Nigel Swallow

The not-for-profit enterprise, which closed in January, produced the annual Brighton and Hove Calendar and Nigel is now putting together a book featuring some of the best images from both this and the gallery’s many exhibitions. For the latest updates on the book and former gallery photographers, visit www.brightonphotography.com.

Which photographer, film star, pop star, rock star, artist or writer do you admire?

People I admire include Tony Benn for his constant refusal to stray from his measured principles and Jeremy Paxman as an essential antidote to b*******. In music, I love Annie Lennox for the purity of her voice, Bjork for being Bjork, David Byrne, Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave.

Which TV programme couldn’t you live without?

I probably wouldn’t have a telly if I wasn’t in a shared house – too addicted as a kid – so there’s nothing I couldn’t live without.

But I sometimes come across nature and science documentaries I wow at.

Brian Cox’s Wonders Of The Universe on BBC Two is brilliant for its simple explanations of theories about the death of stars, origins of life, etc. It’s a bit romanticised but I’m straight in there!

For general chilling-out TV, I enjoy QI and Have I Got News For You and I’ll happily watch Desperate Housewives DVDs with my girlfriend Ruth, but don’t tell a soul or the budgerigar gets it.

Do you remember the first record you bought – what was it and where did you buy it?

I was mad for the TV series Kung Fu starring David Carradine when I was about five. Then Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas came out and my mum and I went to Woolworths to get it. I was very excited and was the best damn Kung Fu kid in town. Honest – my mum told me so.

Tell us about any guilty pleasures lurking in your CD or film collections ...

My daughter Martha is six, so – fantastically – guilty pleasures get plenty of airing. Anything from Gershon Kingsley’s Popcorn, Eastern European gypsy mayhem, to a full-on attack of Queen’s Greatest Hits, The Clapping Song by Shirley Ellis or Elvis with plenty of pelvis. The list is endless but enjoyed to its naffin’ best!

Favourite film ...

I love film, and there is a long list of favourites, but Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas I’d always go to see on the rare occasion it gets back on to the big screen. The landscapes are totally immersive and the combination of Ry Cooder’s soundtrack with amazing photography and a story to lose yourself in is spellbinding.

Favourite comic/comedy?

I love Tommy Cooper for giving me the memory of my dad laughing uncontrollably whenever he used to come on the telly.

Is there a song or individual piece of music you always come back to?

Blimey – only one? Guiltily, I’d say Simon and Garfunkel’s The 59th Street Bridge Song, just to lighten the mood. Justifiably, Solid Air by John Martyn which is sad and beautiful for sad and beautiful times.

But if there has to be one, then right now it’s Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur by Sigur Rós played as loud as is possible without bursting eardrums, while driving a borrowed car to somewhere new with Martha. I haven’t a clue what they are singing about …

Tell us about a live music, theatre, cinema experience or exhibition that sticks in your memory ...

I used to live in Kerry, Ireland and we had a string of Christmas parties. At one of them, a crowd of top-rate musicians turned up and played in our kitchen accompanied by some drunken but brilliant Irish set dancing.

Across the corridor, locals were getting into blaring late 80s/early 90s rave music they’d never heard before. Half the village was there and all ages came together; there have been plenty of amazing bigger gigs and festivals since, but the memory of that night is really special.