Islington Tribune - by MARK BLUNDEN Published: 18 May 2007
AJ Adelekan, 10 yrs old modelling the signed David Beckham England shirt
Going, going… Beckham’s England shirt boosts school auction
SIGNED lots from supermodel Kate Moss and footballer David Beckham attracted hundreds of bids at a school auction on Friday.
More than £17,000 was raised for a new art block at Thornhill Primary School, in Barnsbury. About 400 people bid for 69 lots, including two etchings by controversial artists Jake and Dinos Chapman, an England shirt signed by David Beckham and a signed picture of supermodel Kate Moss.
The football shirt, which went for £325, was bought by Julie Phinikas, a parent and classroom assistant at the school. The Moss photograph was sold for £400 and the Chapman brothers’ pieces went for £2,000 each.
The Chapman brothers’ works on offer were not their typically sexually explicit, gory offerings but still brought complaints that they were “inappropriate”. But headteacher Matthew Chappel said: “There was nothing controversial in the auction. Anyway, it is not for the school to make judgements on what artists do.”