second half of the nineteenth century. They strayed from antiquated conventions taught by the Italian art academies, and did much of their painting outdoors in order ...

group of 'plein air' artists who painted on old cigar box lids. His travelogue books are illustrated with his characteristic 15x30cm oils on panel that can easily fit onto the back of a Vespa. Birdsall has exhibited paintings in one man shows and group exhibitions in several countries since the early nineties. Birdsall's interest in art may have been inspired by his uncle

Timothy Birdsall Timothy Birdsall (10 May 1936 – 10 June 1963) was an English cartoonist. __TOC__ Life and work Birdsall was born in London. While an undergraduate at Christ's College, Cambridge, he illustrated ''Granta'' and formed part of the late 1950s t ...

, a notable cartoonist and illustrator who worked for The Sunday Times, The Spectator and appeared in the BBC satirical show "That Was the Week that Was". Ben Birdsall painting at Macallan

Works

*''Blue Charm'', Blackstaff Press, 1995 *''Tuscany by Vespa'' (Italian translation: ''La mia Toscana in Vespa''), Arteventbook, Pisa, 2001 *''La mia Umbria in Vespa, Arteventbook, Pisa, 2001 *''Vespa Valdarno Tour'', Arteventbook, Pisa, 2001 *''Whisky Burn – Distilleries of the Highlands and Islands by Vespa'',

Wittenborg University Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences (abbreviated as ''WUAS''; ) is a Dutch government accredited private Vocational University established 1987 in the centre of the Netherlands, offering bachelor's and master's degrees - vocational educatio ...

Press, Netherlands, 2015 *''Whiskey Burn – The Distilleries of Ireland by Vespa'',

Press, Netherlands, 2018

Personal life

Birdsall moved to

, Switzerland, in 2005. He is married and has one daughter.

References

External links

* Official website
www.whiskyburn.com
* Ben Birdsall's art gallery
www.art.birdsalls.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birdsall, Ben 1967 births Living people Alumni of Durham University English travel writers English expatriates in Italy English expatriates in Switzerland People educated at Sedbergh School People from Cross Hills People from Keighley Writers from West Yorkshire Writers from North Yorkshire