When the Tour de France came to Brighton

The Tour de France came to London at the weekend with much fanfare. This was not however the first time the famous French cycle race has crossed the Channel. This week's pictures remember the Tour de France in Brighton in July 1994, when it came to celebrate the opening of the Channel Tunnel. The Tour is a great sporting spectacle, even if for roadside viewers the mass of cyclists - the "peloton" - comes and goes in barely a few minutes. They are accompanied by a cavalcade of motorbike cameramen and support vehicles, plus a whole lot of cars and vans bedecked with advertising from the race's sponsors. There's probably a mobile chemist as well, to supply the riders with their performance-enhancing drugs. But that, unfortunately, is another story.

Last week's pictures were about Tony Blair

The picture set last week remembered Tony Blair, our Prime Minister from May 1997 to June 2007. He seems to have dominated domestic politics throughout the past decade, but perhaps he will be forgotten sooner than we might now imagine. His legacy, for which he still doubtless entertains much pious hope and expectation, has been irredeemably soured by Iraq. The levers of power are now manipulated by his arch rival Gordon Brown, who has already removed many Blairites from the Cabinet. Blairism was in truth just a subset and update of Thatcherism and Margaret Thatcher cast a more memorable (and darker) shadow over British history than Blair ever did. But now, thank goodness, they are both gone.

Other recent pictures of the week

The pictures a fortnight ago looked at smokers and smoking, the obvious reason being the ban from July 1st on lighting up in public places in England. Smoking is a risky activity which has undeniable risks to health. But then so also are there dangers associated with drinking, eating and sex, not to mention most sports, leisure pursuits and work occupations. In  fact the greatest health risk of all, in this country and around the world, is poverty. But then we can't expect the government to outlaw that. People, rich and poor, choose to smoke even though they are well aware of the risks of smoking. Nobody chooses poverty. Choice is the mantra today of both government and business. Except, it seems, when it applies to willing devotees of the noxious weed.

Celebrity graffiti was the subject of the picture set three weeks ago. Forbes Magazine in the USA has recently published a list of the world's biggest celebrities and, sorry to confess, I had not heard of at least a third of them. It's a modern curse, this cult of celebrity. We no longer seem able to discriminate between the famous and the infamous, the worthy and the worthless. When Jade Goody and Michael Barrymore are celebrities, what does that make the Pope ? Tony Blair is criticised for hobnobbing with celebrities, but surely he is one of the gang himself. Really significant people have often become known just by their singular name, e.g. Marx, Lenin, Freud and Hitler. So what do we have today ? Jordan. And now Salman Rushdie has got a knighthood in that oldest of celebrity sweepstakes, the Queen's Birthday Honours List. Oh dear.

Four weeks ago, the picture feature looked at fire engines. Everybody loves fire engines and small children are absolutely nuts about them. They're big and red, they make a lot of noise and, best of all, their mission is one of unalloyed goodness. Ambulances are the same, of course, but they always seem harbingers of illness and death. Police cars could be on a mission of goodness, but there's also the unavoidable feeling they're after you. Fire engines have a rich and colourful history and the first picture in this set is a good example, showing the sign on an old fire engine that was based at Brighton Mental Hospital. Large institutions and factories often used to have their own fire appliances, operated by part-time firemen. Many of these old engines have survived, maintained by enthusiasts and displayed at events like the excellent Commercial Vehicles Rally that comes to Brighton seafront every May.

About this site and picture library

There are now almost 50000 images in the library and they can all be keyword searched from the picture search page. New or updated subjects include the Tour de France, Tony Blair, smoking, graffiti, fire engines, cafe advertising and Pimlico. The site has several ways to help make relevant and fruitful searches, including index pages for both subjects and events & places.  There is also a useful search guide and information page.

A good showcase of the type and range of photography available can be explored in the pictures of the week series. Published on the site since December 2001, this now totals more than 2600 images. Every week there is a set of ten pictures about a particular place, event or theme. Almost all the library's pictures are available for personal or commercial reproduction. Digital files can be delivered by email or CD, prices start from as little as £8 and there is further information on the prices and terms & conditions pages. You can also contact David Gray for quotations and availability for new photography commissions.