Derrick Porter, Hoxton Poet

In 1971, Photographer David Hoffman moved into a squat in Fieldgate Mansions in Whitechapel and found himself at the centre of a lively and vibrant community. Learn the full story and visit Fieldgate Mansions as part of The Gentle Author’s Tour of Whitechapel this Sunday 6th September. Click here to book Derrick Porter This is the gentle face of Derrick Porter, craggy and wise, framed by snowy hair and punctuated with a pair of sharp eyes that reveal a hint of his imaginative capacity. Standing against a rural backdrop upon the banks of the river Ching in Essex not far from High Beach where John Clare was confined, Derrick looks every inch an English poet and he is quick to admit his love of nature. Yet, although he acquired an affection for the countryside at an early age and Chingford is his place of residence, the focus of Derrick’s literary landscape and centre of his personal universe is his place of origin – Hoxton. “It was a place we all wanted to get out of – it was a tough…