IT was one of the most talked-about events of 2014, but the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation by a former Hasland Hall pupil at the Tower of London might never have happened but for a series of amazing coincidences, as Fiona Stubbs discovers.
FEW works of art have caught the public conscience as powerfully as the tide of vibrant red poppies spilling into the Tower of London moat. The Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation, marking the centenary of the start of the First World War, attracted an estimated five million visitors, prompted billions of internet hits and tweets and put the name of Chesterfield ceramic artist Paul Cummins firmly on the international map…