Poor Man About Town

I was in Sidcup the other day, as I turned off the A20 there was this massive BBC poster advdertising its season on Africa. Now, I think that African culture has much going for it - it has a unique vibrancy that has permeated Western culture for centuries through its music and arts. Having said that, Africa is more diverse in its cultures than Europe. I hope that this BBC season will help break a few myths, there's a superb exhibition at the British Museum full of atefacts and explanations. The BBC, however, is taking a huge risk in spending the licence fee payers' money in Sidcup on advertising such an ambitious project in Sidcup.

Sidcup does, however, have a claim to cultural fame - Harold Pinter's Caretaker - the tramp was desperate to get down there to get a free pair of shoes. Apart from this, I do not know whether Sidcup figures anymore on Britain's cultural map.