Tube worker took 20 years to make 56ft tapestry
8:00am Friday 3rd June 2005 in Bizarre By Beena Nadeem
Dedication: Annette Banks has spent more than 20 years recreating the Bayeux tapestry
In 20 years, you could bring up a family, become fluent in several foreign languages or watch an entire back catalogue of Neighbours.
But Annette Banks is different. The 45-year-old London Transport worker, of Elmhurst Crescent, East Finchley, is passionate about embroidery and her piece-de-resistance is a 56-foot-long recreation of the Bayeux tapestry which took her a staggering two decades to make.
Depicting the events of 1066 and the coming of William the Conqueror, it cost her a hefty £10,000 in materials alone and is testament to her utter dedication and some pretty dextrous fingers.
"It's more of an obsession than a hobby," said Mrs Banks, who works early shifts at the Golders Green Tube station booking office.
"I'm addicted. I finish one piece and then start another."
To grasp how long her latest creation is, imagine the size of an average Viking longship or even, perhaps, six-and-a-quarter Jeremy Clarksons laying head to toe in a long line. For Mrs Banks, thinking big in embroidery terms has become quite an obsession since she first got 'addicted' at the age of 11. Since then, she has created huge works including Queen Elizabeth I, Henry VIII and his six wives, as well as one of Henry VIII's wife, Katherine of Aragon and a nine foot-long Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
"It's more of an obsession than a hobby."
Annette Banks
Her latest creation is, however, by far her biggest.
Mrs Banks has recreated the general theme of the real 231-foot tapestry. Although largely true to the original tapestry, which now hangs in the town of Bayeux in Normandy, France, she has added extras.
"It's not really a like-for-like of the tapestry," she said. "I've used about 100 colours and added things like grass and trees. I've never actually seen the real tapestry."
She has also included a three-inch border which incorporates the storyline of the events leading to the demise of the Saxons, while another border incorporates mythical creatures, some of which are featured on the original work, while others she has conjured up herself.
"They were very suspicious in 1066," she said. "They were terrified of Halley's Comet and I've included that too." Mrs Banks now intends to create other great works of needlecraft, this time encapsulating Egyptology, "I already have a Tutankhamen's death mask embroidery in the bedroom," she said. "I'd quite like to do one of the Second World War and perhaps also Boadicea."
However, Mrs Banks admitted that, once created, most of the tapestries never see light of day. "Most of them just end up rolled up and put into the cupboard in the corner of the spare room," she said. "I love embroidery, but I don't do it for display or for money."
