Dive Into A Funny Local Story About David Hockney

Posted On 16/06/2026

By Nikki Wordsmith
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WhatsApp: 07905 456704

Great Britain’s** favourite artist — David Hockney died last Thursday aged 88.

His sad demise, has caused an outpouring of love and memories from the people of his hometown Bradford to King Charles.

My turn to pour is a about story I wrote about him for The Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph in the October of 1999.

It took me a while to dig it out for you but I am so glad I did.

If only for the broader coverage and reading David Hockney’s quotes again about his ideas on the fax machine and art.

Peak Yorkshire for sure.

RIP Rest In Paint David Hockey. You brightened up my life no end.

Hence the blog.

£11,000 FAXES!

By Nikki Smith

A KITCHEN blind adorned with faxed pictures by one of the country's leading artists sold for £11,000 yesterday when it went under the hammer.
But the sale at Brigg’s DDM auction house was slammed by artist David Hockney, who had faxed the five pictures from America to his sister.
And to hammer home his point, the world famous artist faxed another batch of pictures to the auction house.
But David found the joke was on him because the new faxes only served to boost interest in the sale.
But thanks to a neighbor, she discovered they were worth far more than to block out the sun.
Experts had predicted the blind could fetch anything up to £20,000 but Peter Nelson, of Keswick, Cumbria, bought the 6ft wide roller blind for £11,000.
Mr Nelson, who owns Keswick’s Stars Motor Museum, bought… [column cuts off]

Key Details Transcribed from the Captions:

• Left Image Caption: Amanda Gresham with son James (10).
• Right Image Caption: GOING, GONE: Edward Beeton takes the phone bids for £11,000 while stood in front of the Hockney strip blind yesterday.
• Middle Image Caption: Robert Horner of DDM with another 18-part picture received from David Hockney.

And that is how my front page splash story began for The Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph on 4th October 1999.

I say “my”.

If memory serves me correctly, I think this was a rote press release story punted out down the wires to all media outlets, (much like someone using AI today.)

So you get other papers like The Guardian and the Bradford Telegraph and Argus covering the story at the same time.

Some of the best human quotes belong to David Hockey himself of course, who spoke to The Guardian.

They reveal how shrewd he is and reveal some of the funniest peak Yorkshire moments about Britain’s greatest artist.

I’ve dug them out too for you to enjoy. So enjoy!

The story centers on Amanda Gresham (a 45-year-old single mother and chiropodist), who had purchased a house in Bridlington from David Hockney’s 64-year-old sister, Margaret Hockney.

• The Discovery: Amanda was literally up a ladder about to throw a dusty old kitchen window blind into the rubbish bin when Margaret happened to pop by the house to collect her leftover mail. Margaret casually mentioned that the five small, faded drawings glued onto the fabric were actually artwork by her famous brother. Amanda admitted to you that she had never even heard of David Hockney at the time. The Guardian
• The “Photocopy” Twist: Margaret Hockney had actually taken the original thermal-paper faxes David sent her in 1989 down to a local copy shop in Bridlington. Because the thin fax paper would show glue marks and eventually fade, she photocopied them, reduced their size, and stuck the photocopies to the blind. The Telegraph and Argus
• The Local Auction: Amanda took the blind to the DDM Auction Rooms in Brigg, Lincolnshire, where the bidding rapidly escalated. The Guardian
• The “Blind Rage”: David Hockney found out about the auction while traveling in Australia (preparing to unveil his A Bigger Grand Canyon piece in Canberra). Furious that an “act of generosity” was being commercialized, he actually faxed the auction house trying to stop it, stating, “The point of the faxes is that they were given away. They cannot be sold—how would I be paid?” He even playfully refaxed the exact same images to the auctioneers to prove they were worthless copies. The Guardian
• The Sale: Despite Hockney declaring them “worthless,” the blind fetched £11,000. It was bought by Peter Nelson, a dental surgeon from Keswick who ran the Cars of the Stars museum. Nelson gleefully told the press that Hockney’s absolute fury and attempts to stop the sale only made the piece more historically significant and valuable. The Telegraph and Argus
• The Perfect Final Quotes: Amanda Gresham hitting back at Hockney’s complaints, calling it “sour grapes” and telling you, “Something is only worth as much as someone else is prepared to pay.” Meanwhile, Margaret Hockney admitted she was completely incredulous, stating she wouldn’t have expected anyone to pay 10p for it. The Telegraph and Argus

Thanks David Hockney for all the wonderful inspiration, laughs and best reasons for getting together with the people. Glad we shared planet Earth at the same time and the same place 

*Photo was projected onto the wall at The Factory, Manchester from his last immersive exhibition: 
Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) (Aviva Studios, Manchester) – His wildly popular immersive, digital retrospective. The original image probably comes from the 1973 documentary A Bigger Splash by Jack Hazan.

** And mine.

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