Posted March 2022
I arrived at University College School in 1985, and was placed In David Lund’s English class, which took place in his ground floor corner classroom. That space, as many students will recall, was plastered floor to ceiling, with posters of the concerts he had been organising in the school theatre for some years. Over time, Dave had made the UCS Theatre one of North London’s finest jazz venues. All tributes to him, at his passing in 2010, mention his pioneering work as a jazzman. But none mention another cultural realm that he opened up for me, and I can only assume others, while we were students at UCS. Dave somehow manged to strike a deal with the management of the Everyman, a ten-minute walk from the school – and the UCS Film Cub was born. For 50p a year a membership could be purchased, at which point triple bills (all prints of course – digital didn’t exist) at the cinema cost a whopping 90p. I must have carried with me to school every day the bi-monthly calendar format brochure issued by the Everyman, which listed which monuments of European, American and Asian cinema were to be screened, because I recall, on a whim, several times, deciding to bunk off games and go see a couple of films by filmmakers whose names I was becoming familiar with: Tarkovsky, Cassavetes, Godard. (I wish I had kept a set of those brochures. Today it would be wondrous to note precisely what I saw at the Everyman and when). And so the Everyman, alongside a close watch of what films were being broadcast on BBC2 and the new Channel Four served as a films school for me. Today that education pays my rent. So, thanks Dave. And thank you Everyman.