The Sun, London, 8 September 2014

It had been a hectic day of tying up loose ends at work. Next morning I would fly off on a week’s holiday to Menorca, for which I’d not even started packing. This evening’s life modelling would be a haven of tranquillity at the heart of my personal whirlpool.

I arrived at The Sun early, 20 minutes ahead of the scheduled 7pm start. Organiser Aless was midway through her preparations, with just artists’ materials still to be set out. I spread my white sheet at the centre of the pose space, changed into my gown and, with 5 minutes left for artists to arrive, we set to chatting.

With a minute to go we still had only four artists. I speculated this might be because England was playing football away to Switzerland in a European tournament qualifier that evening. Maybe, maybe not. We shrugged and Aless suggested I make a start.

The pose sequence for the first half was to be our usual 5 minutes, 4, 3, 2, 1 minute, then 10 minutes, 15, 20 minutes up to the break. Before even the first 5 minutes was complete, artist numbers surged to about 15-18. This was more like it! I was pleased to be giving Roy Hodgson’s boys a run for their money.

So I stood, sat, stood, curled, stood, sat, stood, sat, all the time alternating direction and pose for the artists that surrounded me on all sides. At half-time Aless called a 5 minute break. With artists stampeding downstairs to the main bar, this became more like 15 minutes, but it suited me fine.

For the second half I went 5 minutes standing, 5 minutes seated, 5 minutes crouching and 25 minutes reclining. This session felt good, and the artists seemed pleased: two criteria for success. The final attendance numbers made it a profitable night for Aless too. All in all a very nice evening in The Sun to send me off for my week in the sun.