Man who makes Britain’s ‘dullest’ calendars goes a step further with a new one on gravel

The creator of Britain’s self-proclaimed ‘dullest’ calendars has announced four new riveting subjects for 2027.

When the average person goes shopping for a new calendar, photos of pylons and wheelie bins aren’t normally the top choice, but for Stuart Atkinson, 58, there’s simply no competition.

After Stuart turned his focus on Manchester’s colorful wheelie bins last year, Metro caught up with the full-time chemist to chat about his newest yearly focuses: gravel, the M62, Merseyside wheelie bins, and Manchester’s traffic cones.

‘I guess I’m just interested in the everyday infrastructure around us, as dull as it may be. Whatever subject it is, there’s always loads of detail, which is great for populating the calendar months,’ Stuart told Metro.

As for choosing gravel as a focus for one of 2027’s calendars, Stuart said he was telling someone that anything can be considered art – when he happened to look down at the floor.

‘I said, “You could take 12 shots of this, and it would look good on a calendar.” And maybe it does. People put gravel on their drive, so there must be something to it,’ Stuart told Metro. 

His first project was a calendar detailing pylons near Manchester, which initially began as a joke with his friends and family, before the product actually began selling.

Stuart branched out to make a calendar about the M60 this year, profiling 27 junctions across two different calendars. This year, he also made a new calendar focused on the M62. 

His calendar detailing Manchester’s different bins became such a hit last year that he’s now made one focused entirely on Merseyside’s wheelie bins.

Bella, a cartoon Liver bird, shares fun facts about each bin across Merseyside, and a ‘BINFO’ panel shares the capacity, annual capacity, council tax and rate per liter for each bin. 

‘I did a lot of research for the Manchester one – 10 boroughs, 40 bins, all the volumes, collection frequencies and pence per liter. That was the most popular publication so far,’ Stuart said.

His personal favourite calendar? 

‘It’s got to be pylons – I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for them, ever since school, where there was a huge one right outside that we used to hang out underneath,’ he said.

Now, he focuses on profiling things that either amuse or interest him, though Stuart admits the amusing ones are more popular. 

‘If it sounds daft enough, then that’s usually a good indicator it will sell well,’ he joked. 

He’s started thinking of ideas for daft calendars in 2028 already, adding: ‘It’s just finding something that captures people’s imagination – or at least leaves them baffled. The obvious one for 2028 is the pylon centenary – I’m sure you’re fully aware that 2028 is the centenary of the first pylon going up!’

Stuart’s family thought his idea to profile mundane items in yearly calendars was a bit ‘daft’ to begin with, but they’ve been pleasantly surprised – and so has he. 

‘The world’s always been in a mess, but it seems to be in a worse mess at the moment,’ Stuart told Metro last year.

‘If it brings a smile to someone’s face, just to laugh at something ridiculous, then that’s a bonus enough. I’ve probably succeeded.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@usnewsrank.com.

For more stories like this, check our news page.