Monthly Archives: September 2014

Competition, Doctor Who, Fun stuff

Competition – Win the Doctor Who Annual 2015! Now closed.

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You could win this!
You could win this!

Hello, and welcome to my first competition!

Today I bought the Official BBC Doctor Who Annual 2015 – and I bought one for a competition prize as well!

No spoilers but I have really enjoyed reading the book so far, it is full of quizzes, cartoons, stories, games and facts and is the first Doctor Who annual to feature Peter Capaldi on the cover!

This is so good!
This is so good!

You could win this fantastic  book simply by answering this question:-

If you could go on an adventure through time and space, where would you like to go?

Please leave a comment below with your answer and one winner will be picked at random. Only one entry per person please. I will e-mail the winner to confirm the delivery address.

Closing date is 11.59 pm on September 30th 2014

Sorry but I can only post it to people within the UK so if you live outside the UK please leave a comment if you want to share, but I won’t be able to send you a prize. 😦

Good luck!

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Doctor Who, New location

Victoria Park, Cardiff – August 2014

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Welcome to Victoria Park!‘Ello ‘ello ‘ello and welcome to my latest Doctor Who location -Victoria Park in Cardiff.

Victoria Park is in the Canton area of Cardiff. It is a late Victorian public park, opened in 1897 and named in honour of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. There is lots to do there including a child’s playground and paddling pool, basketball and tennis courts, a bowling green and the only pitch in the universe that the Doctor has played football on!

Pretty flowers

I would like to thank www.doctorwholocations.net for helping me find this location. http://www.doctorwholocations.net is a great website to visit because it tells you everything you need to know about Doctor Who locations and I really wanted to find out about this location.

I am a big fan of football and I was desperate to find this place because it is the location for the Eleventh Doctor’s football match for the King’s Arms. In The Lodger (2010) the Doctor moves in with Craig for a little bit and gets to play in his pub footy league! When I arrived there were lots of people so it was hard to see the footy pitch but I got there eventually.

There was no sign of the Doctor and Craig playing football but at least I got to have a kickabout! I met George and Dan who were passing the ball to each other and they asked if I wanted a game. You know what happened next, don’t you? That’s right – I got a match!

George and Dan - my humble football team mates.George and Dan helped me improve my football skills by teaching me passing and shooting. I got about 6 goals past them! I didn’t get as many as the Doctor – when I last watched The Lodger I counted that he scored 8 goals. The Doctor loved playing football!

In real life Matt Smith played for Northampton Town , Nottingham Forest and Leicester City’s Youth Teams but had to give up football because of a bad back injury. Aw! But then again, not aw, because if Matt had played professional football he would never have been the outstanding Eleventh Doctor.

I was really happy to play on the pitch where Matt Smith’s footsteps have been. George and Dan really helped me so I’d like to thank them for a great game – thanks guys!

As my match ended I left the pitch and went to the bandstand to take shelter from the rain.

The bandstand - where's the band?This is the same bandstand where Donna met Miss Evangelista in The Forest of the Dead (2008) and she learns that her children are virtual reality and she is not a mother after all! The bandstand does not look old, it is a replica of a Victorian bandstand and was built in 1995 with money from the National Lottery.

Victoria Park is a great place to go to and is especially good if you like to have a kickabout or a splashabout! I had a smashing time there and hope you get a chance to come here and enjoy the park.

Thanks for reading, and see you next week. Please leave a comment to let me know if you have been to any Doctor Who locations, I would love to hear about it!

Ok, match is over, Full Time – Pheeeep! Goodbye!

Doctor Who, New location

Caerphilly Castle / Castell Caerffili – August 2014

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Welcome to Caerphilly CastleHawdammor and welcome to my latest Doctor Who location – Caerphilly Castle!

Caerphilly Castle is the largest castle in Wales and second largest in Britain after Windsor Castle ( home to the Queen, along with many other places!). In 1268 Gilbert ‘The Red ‘ De Clare began to build Caerphilly Castle. He was a redheaded English Earl descended from the Normans and was born down the road from me in Christchurch! He built the castle to stop the land from falling into the hands of Welsh rival Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.

Either that or it is a disguised 29th Century Spaceship!

I visited Caerphilly Castle on a very sunny day and explored the castle because it a filming location for Robot of Sherwood (2014), The Vampires of Venice (2010), Nightmare in Silver (2013) and many more episodes. It is managed by CADW, who conserve Wales’s heritage. As I was walking to the castle it looked full of excitement and I had to enter over a bridge because there was a moat all around it – the same moat that Guido took the Doctor and Rory across to visit the House of Calvieri in Venice!

After I went in, the first area I saw was the large courtyard, setting for the Golden Arrow Archery Tournament in Robot of Sherwood. When I was there there was no sign of the Sheriff of Nottingham or the Robots. Maybe my TARDIS wasn’t set to 1190ish? I made a wish in the well and my coin went PLOP which means that it was going down deep. In the episode the crowd were stood up high watching the archery – this was actually the ‘hourd’ where the soldiers used to fire their arrows and other missiles at their enemies! Where are the targets?

Next I ventured into the castle and walked up a lot of stairs. I explored the rooms on the way up and imagined that I was back in Norman times.  It was a nice day but at the top of the towers the windows were tapping and the wind was howling.

The Doctor and Rory were searching all around these corridors and stairs in Vampires of Venice. They even went down a corridor which has a ghost in it! The Braose Gallery is a hidden corridor and is haunted by the Green Lady. I wasn’t very happy to go down it but it wasn’t really that scary.

Woooh- is there a ghost behind me???

Next I went in the Great Hall and pretended to be a Norman King! This is the room where the Eleventh Doctor played his chess match at Natty Longshoe’s Comical Castle in Nightmare in Silver. It is very easy to recognise even without the Doctor playing chess against the Cyberplanner!Let's have some lunch.

Before I went I visited the Leaning Tower – it leans even more than the Tower of Pisa! Maybe it leans because it was attacked in the Civil War – no-one is sure. I helped out the wooden man who makes sure it doesn’t topple over. He must be very tired!

Time to say goodbyeFinally it was time to leave but I had a double thumbs up great day. Looks like I wasn’t the only one to arrive in my TARDIS today! I think 4, 5 and 6 popped along for a visit too.

Everyone's TARDISs

Thanks for reading. What did you think of Robot of Sherwood? Are you liking the new Doctor so far? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Wela i chi!

Autographs, Convention, Doctor Who, Fun stuff

Charfest, Dorset – August 2014

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K.B.O!Greetings!

Welcome to Avon Social Club in Bournemouth – home of Charfest! Charfest is a festival of many things and is to raise money for the charity Victim No More – and I went along to Charfest 2014 to meet the special guests.

Avon Social Club is a private members club and is where the comedian Tony Hancock made his first professional appearance. I was very happy when I arrived as I was keen to meet some stars of Doctor Who and of other shows and films such as Red Dwarf and Star Wars.

The first actor I met was Ian McNeice who is a famous actor who appears in the episode Victory of the Daleks (2010)  and also The Beast Below (2010), The Pandorica Opens (2010) and The Wedding of River Song (2011). He plays the Doctor’s old friend Winston Churchill who wants to use ‘Ironsides’ aka Daleks to win the Second World War! Did you know  Ian has also appeared in some Big Finish audio stories about the Doctor?

Ian is a great man and very kind. I told him all about my day in London the day before (when I met the Doctor and Clara) and he wanted to see the photos. He was also really interested in some images I took of the poppies at the Tower of London because they were very special.

We posed for a photo together with cigars and then he signed a picture for me and reminded me to ‘K.B.O’! Can you remember what that means????

After I had checked out the music and stalls I went to meet Derek Martin, best known for Eastenders but he also appeared as David Mitchell in Image of the Fendahl (1977) and had small parts in loads and loads of other Doctor Who episodes. Derek and I had a good chat about football as we are both Chelsea fans and I predicted the correct score of the Chelsea v Leicester match that day! I chose a picture of Derek and the Third Doctor for him to sign and we posed for a photo. Derek was super to meet and I really enjoyed it.Two humble Chelsea fans.

Afterwards I went downstairs to have a go on the bouncy castle, then I had a drink and enjoyed looking at the Cosplayers all around. I met someone dressed as the Seventh Doctor which was cool because the Seventh Doctor is my favourite – along with Peter Capaldi! ( That’s the first time I’ve added that bit!). He was sad because he had snapped his special umbrella. There were also people dressed as the Tenth Doctor, Jo Grant, Captain Jack and other Sci Fi characters.I'm gonna steal the hat and umbrella! Robber!

I left after that but came back the next day  especially to see Blogtor Who, Cameron K McEwan who was there to show his movie! I told him all about accidentally bumping into Peter Capaldi and he told me that he and a friend met him by accident once as well. I bought his book The Who’s Who  of Doctor Who (2014) and also  a DVD of his film Who’s Changing (2014). Blogtor Who signed my book and so did Andrew Skilleter who illustrated the book with really cool pictures. Andrew has also illustrated many things for Doctor Who including the  ‘The Five Doctors’ Radio Times cover,books, video covers and calendars. Just chillin' with Blogtor Who and Andrew Skilleter

I got a front row seat and watched the film on a couch in luxury. ‘Who’s Changing – an Adventure in Time with Fans’ is all about how Doctor Who fandom has changed over the years and is full of interviews with stars and fans. People talk about what they like about Doctor Who and why they like it so much. It is a great film and I plead with all Doctor Who fans to watch it because it is so darn good!

I left Charfest after the film but it was fantastico and raised nearly £1000 for Victim No More which is awesome! I hope they do another one next year.

Twelfth Doctor portaitIn other news, this week I received this wonderful drawing of the Twelfth Doctor from one of my readers who loves Peter Capaldi and everything Doctor Who. She is an amazing artist and you can check out her work here on her blog. One of her pictures was shown in New York on the Doctor Who World Tour! I love it and will treasure it. Thank you!

 

See you soon for a very special location report (hint – it is in a new episode) and remember – K.B.O!!!!!!!