William Blake experienced his first vision during the course of a family outing to Peckham Rye, which was at that time a village of quiet, largely agricultural character in the Parish of Camberwell. Eight or nine years old, his biographers report, William hallucinated (what else can we think?) a tree full of angels, “bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars”. He escaped a thrashing, though his father wanted to give him one. More importantly, his foot was on the path. He had his idea. It wasn’t yet a burning spear, but it was never to let him down.