Shirt…

...Isn’t That A Pip ?!

Having enjoyed the rare treat of Memorabilia London, a few weeks before, it was time for Shirt to partake of the delights of the annual Winter Memorabilia show at the ENC in Birmingham. Dufus briefly considered joining him, but other commitments intervened. Therefore, it was a lone Shirt who fought his way across London to Euston Station, finding the task difficult due to no less than five Underground lines being at least partially closed. Just catching his intended train by seconds, the doors closing behind him just as he got onto the train, Shirt settled down, listening to the first ‘Eighth Doctor/Mary Shelley’ Large Endings’ audio, “The Silver Turk”.

Arriving at Birmingham International station, Shirt made his way to the far side of the ENC, where a large queue had built up ready for standard entry at 11am. People were being directed to join it by security staff in order to purchase tickets. However, knowing better, Shirt turned the opposite way, and joined another much shorter queue a short distance away, which led to the payment kiosks. Having bought his ticket, Shirt joined a second queue beside the entrance. At 11.02, both queues were let in, with a large number of people from the previous queue having to break off and join the payment queue. Shirt was therefore towards the front of standard entry.

Shirt’s first focus was to find the ‘Spirit Sinema’ area, as they had brought the guests that he most wanted to meet. Finally found them, he joined a medium length queue for Derek Jacobi. The queue moved swiftly, and soon Shirt was placing down his Series 3 poster and picking up an ‘I, Claudius’ photo, from the impressive selection, that he had been asked to get for Dufus. Derek was in good form, carefully signing the poster and the photo. Shirt decided not to mention the ‘Frasier’ episode in which Mr. Jacobi appears as a Shakespearian actor appearing at a sci-fi convention, which Dufus had reminded him of, a few days before. He did, however, seem very pleased when anyone proffered any theatre-related memorabilia, particularly if it was of a Shakespearian nature.

Next up was Series 6 repeated guest-star, Frances Barber, the eye-patched Madame Kovarian. She happily signed Shirt’s Series 6 poster with a flourish, and a very large signature. Carrying his poster a short distance, Shirt joined a queue for Marshall Lancaster, who had appeared in the Series 6 two-parter “The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People”. Behind him in the queue were two ‘Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes’ fangirls, who kept shrieking at the thought of meeting DC Skelton. Their excitement almost overflowed when it became clear that they would be able to get a photo with him. It being his turn, Shirt stepped up, and placed his poster in front of Marshall.

“Where shall I sign ?”, he asked.

“Under Raquel”, replied Shirt gesturing to the signature of Ms. Cassidy that he had obtained at ‘Pandorica 2011’  (see S…Is There As The Pandorica Opens).

Moving away before he could get caught up in the fangirls deciding which image of DC Skelton they wanted Marshall to sign.

The next guest he wanted being away from her table, Shirt took a moment to sort out his items, and ensure all signed items were stowed away safely. By this time the guest, Fiona Walker, had returned and so Shirt got her to sign his “Silver Nemesis” DVD sleeve. He then decided to wander around looking at the other celebrities that were signing.

Reaching the table for Peter Egan, one-time star of “Ever Decreasing Circles”, Shirt found that he had several photographs of his turn as Sherlock Holmes in the 2010 tour and West End residency of “The Secret of Sherlock Holmes”, that Shirt had been to see. He therefore paid for his favourite of the images, one of Holmes centre-stage with the shadowy figure of Moriarty in the background above him, which Peter happily signed. Wanting to add to his collection of photos of him with actors who had played the great detective, Shirt asked Peter for a photo with him, which he agreed to as long as Shirt made a further donation to the dog charity that his appearance was supporting. Initially there was no-one to take the picture, then Peter asked his wife who was just signing for someone else, meaning that Shirt got excited about his photo being taken by ‘Lady Adrasta’ from “The Creature from the Pit”. However, in the end the photo was taken by a steward, as Peter’s wife was still signing.

As Shirt was leaving, having completed her own signing ‘Lady Adrasta’ tried to sell him a Timothy Dalton autograph without success.

The final guest that Shirt wanted was Sue Holderness, Marlene from 'Only Fools and Horses'. Having already got five signatures in his “The Story of OFaH” (see D&S...Make Fools of Themselves & S...Ice Cold Without Alex), he wished to add Marlene. However, the length of the queue for the six OFaH guests meant that he changed his mind.

Shirt then wandered around the stalls, finding little of interest, finally purchasing four stills from one of the photo stalls – two of Cumberbatch and Freeman in ‘Sherlock’, one of Mark Strong as Blackwood in ‘Sherlock Holmes’, and one of Karen Gillan as Amy Pond in her "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood" costume. He therefore made his way back to the train station, taking a quick ride on the monorail to the airport to buy lunch, before catching an earlier train back to London.

Arriving back in London earlier than expected, Shirt decided to make for the Donmar Warehouse to see if he could get a photo with Karen Gillan this time, having failed to ask for one last time  (see S…Buys One, Gets One Freema). However, after a long wait at the wrong door of the two possibles, and a quick run, Shirt found Karen in a rush as she was dining with a friend between performances, so no chance of a photo with her. However, he managed to get his recently acquired 10x8 signed, albeit not dedicated. Having made a quick detour to Naughty Asteroid, Shirt wended his way home, satisified with his day’s achievements.

[PL]