First Radiotherapy Session, March 2024

14 March 2024. Early morning start to Christies (even earlier for that top man Graham Astley once again acting as chauffeur, carer and all-round good egg) and we got there in good time. I went to register for my MRI, had to undress and wear a gown - either I have shrunk or they have grown - maybe as well because it had to be tied at the front so they could admire my new tattoos.

Usually I spurt blood all over the place quite nonchalantly but this time the canula went in just above my wrist and my left arm must have been empty from the elbow down. The right arm worked though. Inflatable belt again and this time with the added bulk of the MRI plate resting on my abdomen - a ticklish moment when the hard bit of the velcro belt fastening got twisted and the edge started to dig in me under the weight of the plate. I had to stop them, but it got sorted and I was trundled head first into the MRI tunnel - not a huge amount of space between the MRI tunnel ceiling and everything that moved along with me after being belted, inflated and plated...

Ear plugs inserted - not had those before but it was ok - they went in my ears... - and headphones on. Very noisy machine, much more so than Blackpool or Leeds. Had to hold my breath having breathed out which I find very difficult due to the asthma and is illogical anyway, you can't hold what you've already got rid of...

Very stiff and sore coming out of tunnel at the end and when the nurse said "You can sit up now" I had to answer, "Easy for you to say!" So my ankles were grabbed, legs swung to side of bed, hands on shoulders sitting me up - voice from in front says "oh... I'll just shut the door..." as passers-by were treated to bare legs and undies.

They were very apologetic (the nurses not the passers-by). I said "It's ok, I'm old enough not to worry about it as long as no-one actually laughs..." Home now, rested, (means I went to sleep...) and ready to start thinking about this weekend's event as we are off to one of Talking Pictures TV's fabulous Film Festivals. Yay for the good guys.

16 March 2024. A couple of days later we were down in St Albans at the Talking Pictures TV event. I've been lucky enough to know and have fairly long acquaintances with a number of actors in my life and here I am with Bond girls Caroline Munro and Madeline Smith. Other highlights of the weekend were my usual chat with Noel Cronin, who started off our favourite TV channel, getting to sit as "minder" to Caroline over her autograph session, something I've done many times over the years since we first met in 1997. Someone asked if I were her husband... I quickly denied it before she had time to look affronted!

Oh and that naughty but nice chanteuse, Lola Lamour nipped my bum as I was in a queue for coffee. Back on stage after the break, she grinned at me and said, "I pinched your bum!"
"Yes..." I answered loudly, "can I have it back?

21 March 2024. I got a phone call from The Christie hospital. After the MRI they are thinking of reducing the risk to my heart a bit by delivering the radiotherapy over 8 visits rather than 5 (bearing in mind that with a normal doseage it would take 30 visits...

27 March 2024. Graham arrived early to take us once more to Christies. This was for my first radiotherapy session. I was a bit quieter than usual perhaps, wondering what lay ahead as we drove there. I had been warned it might make me feel sick, so Janet had loaded a washing basket with towels - so many I wondered whether she thought I might explode... Anyway it didn't affect me that way.

The session went ok apart from sudden horrendous pain when the belt thing being adjusted moved a floating rib. I had to ask them to let out the belt and physically push the rib back. Luckily I had come across a description of floating ribs beforehand or that could have been a lot more frightening. Do a Google search for "floating ribs".

The procedure means uncovering all parts the beam needs to travel through from one tattoo to another both up/down and side to side. Trousers and undies were pushed down but not removed altogether. This huge lump of machinery moves around you at times (you are on a narrown bed but not in any surrounding tube like with an MRI). You will probably be able to see the point of origin of the laser beams used to pinpoint the track from tattoo to tattoo. Gazing fixedly at them is not recommended. Also the room is very large and cold but you just have to put up with that.

The radiotherapy itself was over in what seemed like a much shorter time than I had expecting. I got off the machine and managed to keep my trousers from falling right down, but then realised I had hold of my trousers but not my undies and had to go fishing... Ah the joys of hospital visits...

I had a burning sensation in the side where the tattoo was for a while but not sure if that was just the weary old body playing tricks with my mind. It felt real though and I asked at my next visit and was told it probably was real.

I was exhausted coming out - I went to sleep in the car coming back. I spent a lot of the afternoon asleep too but we were up early and I suspect that I'll sleep better tonight instead of wondering what I'll be facing next time. Visits are scheduled for either 2 or 3 times a week with a minumum of one free day between treatment days.

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index
Family Memories: Personal Index

Wembley Record and Film Fair, 1 December 2002

Sunday 1 December 2002. We had chosen this particular weekend to come to London especially for this event. We were staying in the Premier Inn at Wembley and it was a short walk to the exhibition hall where the Record and Film Fair was being held.

There were far more records than films, sad to say. But at the time I was collecting records from the 1930s up to the late 1950s on 78 rpm 10-inch shellac discs. Again, sadly, only one stall had any of those in the entire place.

I found a familiar face on one stall though - Ian MacLagan of The Small Faces! So we chatted for a while and then I moved on, aware that there were a couple of other people I wanted to catch up with. One was the actress Ingrid Pitt who was sitting quietly behind her sets of photos. I didn't know Ingrid then as well as I would in later years, but I knew she could be very witty, but had also had quite a traumatic early life. I think there were more people there for the records than there were for film-related photographs or pre-recorded film.

In the UK this still meant VHS tape as 2002 was the first year in which DVDs started to outsell VHS tapes and for a fair like this they would have to wait a bit before second-hand DVDs turned up in the UK.

Anyway I digress. Ingrid was sitting on her own and her eyebrows lifted in recognition as I went upto her stall. "You look fabulous!" I said and was rewarded with a broad smile as her face lit up. "Do I?" she asked, and we fell into a conversation.

Then I went off to meet another of my favourite actresses. I had been a keen photographer since teenage years and had always looked for photos of the then model, Caroline Munro, in the pages of Practical Photography and Amateur Photographer. Then, following a long contract as the Lambs Navy Rum Girl, she broke into films and starred in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and a few Hammer horror films before (as far as I was concerned) totally stealing the limelight from Barbara Bach as a Bond Baddie in The Spy Who Loved Me. An absolutely lovely lady to meet and know.

She was there with the equally delightful Jayne Crimin, both of whom I have had the pleasure to know for over a quarter of a century. Neither of them look today like that could even be possible...

Star Wars Imperial Troopers. I was in no danger - I was right in front of them and their weapons don't work if pointed at people. Mind you, one of them nicked a doughnut off Miss Franny once - she was very indignant...

A few records from the 78s stall found their way into my possession. Elvis's early hit Heartbreak Hotel was in near mint condition and plays superbly. If you get a shellac record in this good a state it sounds much better than the easily-scratched vinyl of a 45 rpm record. Unfortunately it cost just a bit more than three shillings and sixpence as written on the cover. That would have been just seventeen and a half pence!

I bought Ron Goodwin's version of the Theme from "Limelight" as much for the original cover, which was a design I didn't have in my collection at the time.

Laurie London's "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands". Give me a bit of time - I still haven't worked out why I bought this yet - it's horrible...

And so we returned to the car for our journey home, passing the doomed twin towers of the old Wembley Stadium, seeing them for the first and last time.

Return to London and Wembley Record Fair Index

Coventry, Cars and Stars

We spent the weekend down in the Midlands this week. We decided to visit the NEC on Sunday for the Comic Con and Memorabilia Show at which we could catch up with a couple of friends and looking to make a weekend of it, we decided to stay in the Coventry area and visit the Transport Museum there.

I booked a room in a decent hotel between Coventry and the NEC where the event was being held over the weekend. We drove down from Blackpool and found a convenient car park near the motor museum. We had a spot of lunch in the museum's cafeteria and then went to look round the exhibits. The museum is free to enter and concentrates on vehicles that were made in the area. Vehicles of all sorts from bicycles to motorbikes to cars. During World War II local companies stopped car production to make armoured cars and tanks and other firms made vans, buses and emergency vehicles. All are represented in the museum's collection.

I always think it unfair to show too much of a museum's stock, so there are just a few of my favourites here. This is Queen Mary's 1935 Daimler. The National Motor Museum loaned it to the owners of the ocean liner Queen Mary, by then a floating hotel in Long Beach, California. It stood on the deck of the ship for ten years exposed to the weather and was bought by the Coventry Museum in 1984 since when it has been restored.

The 1938 Alvis Speed 25. This car was owned by the Alvis company's owner. What an impressive solid looking piece of machinery it is! Just right for roaring through the countryside on the quiet roads of the time!

Myself, I always look for the late 1950s and 1960s cars of my childhood. The ones family members drove and my own first few cars. My Dad always bought Fords during my childhood and they weren't built in Coventry but I did find my first "proper" car (I had a Reliant 3-wheeler at 16). My first four-wheeled car was a 1961 Hillman Minx, registration 485 TD.

The strange vehicle shown here is a 1948 Tippen Coventry Chair. A hand-propelled vehicle designed for invalid soldiers following World War II. They were a sad but frequent sight in the mid to late 1950s of my childhood.

The Thrust SSC World Land Speed Record car. This car broke the world land speed record on October 15, 1997 by reaching the speed of 763 miles per hour. For me the magic went out of the World Speed Record when the power plant stopped turning the wheels but just thrust the car forward on free-spinning wheels. "It's not really a car is it?" another visitor commented to his elderly father. That sums it up entirely. A rocket on a track is still a rocket not a train. These are not cars - they are aeroplane engines mounted on wheels!

It was mid-afternoon when we came out of the museum and we decided to have a look around the city centre and to visit the cathedral.

We came first to the Church of the Holy Trinity. It had this well-worn set of steps leading up to a door. The church dates back in records to 1113, though a fire in 1257 destroyed the original building. It was rebuilt following the fire and the walls were painted with scenes from the Bible. One of these, long covered over by material such as varnish which with age had gone opaque, was rediscovered and restored in 2004. It shows Jesus and His Disciples at the Last Judgement. Jesus is judging the souls of Men some of whom will enter the Kingdom of Heaven and the others, including bishops and kings and ale-wives (who were universally hated as they were believed to water the ale they sold) trembling before the Mouth of Hell. The painting is known as the Coventry Doom.

The Parish Church of St Michael was described in 1138 as standing "in the Bailey" - so within Coventry Castle. The original chapel was rebuilt in the 1300s-1500s. The present condition of the cathedral is down to nine terrible hours on the evening and night of 14 November 1940. Coventry had been bombed before, but the prolonged raid of that night destroyed much of the city centre and with it, the cathedral.

A few tiny portions of stained glass are all that remain of the shattered windows. The Undercroft still exists and is currently undergoing restoration work.

Above ground, only the tower and spire and external walls survived the night. It was decided to let these stand as witness to Coventry's most desperate night and a new cathedral was built next to it.

Close by the walls of the old cathedral stands this water pump. A reminder of the times when water had to be collected rather than obtained by the turning of a tap.

The Golden Cross pub is also lucky in having survived the incendiaries of the Luftwaffe. Dating from 1583 it has three stories each of which are wider than the floor below. It was extended considerably in 1968, the original covering an area roughly half as big as the present building.

We found the hotel easily enough and unpacked our few things for the following day and then went out to eat at another local hostelry. The following morning we were looking forward to catching up with a couple of friends who we knew were attending the Memorabilia show, the actresses Caroline Munro and fellow Bond Girl and Hammer Horror star, Martine Beswick. I had also seen from advertisements that Liv Tyler would be there, though the advertised price of her autographs looked a little high. Anyway as we took our seats for breakfast, the Lady Arwen of Rivendell was sitting just a few tables away...

The pairing of Memorabilia with a comic convention has done no favours to those people who used to attend and enjoy looking at and buying old toys, magazines, books and records. The comics stalls are still there but mostly the Marvel and DC comics are being replaced by the Manga style comics and the old British comics such as Beano, Dandy, Eagle, Look & Learn and so on have all but disappeared. The same has happened to the collecting cards displays. Gone are the 1970s chewing gum collections of American Civil War and Outer Limits cards. Now they all depict young (very young!) huge-eyed, green or purple-haired and cat-eared heroines dressed in the tiniest of skirts.

The paying customers too are dressed as their heroes and heroines. Young and not-so-young girls in skimpy costume - some almost indecently so - wander about clutching ferocious-looking cardboard weapons. Pictured is Sauron himself - done on the cheap. His cardboard morning star had dents but his figure was impressive as he was walking on stilts under his black robe. "I can't keep up, walk slower!" complained his attendant orc... I refrained from taking too many photos. The lion whose back is towards me had his head pushed up in an attempt to breathe. He was not too many years behind me in age I think. As I suspect was one rather tubby Spider-Man showing a rather comical visible panty line under his costume...

We found Caroline and Martine and chatted for a while and then wandered around the other celebrities - a Dr Who contingent and several recognisable chaps even without their armour from TV's Game of Thrones. Liv Tyler and Lee Majors, the Six Million Dollar Man along with a few others were sitting signing photos that you had to buy before being allowed to approach them. The queues were huge. In truth they would have not been able to sign all those photos if they had not been kept away from the casual observers. I'll make do with having seen that beautiful face at breakfast!

Memorabilia Show November 2014

We had a run out today down to Birmingham to meet up with some friends we've come to know over the years. The Memorabilia Show is run twice a year at Birmingham NEC and also has a slot in London. This year it was teamed with a Comic Con - one of those conventions where a sizeable proportion of the visitors dress in costume. There were super heroes, manga characters, Jedi knights, Tuscan raiders, Jawas and a couple of Princess Leias from Star Wars, a few Jokers, a lot of Harlequins (some quite sexy, some quite gross) and a plethora of Poison Ivys from Batman and er... a couple of Lego men...

There were also lots of Gothic horror characters from the likes of Twilight, Hunger Games and so on. Apart from all the weaponry, there were acres of flesh on display, much of it concentrated on just a minority of people... eeeew! Costumes ranged from slinky, to really authentic looking to... yes, well, there was at least one made of painted corrugated cardboard.

It made for a much more geeky Memorabilia than when it was teamed with a sports theme, but we were there to meet some friends we've made over the years, most of whom were first met at such shows.

Caroline Munro (Career highlights [will follow this approach for all artists below]: The Spy Who Loved Me, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Journey To The Centre of The Earth, Dracula AD72 etc) has been a friend since 1997. We first met at a quite early Memorabilia show, when she was sitting with that other lovely star of the big screen, Ingrid Pitt. I remember her days as a model who appeared regularly in Amateur Photographer and Practical Photography in the late 1960s. Then she won a ten year contract starring in adverts for Lambs Navy Rum.

She was the female lead in Golden Voyage of Sinbad and became the only actress contracted to Hammer Films, appearing in Dracula AD72, I Don't Want To Be Born (aka The Monster) and Captain Kronos, Vampire Killer. She memorably eclipsed Barbara Bach, the female lead in the James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, playing Naomi, the beautiful assistant to the villain Stromberg. She is memorably killed when pursuing Bond and Russian Agent Amasova when her helicopter is blown up by a missile fired from their submerged car-submarine. Her wink at Bond as she flies past him is always included in the top Bond film sexy moments.

We've had the pleasure of showing Caroline some of the better places to eat in Blackpool and whenever I'm in London we try to meet up for a drink and a natter. A nicer person you just couldn't hope to meet.

Martine Beswick (From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Dr Jeckyll and Sister Hyde, One Million Years BC, A Bullet For The General, Slave Girls, etc) I met Martine through Caroline and spent a couple of hours one afternoon acting as her minder at a signing. She was one of the fighting gypsy girls in From Russia With Love and met a sticky end as Bond's colleague Paula Caplan in Thunderball. She was the brunette counterpart and main rival to Raquel Welch's blonde in One Million Years BC and was the female Hyde to Ralph Bates' Dr Jeckyll in Hammer's Dr Jeckyll and Sister Hyde. Few men would disagree that her dance in the Hammer film Slave Girls (aka Prehistoric Women) is something every man should see before he dies...

Carole Ashby (Chariots of Fire, Octopussy, 'Allo 'Allo, Bergerac, Minder, Dr Quinn Medicine Woman etc.) Carole is probably best remembered as Louise of the Communist Resistance in TV's 'Allo 'Allo. She was one of Octopussy's gang of female circus gymnasts. A real character is Carole - she once had me sitting on her knee for some photos with Helene Hunt, one of her colleagues from Octopussy - how could I refuse...? The first time I met her, a sound technician was feeding a mini-microphone up her shirt and out of her neckline. A tough job, but someone has to do it... She's a delight to talk to.

Shane Rimmer (This could take all day even sticking to the highlights: Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Saint, UFO, Rollerball, Space 1999, Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope, The People That Time Forgot, The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman, Hanover Street, Secret Army, Superman II, Ghandi, Superman III, Lace, Out of Africa, Whoops Apocalypse, Coronation Street, Lipstick On Your Collar, Batman Begins, etc etc etc...) A modest Canadian with the oh so recogniseable voice - yes! Scott Tracy from Thunderbirds!!! He has an amazing list of 154 credits on the Internet Movie Database going right back to 1957 (remember Hawkeye and the Last of The Mohicans? I didn't mention at least three other James Bond films and he was in just about every TV series in the 1960s including Danger Man, Dr Who, Orlando, The Saint, The Persuaders, The Protectors, Quiller, Hadleigh... - the man is a legend!

He was in The Spy Who Loved Me with Caroline so I got to know him as he was often sat next to her and we'd chat when she got busy with other fans. He was telling me he has even found time to write a book, a thriller called Long Shot. You can buy it as an Kindle book at Amazon.

Now, this lady I hadn't met before. Margaret Nolan aka model Vicki Kennedy is probably best known for playing the masseuse, Dink, in the early stages of Goldfinger. She too has a list of credits as long as your arm, including A Hard Day's Night, Crossroads, Carry On Cowboy, The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery, Witchfinder General, Nearest and Dearest, Carry On Henry, Carry On At Your Convenience, The Persuaders, Steptoe and Son, Carry On Matron, Budgie, Carry On Girls, Carry On Dick etc. Very friendly and the beauty of that 1960s glamour girl is still there shining out!

Fenella Fielding (Carry On Regardless, Doctor In Love, Doctor In Distress, The Avengers (TV), Doctor In Clover, Carry On Screaming, Drop Dead Darling, The Prisoner, Lock Up Your Daughters etc.) The legendary vamp who played up her man-eating image in a couple of Morecambe and Wise TV shows, Fenella Fielding is the only person featured here that I didn't meet through the Memorabilia shows. I first met her at one of Ingrid Pitt's birthday parties-cum-fan club dinners when, to the envy of all other men in the room, I found myself sitting next to her for the night. There was a very glamorous blonde sitting opposite me too - either Ingrid was looking after me or she was trying her best to get Miss Franny sore at me... Anyway I spent the evening acting what I like to call "charming and witty" and what others like to call "like a prat"... I've met Fenella a couple of times since and she always remembers me - hopefully for all the right reasons! Sorry for the awkward pose, there wasn't a gap in the tables at this point and I wouldn't expect a lady to climb over...

Wow... Wish I could write this sort of article every day lol!

Hobnobbing November 2011 Part 2

I meant to publish this one last Sunday... It was last Saturday when we went with David and Jeannie down to Birmingham to meet up with Caroline Munro, who was at the Memorabilia Show.

When we got there she had a massive queue of people in front of her. I recognised a couple of mates sitting with celebs as minders and they were waving to indicate the size of the queue and raising eyebrows and thumbs at me.

We stayed to say "Hello" and exchange hugs and then left her to get on with talking to fans who were now queued up behind us. We promised to come round again and she pointed us towards where Martine Beswick was sitting so we went off to boast again about being grandparents to her!

Martine has had two featured Bond roles and a walk-on part to make the hat trick and was the dark-haired counterpart to Raquel Welch's blonde in Hammer's One Million Years BC, going on to play a memorable part in the same company's Dr Jeckyll and Sister Hyde.

Lindsay was acting as her minder and I nudged him to get some of his wonderful celebrity sketches out. He's a talented lad!

Then I spotted another acquaintance. I sat next to Fenella Fielding at one of Ingrid Pitt's birthday-party-cum-fan-club-nights. She remembered us and we spent a while chatting.

There was a large number of other famous people here and there at the show. So much so that I found a young lady sitting all on her own on a row of seats with no one taking any notice of her. Always a sucker for a pretty face I said hello and then noticed her photos showed slightly more than her face - but those bits were quite pretty too...

Doing the Yo-Yo...

I've been up and down the country a bit this week.

I spent Monday and Tuesday in a cold and wintery Newcastle, catching up with the team for a planning meeting, making the acquaintance of our latest team member for the first time, going for our "Christmas" do on Monday night. It was our first opportunity to all get together. Many of the others do a lot of charging about the country like me!

Anyway we went to Oldfields, specialising in locally produced food with a predominantly English menu - sometimes I get quite nostalgic for the Christmas Curries we used to have! I started with crispy duck with a beet coleslaw and then had belly pork on a bed of celeriac mash that was totally scrummy.

On Tuesday I caught the train down to London Kings Cross, after the meeting finished and just had time to spruce up a bit (it doesn't make a lot of difference...) and grab a quick bite to eat before meeting up with a good friend, actress Caroline Munro. We spent the evening chatting in the hotel bar, catching up with the latest gossip about her film work and my band and swapping news about mutual friends.

Yesterday I was at City University for a meeting of the Inter-University Project Management Group which turned out to be a very interesting day.

I couldn't believe my luck when I got to Euston to find that the next train north was an express to Glasgow, only stopping at Preston - where I was heading - and Glasgow. It took just two hours from London to Preston - and then another 30 minutes to do the twenty miles to Blackpool! But that was much better than the tedious journey it used to be up the West Coast line. It has improved no end. If only Virgin could make the trains comfortable to sit in...

Smaller windows make carriages more stable and safe in a crash, but that combined with the narrower profile of tilting coaches means if you are sitting against a wall rather than a window, your shoulder has to be where your head would be in a comfortable pose. The seats are not exactly generously wide to begin with... and I'm afraid I am...!

Sorry! All old photos again, despite the New Year's resolution to use the camera more!

Return to Work Index

Caroline Munro in Blackpool

Bond Girl and fantasy film actress Caroline Munro was in Blackpool yesterday for a signing at the Who shop on Victoria Street.

The event was arranged by Graham Groome and Caroline brought her good friend Jayne Crimmin along with their families for a good weekend in Blackpool.

We went along and at lunchtime whisked her and Jayne to Quilligan's which we consider to be the best cafe in Blackpool. Fran and I had already had breakfast in there with David and Jeannie but we were all ready for a spot of lunch. We introduced Jayne to the delights of proper northern chips and she was definitely impressed!

Then it was back to the Who shop where Caroline met up with more fans who came to see her and chat and have their photo taken with her.

There's a number of photos of the event at my Flickr account

I've been with Caroline at more signings than I can remember now and she always takes as much time as her fans want to take and makes sure they go away with great memories of meeting her. One little boy soon took to her and was starting to tell her who he did and didn't like at school before his Mum told him that perhaps he shouldn't tell!

The Who shop on Victoria Street is a treasure trove for anyone who like comics, cult TV or movies, science fiction or fantasy. There are toys, figures (some of them life-size!) and a wonderfully enthusiastic staff. "You have to be a fan yourself to manage a shop like this!" the manager said and his own and his staff's enthusiasm certainly makes the place a friendly and wonderful place to visit.

We spent the rest of the afternoon with Caroline, Jayne and Graham and then took our leave, having had a great day!

Caroline Munro

Conversation in the Caroline Munro Yahoo group has turned to the actress's days as a model.

I mentioned a couple of magazines that she had been in, namely Practical Photography and Amateur Photographer. The latter's regular columnist, the sadly missed Victor Blackman, a Daily Express staffer, always used to say she was his favourite model as she was willing to work hard, didn't have any prima donna demands and (most of all) looked absolutely gorgeous!

I bought just about every issue of Practical Photography from around 1968/9 until the mid 1980s and Caroline used to feature quite a bit throughout the 1970s and into the 80s.

Sadly I threw them all away - you can't keep everything! But here's a cover from Camera Weekly showing one of the shots from Caroline's famous Lambs Navy Rum adverts on the cover.

Caroline Munro

I got the Spring Newsletter from my favourite Bond Girl, the glamourous Caroline Munro yesterday.

I see there's to be a reunion of the cast of the Hammer film Captain Kronos Vampire Killer at the Lumiere Theatre in London on 29 March. Caroline says it's 35 years since she last saw her co-star, Horst Janson.

Other shows and appearances listed are:

15-16 March, Courts Chicago Collectors Show, Chicago, US
10-11 May, Movie and Comic Event, Bottrop, Germany
18-20 July, Western Film Fair, Charlotte, US

Caroline is still struggling to get an update of her website after the tragic death last year of Steve Goss who managed it on her behalf.

Sorry To Miss You!

We saw them both last week at Ingrid's birthday party, but I'm still sorry not be going down to Birmingham this weekend to see Ingrid Pitt and Caroline Munro and a few other stars I've come to know.

The NEC Memorabila events are great fun and a chance to meet and natter to stars of film and television, comic writers and artists and lots of other interesting people.

We've been going for what seems like ages - we first met Caroline and Ingrid over ten years ago.

So I hope you have a great weekend down there girls, whilst the band are busy playing in Freckleton!

Ingrid Pitt's Birthday Bash

Have just got back from London (second time in a week!) where we went to Ingrid Pitt's annual Birthday Party and Fan Club Bash and a very good 'do' it was too!

For some reason Fran and I were elevated to the top table this year - very nice to be there too, I sat next to writer James Herbert's wife, Eileen and she was very friendly and was really interesting to talk to. Ingrid was next to her with James on her other side.

Kate O'Mara and Veronica Carlson came but had to leave early due to some busy schedules, but the ever-lovely Caroline Munro was there and looking radiant as she chatted with guests and posed for photos.

Ingrid herself looked well after all her health setbacks and I gather there's still some surgery to come so we wish her well with that.

"I was looking on my desk for something and all I could find were photos of me with you!" she said. It didn't even sound like a complaint...! In fact she didn't tell me off once - very strange...

The night flew by all too quickly and we left her happily chatting away and as usual went off to find a taxi cab with Caroline who lives on our route back to our usual hotel.

Once back at the hotel we had a nightcap with David and Jeannie who spent the weekend in London with us - a surprise pressy for David's birthday. They had been to see Les Miserables whilst we were at Ingrid's party. It was a superb weekend - more when I can keep my eyes open!

Festival of Fantastic Films

I'm sorry - I can't help the grin!

But, be honest, if you were sitting with two famous movie stars from both Hammer Horrors and James Bond then I rather think a grin might come over your face too! On the left is Martine Beswick, one of the fighting gypsies from "From Russia With Love", a helping agent in "Thunderball", star of "Prehistoric Women", "Dr Jeckyl and Sister Hyde", Raquel Welch's rival in "One Million Years BC" and many more.

On the right is Caroline Munro, a friend for an incredible ten years, the helicopter girl from "The Spy Who Loved Me", star of "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad", "Captain Kronus, Vampire Hunter", "Starcrash", Dracula victim from "Dracula AD 1972", the model from the Lamb's Navy Rum posters of the 1970s and 80s, and though she looks far too young, the "Face of 1966", the competition that started her career.

It has been a rather wonderful day...!

What? What do you talk about with such people? Er... dreaming of flying was one of the topics... Oh come on - yes you do...!