Joining the Dots: Episode One with Ed Templeton
- Text by Michael Fordham/Benjamin Cook
- Photography by Michael Fordham

Recorded in Don Letts’ creative bunker at the bottom of his West London garden, Joining the Dots traces the way artists, athletes, activists, and subcultures have interacted across decades and continents without even realising.
Across the course of this first season, Don sat down to talk with guests as diverse as photographer Guy Martin, writer and journalist Hattie Collins, big wave surfer Andrew Cotton, and emerging musician Georgia.
In this first episode, Don meets Ed Templeton and discovers how the London punk scene of the 1970s and 80s that Don helped shape would have an incredible impact on the skate and punk scenes of Southern California that Ed would become synonymous with. Along the way, they talk selling weed to Bob Marley, becoming fast friends with Fugazi, and how Ed has gone from a scrawny skater kid to a hugely respected artist and businessman.
Joining the Dots was produced in association with Size?. Listen to Joining the Dots on acast, Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts and be sure to subscribe to get each new episode delivered straight to your feed.
You might like

Jake Hanrahan: “Boys can cry, but we don’t all fucking want to”
Hard Feelings — In the latest edition of our column on masculinity and fatherhood, Rob Kazandjian speaks to the conflict filmmaker-journalist and Popular Front founder about his childhood, the found family and community at his Muay Thai gym, and the “complete counterculture” of ‘no rules’ fighting.
Written by: Robert Kazandjian

A new documentary traces the rise, fall and cratering of VICE
VICE is broke — Streaming on MUBI, it’s presented by chef and filmmaker Eddie Huang, who previously hosted travel and food show Huang’s World for the millennial media giant.
Written by: Ella Glossop

Nottingham’s forbidden skaters are repaving the city’s landscape
Skate Nottingham — Having once been a UK skateboarding hub, a Y2K bylaw banned the sport in the city’s public areas. Now, a new generation is demonstrating the value that they bring to the local area, and recalibrating attitudes across the board.
Written by: Molly Baker

Capturing what life is really like at Mexico’s border with the USA
Border Documents — Across four years, Arturo Soto photographed life in Juárez, the city of his father’s youth, to create a portrait of urban and societal change, memory, and fluid national identity.
Written by: Miss Rosen

In Birmingham’s punk underground, hardcore is queer
Punk Pride — In recent years, a defiantly political queercore scene has begun to emerge in the West Midlands, providing alternative spaces for the area’s LGBTQ+ youth. Stephanie Phillips speaks to those leading the charge.
Written by: Stephanie Phillips

In search of resistance and rebellion in São Tomé & Príncipe’s street theatre culture
Tragédia — A new photobook by Nicola Lo Calzo explores the historical legacy found within the archipelago’s traditional performance art, which is rooted in centuries of colonial oppression and the resilience of people fighting against it.
Written by: Miss Rosen