Great to see a piece on the treasured Edward Barton in the magazine (WORD 84). It reminded me of going to see one of his exhibitions in the late '80s at Affleck's Palace, a three-storey indoor market and student hangout in Manchester. Edward's show was up on the top floor. I seem to remember it was primarily an exhibition of all the various things he'd crafted from stockpiled wood over the previous years, mostly those incredibly ornate chairs that featured in James' video for Sit Down (which he also directed). I was the only person in there. The main event was a five-a-side goal that he'd installed in the far corner of the room. The idea was that visitors could take a series of five penalties in it, with Barton himself as the goalkeeper. I took up the challenge and managed to knock all five past him. Picking himself up off the floor, he gave me - as my "art reward" - a grey T-shirt printed with a doodle of him diving vainly for a ball destined for the top corner of the net. Underneath, it read: "I humiliated Edward." I wore it for ages, until I got sick of fielding the question: "Who the hell's Edward Barton? Never heard of him."

[Author: ROB HUGHES]