Paying for three autographs, Shirt extracted his Series 7B poster from its tube, and approached the table where Julian Seager, one of the soldiers from ‘Nightmare in Silver’ was signing. Having signed the poster, Julian chatted to Shirt about the new series.

Glancing over at Barrie, Shirt noticed he had a pile of ‘TGMD’ photos in front of him, and so returned to the payment desk, paying for another autograph (and getting one free).

Next up was Ray Brooks, who Shirt got to sign a photo of him with Peter Cushing (using his free autograph) as well as his ‘Companions’ book. Shirt had been umming-and-ahhing over this until he saw Ray sign someone else’s book. Shirt then posed for a photo with Ray.

Moving over to Barrie, Shirt picked up one of the ‘TGMD’ photos, which showed Basil straightening his deerstalker.

“The animators copied me putting on my hat in that scene”, confided Barrie, going on to describe how closely the animators paid attention to his every move to give Basil some of his mannerisms. He also described how much he had enjoyed working with Vincent Price, and how they both attempted to ‘out-ham’ the other. He then signed Shirt’s ‘TGMD’ video cover.

Shirt then asked for a photo, which proved to be difficult, but finally Barrie managed to adopt a position that he described as “Shirt gives me notes”.

Photo taken, and Shirt was moving off, and making his way back to Barking Station and the District Line to Upton Park. Striding out for the What Shop, Shirt arrived a few minutes before the advertised signing start time. It seemed that the Twelfth Doctor comics that Lee was due to sign had been delayed, but Helen A had not been defeated as Lee would be signing prints instead, with the comic being able to be pre-ordered. Having browsed the shelves for fifteen minutes, without buying anything, the signing finally began, and Shirt purchased a print of Lee’s alternative comic cover and pre-ordered the comic for a combined price.

Placing the print in front of Lee, Shirt again spoke at length about his views on the new series, as Lee signed it, and showed off some of his other artwork, none of which Shirt decided to buy. Shirt, Lee and another fan spoke at length, including about the appearance of Lee’s Abslom Daak artwork in ‘Time Heist’, until someone else who wanted Lee’s autograph arrived at the signing table. Shirt made his excuses and made his way through heavy rain to the station, from where he wended his way home.

[PL]