The Observer Daily: The mystery of Francis Bacon’s minder

The best of The Observer, from across our newsroom View in browser The mystery of Francis Bacon's minder The best of The Observer, from across our newsroom Katie Gunning • Wednesday 9 July 2025 Dear friend, In 1971 an exhibition of Francis Bacon's paintings opened at the Grand Palais in Paris. On display for the first time was a painting called 'Study for portrait: 1969'. The painting depicts a big man in a suit, holding what looks like a newspaper and almost spilling out of a cane chair. But the painting held something of a mystery. For more than 50 years art historians knew only that the man in the painting was called Ted Westfallen, and that Ted seemed to have completely vanished. In this week's Slow Newscast, our weekly investigative podcast series, Stephen Smith and Katie Gunning solve the long-running mystery. And it all starts with a boxing match. You might have seen the print piece earlier this year in the New Review. In the podcast, hear directly from Ted himself – one of Francis Bacon's last living subjects. He opens a window onto a lost world of 1960s Soho, of gambling and gangsters; the day before yesterday, in the grand scale of things, but already on the edge of memory. Ted wades into this world to stop a mugging and, by doing so, forms a life altering friendship with an artist who makes him, or his picture, immortal. Click here to listen → "The enemy of nonsense" – George Orwell Also in The Observer Nigel Slater's midweek treat If all around you are departing on their holidays, filling your social media feeds with photos of wonderful food from far-flung places, don't resign yourself to the usual sad summer affair of salads and sandwiches. Treat yourself with something sweet, hot, and worth eating when the sun is shining (or even when it's not). Nigel Slater doesn't make many hot desserts in the summer, but he does cook this. His gooseberry almond pudding travels well in a tin and is great for a picnic – but perfect straight from the oven.     Click here to read more → The human impact of the Post Office scandal will go down in history by Xavier Greenwood       The Post Office scandal saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly convicted of thefts that were in reality down to faulty computer software. The contours of what happened are now well-known, but the scale of the human impact is still being uncovered. Xavier Greenwood makes sense of the first findings of an inquiry that has taken three years, interviewed 298 witnesses, and involved 2.2 million pages of documents. It isn't easy reading. This piece is part of The Sensemaker. It features calm and clear analysis on what's driving the news across tech, geopolitics, finance and culture. To get the full newsletter sent to your inbox every morning, sign up here. Click here to read more → Alcaraz had 99 minutes and Norrie was done by George Simms       Farewell to Cameron Norrie, the last Briton that was left in Wimbledon's singles events. But there's no shame in losing to a Spanish sensation. Carlos Alcaraz reaches a third consecutive Wimbledon semi-final with his 23rd win in a row. As George Simms writes for The Observer in its daily postcard from SW19: "Trying is the preserve of losers. Sometimes what you really need is to be Carlos Alcaraz." Click here to read more → The screwball starlet by Kitty Empire        In London's Hyde Park, the crowd swarms. Roughly 65,000 Sabrina Carpenter fans witnessed a performance from potentially the biggest popstar on the planet at the weekend – two nights in a row. Kitty Empire was there too, at a gig she said "marked a crossroads". She writes: "If Carpenter once styled herself as a quirky retro starlet whose every tune came with a wink and an implicit 'am I right, girls?', she is now plugged into the mainstream pop success continuum, where the top musicians reinforce one another's fame." Click here to read more → Listen Daily Sensemaker Could this be the end of police racial profiling in France? Europe's top human rights court ruled that French police unfairly targeted a French citizen of African descent during a stop and search Click here to listen → From our friends Semafor Flagship In an era of global crises and polarisation, journalism has a crucial role in bridging divides. Introducing Semafor Flagship — a trusted, free email briefing designed for heads of state and global leaders. It distills key global narratives, cutting through the noise of the news cycle. Daily Sensemaker readers, stay connected with the world around you by signing up for the Semafor Flagship briefing today.   Sign up here → Thanks for reading. We'll be back tomorrow.    Katie Gunning Senior audio producer The Observer Brad Gray Production editor, digital The Observer   My Account To manage your newsletters, track tickets and more, go to the 'My account' page on the Observer website: Manage my newsletters Follow Follow The Observer on social media on your preferred platform:   The Observer     The Observer Food Monthly The Observer Magazine The Observer New Review   Listen Listen for free in the Tortoise app or wherever you get your podcasts: Want to change how you receive these emails? Update email preferences Copyright © 2025 Tortoise Media. All rights reserved. Did this email get caught in your spam filter? Add editor@newsroom.tortoisemedia.com to your address book to never miss an email again. No longer want to receive this newsletter? Unsubscribe here.