Joule, a Canadian journalist,[2] used to live near to Bacon's home and studio at 7 Reece Mews, South Kensington, London, in 1978, when they met and became close friends.
[3] In September 2019, Joule said that he was the model for Bacon's 1980s series of seven paintings depicting "a male torso and legs, naked except for sports shoes and cricket pads.
[2] In August 2021, Joule threatened to cancel his gift to the Tate, saying that the gallery had failed to fulfill its pledges to mount exhibitions of the donated items.
[8] Soon after it was shown on BBC4, professional art thieves broke into his distinctive 15th-century home in Normandy, France, and stole a Bacon Pope painting worth about £8 million.
[7][9] Joule says that he had told the programme makers not to film the outside of his house or the painting for reasons of security, as it was too expensive to insure.