MEETING THE HOFF - DAVID HASSELHOFF

 

We’ve been really lucky over the years meeting some famous people and getting to chat with them. We were reminded recently that in November 2012 we went to a Memorabilia Show where Knight Rider and Bay Watch star David Hasselhoff was topping the bill. The six-foot-four actor/singer certainly drew in the crowds and made his presence known as he met his fans, signed autographs and posed for a sea of photographers.

He also had a good look around the stands buying up some of Knight Rider memorabilia and meeting old friends from the film world. He delighted visitors even more when he held court in the packed Memorabilia Theatre, talking, answering questions, making everyone laugh with his stories and even bursting into impromptu song at the drop of a hat. Undoubtedly if you weren't a Knight Rider fan before, you certainly came away from the show afterwards as one.

 Talking about his role as Michael Knight in Knight Rider which ran from 1982-86 and which is still being shown all over the world, he seemed to have only good memories. “The series Knight Rider has been so good to me,” he said. “It was great fun to work on. We'd have nine cars on the set every day – and we used to wreck them. It was a man's dream, get into them, drive them, wreck them!”

 

He remarked that the car still follows him everywhere. “It's even here today, although if anyone says they have the original, they haven't. I have that at home. For my 60th birthday my staff got me a KITT car, so as I'd got a lot of the original stuff including the dash I had it all re-chromed, put it all together and drive it.”

 He went on to tell the attentive audience that it was necessary to have a stunt man for the scenes where KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand) had to make those incredible jumps.

 David said, “With the jumps, when the car landed, the front end would usually be smashed up and it could have broken the driver's back. It was scary and dangerous. A harness had to be rigged up inside the car for the stunt driver. But I did all the other driving and the fighting.”

 He didn't have anything good to say about the Knight Rider series that NBC later put out. In his usual good-humoured way he said, “NBC developed a TV series but forgot to put me in it!  They didn't get the voice for KITT right which should have been William Daniels – people hated it! They forgot what the show was all about.”

 

David's long career certainly didn't stop with Knight Rider, along came the extremely popular TV series Baywatch in which he played the role of chief lifeguard Mitch Buchannon alongside Pamela Anderson.

 He talked also about his time of being a judge on Britain's Got Talent. “I won't be doing any more judging on Britain's Got Talent, I couldn't understand anybody,” he joked. “Actually, I laid a lot of that on. But if you saw the show, you'd see I was nice to everybody.  I don't want to make people cry. It takes guts to walk onto a stage, so I'm not going to knock them.”

At one point during his talk, I asked him a question over the mic – but I wasn’t quite prepared for his answer though!

 I asked what the highlight of his career has been so far. Straight off the cuff, he answered: “There was this interview with this beautiful journalist. It was the best interview I have ever had. There was this beautiful journalist asking me questions, so I answered them and invited her back to my motorhome, she came in and we....”

With the audience turning to stare, the Hoff grinning mischievously, and me turning beetroot, I was relieved when he got back to the question in hand! “Seriously, it was being at the Berlin Wall on the day it came down. November 9^th 1989. 

"When the Berlin wall came down, I was on a crane singing to a million people on the east and west. I was singing Looking For Freedom and people on either side of the wall were singing along in English. I love East Germany. Their first language was German, their second was Russian. They only learned English through music and songs. The fact that they regularly watched Knight Rider using trash can lids to pick up a signal was amazing.  I'd say being at the Berlin Wall was a massive highlight of my career. The other highlights were the birth of my daughters.”

 And one of our highlights was meeting the Hoff.

MEETING THE HAIRY BIKERS

Selling someone a ropey old motorbike that broke down out on its first ride out, hardly seems the best way to win friends and influence people. But that was exactly the start of a beautiful friendship for Simon King and Dave Myers – better known as the Hairy Bikers. 

The duo are familiar faces on our TV screens with many travel/culinary series under their belts, such as The Hairy Bikers’ Food Tour of Britain; Hairy Bikers’ Best of British; Hairy Bikers’ Asian Adventure and many more. Then there’s Dave on Strictly Come Dancing as well as their publication of a host of cookery books, plus guest appearances at shows and festivals. 

A few years back we went to the Isle of Man for the Queenie Festival – queenies being small scallops found in the waters around the Isle of Man. And who did we spot on the beach cooking queenies – but the Hairy Bikers. Our main interview with them however happened at the BBC Good Food Show at the NEC when we were invited to go ‘backstage’ to talk to them about their lives and career. 

We loved hearing about their early years. The duo have been friends for around 30 years and it all began when they met in 1992 while working on the Catherine Cookson series in the North East of England. Si was the second assistant director and Dave was head of prosthetics, hair and make-up. 

“It was The Gambling Man, Robson Green was in it. Dave had to set fire to him, I had to put him out!” Si told Rob and I in that colourful Geordie accent of his. “We’ve both been into bikes ever since we were kids. Meeting on the Catherine Cookson set, I had this bike I was selling, so I sold it to Dave.”

“Yes, he sold me a remarkably bad motorcycle,” said Cumbria-born Dave. 

“Ah, yes, but it was shiny!” quipped Si.

“Yes, it was shiny but half a mile into my journey it decided to self-destruct. I headed back to Si to get my money back – and we’ve been great friends ever since.” 

As kids, they both had similar childhoods in the fact that motor bikes fascinated them. “We’ve always had bikes, long before we should have,” admitted Dave. “When I was twelve I was bombing around the entries illegally on a motorbike.” 

 As for Si, he was into building bikes from the bits he always found in his Aunt Hilda’s shed. “She lived close to an accident blackspot, and I’m not saying she picked up pieces from the road, but these bike bits were always in her shed. In those days, that’s what you did, built up these bikes.” 

With both of them loving the open road, they teamed up to enjoy a fantastic career travelling the world and trying out the local cuisine on the way.

Si said, “I think learning about a place’s cuisine is probably the best way of learning about the culture of that town or country.” 

On their travels, the pair have certainly experienced a vast range of foods, although Dave pointed out that some of the things they’ve supposed to have eaten are pure myth. However, they both recalled a time in Portugal when Si went for something on the menu that sounded great but turned out to be unwashed, uncleaned crispy pig’s intestines. Not surprisingly the thought of tripe is now his idea of food hell.

And, as it turned out, a loathing for tripe is yet another thing the pair have in common. “I’d say tripe is my food hell too,” said Dave. “My father used to eat raw tripe, soaked in vinegar and eaten raw. The smell was foul.”

Dave said that he really got into cooking during the days he was at Goldsmith Art College in London. “I was a better cook than I was an artist,” he said, adding that it wasn’t a case of baked beans and student food for him. “My cooking was quite elaborate to say the least. I ran up a heck of an overdraft on food, that’s all I can say!” 

“These days when I’m cooking for the family, especially after I’ve been cooking something special for a show, they’re begging me to cook something ordinary. “Please can we just have a burger!” 

Si’s love of cooking stems from when he was a little boy. “My father was a very good cook, both parents were, so I’ve always been around food, I’ve just grown up with cooking. It’s such a natural thing. The best bit about cooking though, is cooking for the people you care about.” 

How true! 

And it was a lot of fun meeting them. 

Thank you Hairy Bikers for taking time out to talk to us!

Meeting Lance Henriksen

 

Lance Henriksen and Millennium co-star Megan Gallagher.
 

One of the nicest actors we’ve ever met, and who we’ve been fortunate enough to interview twice is Lance Henriksen. He is best known for his roles in action, horror and sci-fi movies, in particular Bishop in the Alien films. He also played Frank Black in Fox TV series Millennium. However, his list of films reaches to almost 100 movies, including The Terminator, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Damien, Omen II. Hellraiser, Pumpkinhead – the list goes on.

 

Our interview took place on a balcony at a Memorabilia Show, and Lance was enjoying the atmosphere of the event. “This is so much fun. It’s the first time I’ve done anything like this and its great fun, meeting the fans and talking to them.”

Rob Tysall and Lance Henriksen

 We asked him about his early ambitions to be an actor, to which he replied, “I always wanted to be an actor, even when I was a little kid. When I used to run away from home, I'd go to movies and sit all night watching Kirk Douglas. When I was 16, I tried getting into the Actors Studio and they told me to get lost. I said: 'I'll come back when I'm a man', and I came back when I was 30. I went to sea, I travelled the world ... I was waiting."

 

You can't do every movie - although I do a lot of them - and the thing I'm longing to do is… it's not that I think I'm funny…but I long to do a situation comedy. The challenge for me in a part is if it's something I haven't done. If I'm going to have a rough time doing it, then that's what I'll do. If I'm in the comfort zone, I can't. I have to get off-balance enough to be alive."

 

"I'm pretty slapstick in my life but nobody sees that. You get typecast. I'm from New York and I have a shit-detector that's outspoken. I'm very streetwise and the producers detect that. So, they get me on a movie and kill me. I go into their offices and I'm sure when I leave they say, 'You know, he'd be great to kill'. I've been killed every way you can imagine!

 

“In the Alien films, everything has happened to me. I’ve been ripped in half in the first one. The next one I was chopped up. In Alien vs Predator I was impaled on the Predator’s wristblades.” Laughing Lance added, “They keep bringing me back to life and killing me all over again!

 

Ann in conversation with Lance Henriksen

 “Alien v Predator was made in Prague, made in five months but it was five winter months and very cold, so really what you saw in the film was real, it was very cold. None of the sets were heated, and they were huge sets. None of the scenes were digital except perhaps maybe the crew ship going through the ice because it was impractical to do that in reality.

 

“It was amazing that nobody got hurt on this movie. You’d got this predator – a vast guy anyway but in his outfit, he was eight feet tall. He had to get into training, he had to train like a fighter.

 

“It was the most wonderful ensemble, everybody connected, and we’d all go out to dinner together. And after working with them, you do miss them. Colin Salmon for instance will always be my friend, I made some good friends that I still keep in touch with. I loved doing this film, the writer director Paul Anderson is a lovely guy – a bright, enthusiastic man.”

 As was Lance Henriksen himself!

Risen From The Ashes - Astley Castle

 Discover the fascinating story behind Astley Castle in Warwickshire.

 You could liken Astley Castle to the phoenix risen from the ashes. It has literally been brought back from a crumbling burnt out shell to become an award-winning historic gem nestling in the North Warwickshire countryside.

 Astley Castle dates back to the 13th century, it's been home to three Queens, played a vital role in the Civil War and is said to be haunted by the ghost of Lady Jane Grey.

 Over the centuries it's been knocked down, burnt down and vandalised, yet despite all that it has instilled passion in those who have fought to preserve and renovate it. And today it's one of The Landmark Trust's most treasured and successful historic building renovations. In 2013 it won the UK’s most prestigious architecture award, the RIBA Stirling Prize for Architecture.

 Astley Castle is tucked away in the little village of Astley near Nuneaton. It’s believed that there has been a castle on this site since Saxon times and was visited by royalty as early as the 11^th century. In 1266 Warin de Bassinghburn was granted licence to enclose his house – Astley Manor with a dyke and a wall and to crenelate it. The banks of the moat were 10 – 15 feet high.

 As centuries passed every age has stamped its mark on Astley Castle At one time it was owned by Thomas, Marquess of Dorset and his wife Margaret. Their son, Henry who later became Duke of Suffolk was the father of Lady Jane Grey, the ‘nine days queen’ who spent some of her childhood there. It was also home to the wives of King Henry IV and Henry VII.

 Just 500 metres from the castle there’s a stone monument to Henry, Duke of Suffolk, marking his desperate attempt to avoid execution for his part in the Wyatt rebellion by hiding for three days inside the hollow trunk of an oak tree. However, he was betrayed by his park keeper, arrested and beheaded at the Tower of London in 1554. The chair on which he sat in the tree is said to be at Arbury Hall.

 

Following his execution, Queen Mary ordered Astley Castle to be destroyed. It was dismantled as a stronghold. The Duchess appealed to be allowed to live in the remains of the house. Later she married Adrian Stokes who repaired the building.

 During the English Civil War, the castle was used as a stronghold by parliamentary forces, becoming one of a network of small garrisons. Captain Hunt and Lieutenant Goodere Hunt commanded about 35 soldiers there in July 1644. Royalist propaganda referred to Hunt as an ‘illiterate shoemaker’.

 In 1674 Astley Castle was bought by Sir Richard Newdigate who also owned Arbury Hall in Nuneaton. It remained in the Newdigate family until the 20th century and was then leased out. At one time the first Bishop of the revived Coventry Diocese occupied Astley Castle and in 1927 Queen Mary visited during the tenure of the Povey and Harper family.

 In 1953 Astley Castle had a reprieve from imminent decay when it was taken over by a hotel chain. It remained a popular hotel for 14 years often frequented by comedian Larry Grayson and had a cocktail bar named Lady Jane Grey. However, the hotel chain went into receivership, the furniture was auctioned off and the building left empty, at the mercy of the elements and vandals. In 1978 a fire gutted the building and Astley Castle stood derelict for many years. In 1998 it was put on the Heritage at Risk (HAR) Register.

 It was never forgotten however, and over the following years preservation societies and individuals fought to rebuild or save Astley Castle before 1,000 years of history were gone forever. From the early 1990s the architectural charity The Landmark Trust had struggled to find a workable solution to make the building habitable again.

 Finally, a competition was launched to design a holiday house that could be created within the ruins. Witherford Watson Mann architects were the winners. Their design went on to win the RIBA Stirling Prize for Architecture 2013. Funding for the project came through grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage and various charitable trusts and individuals. This Grade II Listed Building was removed from the Heritage at Risk Register in 2012.

 You cannot help but be reminded of its rich history as you approach Astley Castle on foot and walk beneath the ancient stone archway. At first glance the castle appears to be a ruin with its inner shell exposed to the elements; its mullioned windows gaping openly skywards through which birds fly in and out. However, look again and you’ll see the amazing transformation which won them the RIBA Stirling Prize.

 It’s been beautifully and tastefully constructed, the ancient and the modern sitting hand in hand, a two-storey holiday residence that sits unobtrusively within the Grade II Listed Building’s chunky sandstone walls. Ancient and modern brickwork create a beautiful and visible contrast between the old and new. Go inside and there’s an ambiance of comfort and luxury, yet the history and age of the building totally enfolds you. Speak to some of the staff and they will tell you of the ghostly lady who often passes by and says ‘Hello’.

 An elegant oak staircase takes you upstairs to a vast open kitchen area with period furnishings. Floor to ceiling plate glass windows provide perfect views of the Warwickshire countryside and the nearby ancient parish church of St Mary the Virgin. This is novelist George Eliot country and Astley Castle and the church were the inspiration for George Eliot’s Knebley Abbey and Knebley Church in Scenes of Clerical Life. Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) and her father were known to often visit Astley Castle and the church where her parents married.

 Look to the history of St Mary the Virgin church and you learn that it was completely rebuilt by Sir Thomas Astley in 1343 as a collegiate establishment. Originally, a cruciform building with a central tower crowned with a tall spire. A conspicuous landmark that earned it the name of Lantern of Arden because a light was kept burning on its top to guide wayfarers through the surrounding Forest of Arden. Go inside and you'll find alabaster effigies of some notable castle owners belonging to the Grey family of those bygone times. Gone maybe – but not forgotten.

 Book a stay at Astley Castle https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/astley-castle-4806

 

 

We Meet The Kenilworth Artists

 We appreciate art in all it many forms, so going along to the Kenilworth Artists’ exhibition held in St John’s Church, Kenilworth, was a great morning out. Not least to see people actually getting out and about once more – following Government guidelines, obviously, but because of the amazing talent all in one room. The exhibition is on until Sunday 4^th July 2021.

You’ll find displays of hand-crafted items including paintings, ceramics, glass, mosaics, textiles, prints, cards and much more. And of course, you’ll have the opportunity to meet and chat to many of the artists about their work.

While the majority of the artists in this group have long been involved in their particular craft, the group as a whole only got together a few years ago. As individual artists, the majority of these talented people knew each other or knew of each other’s work, but many hadn’t met or joined together for an art event. 

Thanks to Jo Ricketts who works in fused glass, plus a handful of the artists, they organised the group Kenilworth Artists, which now has a strong presence on social media, and of course come together to put on fabulous exhibitions for the public.

Holding their current exhibition in the tranquil setting of 19^th century St John’s Church, is a perfect venue amid the sandstone arches and stained-glass windows. They have ensured that lockdown restrictions and safeguards are all adhered to, ensuring a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere on the opening day. Visitors could happily browse the artwork, talk to the artists, and even have tea and cake.

The work on display was incredibly varied; paintings included watercolours, acrylic and oils; from the brilliant wildlife and landscape works in all those mediums by Chris R. Saunderson, to the wide variety of photography and artwork created by Natalie Thurman.

As mentioned, Jo Ricketts makes the most beautiful and unique ornaments and decorative pieces from fused glass – working with flat glass and a kiln, her skills produce outstanding work. 

Also, creating artwork that captures the attention is Kevin Alexander whose tools include a credit card and masking tape as much as a paintbrush!

In their normal working life, two artists – Helen Jayne Woodcock and Karen Pittaway, share Karen’s studio in Old Town Kenilworth. Helen creates stunning fine art paintings, often of the streets, buildings and landscapes of Kenilworth amongst other settings. While Karen’s unique paintings have an influence of L.S.Lowry about them yet full of colour, light and fine detail which speaks of the story-teller in her.

Captivated by the unusual perspective of her latest ‘lockdown’ paintings of the Kenilworth street she lives on, Karen explained to me: “These have been such strange times, I wanted these paintings to look a bit strange – a bit disorientating, hence the bending of buildings. And one shows the people out in the street, clapping the NHS. To get the perspective of distance and what can actually be seen far off, I’ve found that looking at Google Earth helps!”

Husband and wife artists Anna and Richard Poynter were both exhibiting their paintings and hand-crafted works. Richard, making sleek wooden clocks and Anna making mosaics of wildlife amongst other things. And while both clearly shared a love of painting, their own personalities shone through in their individual styles of work.

Leanne Simmons’ passion for wildlife and nature is evident in her almost dreamy paintings in oils and watercolours. She says that she strives to produce vibrant, emotion-provoking pieces of art. Something which I have to say, she certainly achieves.

Meanwhile, Louise Hutton exhibited some stunning portraits – not least was her version of David Bowie’s iconic Ziggy Stardust look. She also creates large acrylic paintings of cars such as the Aston Martin and famous celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Amy Winehouse and George Harrison in a pop art style.

Finally, for our visit we chatted to Melanie Dearing, a trained architect who has been painting all her life, but recently has been concentrating on boats and harbours for their shapes and colours. Her striking canvasses revealed the fact that she is currently painting in just five colours – red, yellow, blue, black with a white background.

No doubt your visit will discover your own favourite artists and works of art. All were unique but had two things in common. All the artists lived in Kenilworth at the heart of the Midlands, and all are passionate about art.

This free exhibition which runs until Sunday 4^th July is in conjunction with Warwickshire Open Studios, www.wostudios.org

Discover more about Kenilworth artists on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kenilworthartists

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kenilworth_artists/

This article was first published in B-C-ing-U on-line magazine:  https://b-c-ing-u.com/art/meet-the-kenilworth-artists/

If any Kenilworth artists would like high res copies of any of the images published here or on B-C-ing-U, please email Rob:  robert.tysall@outlook.com   

More images here and at B-C-ing_U.com

Back to Business

 

Ann and Rob here at Words & Images UK hope you are all keeping safe and well. We’re hoping too that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, and we can now move forwards and get back to business!

With very little happening in the outside world these last 15 months or so, we have been following the Government guidelines, staying home and social distancing. 

We have been working remotely, however. This article which appeared in The People's Friend Special during lockdown was on the talented Little Miss Miniature who we'd met and interviewed at a Miniatura Show before Covid. 

We've also been busy producing a series of articles for Collector’s Gazette magazine. The series was called Toys through the Years. Starting with toys from the 1940s, we covered the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.  Luckily, our years of photographing toys through enthusiasts’ collections and toy fairs etc., has resulted in us amassing a large stock of great photographs of toys from all of those eras. So, we were able to get these six double page spreads done and dusted!

Through lockdown, we’ve also managed to get articles published in Dolls House & Miniature Scene and on-line magazine B-C-ing-U (every single week!). 

As authors, we’ve also been busy writing fiction. You may remember our thriller, The Bitter End, published by Bloodhound Books, which became an Amazon Best Seller when it was released in 2018. (Pictured right). So many people wanted to know what became of our characters, that a sequel was soon on the cards. We're hoping that before too much longer you'll be reunited with Paul, Sally and the terrifying Lamia who possessed the witch Petronella in The Bitter End; and some fascinating new characters you'll by dying to meet! Watch this space!

 

 A fun thing to do, during an ease in restrictions, was to create another Lazy book.  Lazy, King of the Castle is our fourth book in our children’s picture book series about Lazy, a British Bulldog cuddly toy. 

We also have: Lazy’s First Christmas, Lazy at the Garden Centre and Lazy at the Motor Museum. Check them out – if you have pre-school children, they will love them. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lazy-King-Castle-Ann-Evans/dp/B08T43TY78

To write this book and get the images, we ventured out to Kenilworth Castle, where true to form, Lazy got into all kinds of mischief. But, best of all, we did find time to have a cream tea! My first one since the start of lockdown!

 

As a reminder – if you have an upbeat story, a fascinating hobby, an incredible collection, or even a charitable event you’d like us to write about, get in touch. We always aim to get our stories published either in a traditional print or on-line magazine; alternatively here on our blog.

 

Email: ann-evans@btconnect.com

 

Catching up!

So, there we were interviewing a member of Followers of Rupert about that loveable character Rupert Bear celebrating his 100^th birthday this year, when Ann got a slightly woolly feeling settle over her and a sudden impulse to go and play in the woods. 

Luckily, she was back in time for tea and in time to write up her article on Rupert for Collector’s Gazette magazine. It will be out in the March 2020 edition, in good time for Rupert’s special birthday party in Warwick over the August Bank Holiday period.

Ann and Rob – who stays safely behind the camera… Did I say safely? Well actually, Rob is the one usually getting into precarious spots to get the shots he wants. But on this occasion, he was perfectly safe in Rupert’s Nutwood garden.

He also stayed safe when we had another encounter with a large walking ‘talking’ creature not so long ago. This was a nine-foot-tall Wookee of Star Wars fame. Chewbacca was meeting fans at the MCM Comic Con event which we like to go along to twice a year.  The hairy giant took a break from a photo shoot to be interviewed.

His rather mournful grunts, groans and growls all seemed to look the same in Ann’s shorthand notes, but reading between the lines, he said he was enjoying the show but looking forward to getting home, putting his (big) feet up and having a mug of hot chocolate.

While we’ve been a bit remiss about blogging recently, that’s just because we’ve been up to our eyes in writing for different publications. Amongst the activities, we’ve been meeting people who build and race remote control boats, plus we’ve attended toy fairs and model railway events, all for Collector’s Gazette magazine. 

We’ve been talking to amazing miniaturists who make all kinds of highly detailed doll’s house miniatures that have to be seen to be believed. Those articles are for Dolls House & Miniature Scene magazine and Miniatura. If you don’t know about Miniatura – check it out. Their Spring Show takes place in March at the Birmingham NEC – don’t miss it!

We’ve also been writing about Hounds for Heroes and the Cinnamon Trust for The People’s Friend’s magazine. And lots of other events for our weekly slot in on-line magazine, B-C-ing-U. We’ve also been doing some restaurant reviews – I know, a dirty job but someone has to do it! Plus, some motoring events and the amazing Tanks, Trucks & Firepower Show, which is always so exciting!

So, as we get into 2020, we’ve already been out and about, writing, taking photos, doing interviews, as well as being on BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire's Brody Bunch Show a number of times. And we’ve been busy writing books – but more on that next time.

Happy reading and writing everyone!