Guest Starring: IndyTimelord

It was time for a double-header – Seventh Galaxy Events had a selection of classic and Nu Who guests, and Naughty Asteroid were hosting a book signing, by ‘Now Show’ musical-satirist (and gigantic WHO fan), Mitch Benn.

Making the mistake of not checking for engineering works before leaving home, Shirt found himself at West Ham with the platforms that he wanted (the District Line and c2c) taped off. He therefore got back on the Jubilee Line to Stratford, and a rail-replacement bus that slowly wended its way to Barking. Finally arriving at the Learning Centre, Shirt paid for four autographs and went to straight up to Finlay Robertson, ‘Blink’ guest-star, who had no queue. Finlay happily signed Shirt’s ‘Series 3’ poster, commenting on the large number of signatures.

Next up was Jean Marsh (Shirt knows that she’s a black-and-white companion, but he was using his free autograph) who after a short time of queuing, signed Shirt’s ‘The Five Companions’ CD cover alongside Peter Purves. Shirt then joined the largest of the queues, that for Simon ‘Chunky’ Williams. On reaching the front, Shirt proffered his recently acquired ‘Remembrance of the Daleks: Special Edition’ DVD cover (having realised after the previous week when he had met Royce Mills, that there was no space left on the standard cover). He then offered his copy of ‘The Eighties’.

“This is very full”, commented Simon.

Shirt nodded, deciding not to share that he was on the brink of his hundredth signature in the tome.

Finally, Shirt got Simon to sign the inside of the video cover of Jeremy Brett’s ‘The Eligible Bachelor’ (in which Simon plays the eponymous character).

Moving off, Shirt sat down briefly in the hope that the panels led by Bobod might start soon, but after fifteen minutes, people were still arriving, he decided to make an early start back to Naughty Asteroid. At Barking Station, Shirt managed to catch a c2c to Liverpool Street, from which he could pick up the Central Line to Tottenham Court Road. He therefore found himself at Naughty Asteroid earlier than expected, and so spent time circling the lower level until the signing started. IndyTimelord, another friend of the gang, seemed to be doing the same, and told Shirt that he had also been at the Seventh Galaxy signing, but had obviously left prior to Shirt’s arrival.

Eventually Mitch arrived, and a queue formed, joined by IndyTimelord and Shirt. The queue moved swiftly with Mitch signing copies of his new sci-fi novel 'Terra'. Soon IndyTimelord was stepping up to meet Mitch, and getting the assistant to take a photo of him with Mitch using his iPad, which she struggled to hold steady. Then it was Shirt’s turn. Stepping up, he put down his copy of ‘Terra’, which was summarily signed.

Next was the Large Endings’ Eighth Doctor story 'Army of Death' in which Mitch guest-stars.

“Who’s that ?”, asked Mitch jabbing at a signature already on the cover, “you haven’t got McGann to sign it, have you ?”.

“No, that’s Barnaby Edwards”, replied Shirt.

“Oh, Barney Dalek“, said a disappointed Mitch.

Finally, Shirt placed down a copy of Mitch’s 2005 album, 'Crimes Against Music’.

“Look, I’ve already signed it ‘To Chris’”, commented Mitch, indicating a signature so faded that you’d have needed a microscope to see it.

(‘If only Liza Goddard was so observant’ thought Shirt)

Mitch saw Shirt’s surprise.

“You bought it on e-Bay didn’t you ?”, he accused.

Shirt nodded embarrassedly.

“I sometimes think that the unsigned albums must be rarer than the signed ones”, Mitch continued, covering up an embarrassed silence.

Posing for a photo, the assistant having no problems with Shirt’s normal-sized camera, Shirt picked up his items and moved off.

Joining a short queue, and picking up a copy of the newly-arrived 'Prisoners of Time #6' comic book (the one featuring the Sixth Doctor, Peri & Frobisher), Shirt paid for his copy of ‘Terra’. Saying a quick goodbye, as he was on his way to his third event of the day (to meet First Doctor guest-star, Derren Nesbitt), IndyTimelord dashed off. Shirt meanwhile, slowly wended his way home, listening to an MP3 of various stars (many very familiar) reading the first chapter of Mitch’s book ripped from a promotional video, before spending an evening with Chalky and Tigger.

[PL]