Dufus & Shirt...

...You Can't Handle the Tooth !!

Sandwiched between its ‘Season 19’ and ‘Season 18’ signing events, Spirit Sinema were having a general Classic and nu-Who signing. As it was the weekend of Shirt’s birthday celebrations, Dufus came down for both. Having spent the morning with Shirt parcelling up items that Dufus had sold on eBay, they drove down to the station and following a journey which passed without incident, they found themselves in Chiswick and undertaking the ten-minute walk to the venue.

On arrival the steward initially handed over only one set of entry documents and one free double-sided print, until Shirt pointed out that he had booked two tickets. In a new turn of events, all attendees now had to wear a sticker declaring themselves as such, presumably to prevent ‘lobby-conning’. Paying for their autographs (Dufus being surprisingly restrained), they made their way into the main hall, where they joined the queue for the first session’s main draw, Samuel Oatley, T'zim-Sha (aka ‘Tim Shaw’) in the first and last stories of Series 11. Looking at the double-sided print which featured both T'zim-Sha’s stories, Dufus decided to use one of his autograph vouchers to get it signed by Samuel. Shirt was first to the front, and got Samuel to sign his ‘Series 11’ poster (being the first non-‘Arachnids in the UK’ guest star to do so), before posing for a photo taken by Dufus. Samuel then initially seemed confused by Dufus asking him which side of the print he preferred, finally deciding to sign the ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’ side. Shirt then struggled to take a photo of Dufus with Samuel, Dufus’ phone finally taking the photo on about the twentieth attempt.

Next up was Yaz’s Nani from ‘Demons of the Punjab’, as played by Leena Dhingra (who also appeared in ‘The Unicorn and the Wasp’). Wanting her signature on both his Series 4 and Series 11 posters, Shirt passed the former and an autograph voucher to Dufus, to allow them both to get a photo with her. Photos taken (Shirt deciding to let one of the stewards struggle to take the photo of Dufus), and they moved off, Shirt taking back his Series 4 poster, causing Dufus to panic a few minutes later that he had lost it.

At this point, it was announced that a cake that had been made for the launch of John Levene’s autobiography – ‘Run The Shadows, Walk The Sun’ - was available for all attendees to have a slice (whether they bought a copy of the book or not).

The third guest was George Roubicek, Captain Hopper in ‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’. Shirt was first, getting his DVD cover signed with limited discussion, then posed for a photo with George. However, when Dufus put his DVD cover down, George stabbed at one of the autographs already there.

‘Who’s that ?’

‘Charles Pemberton – he played one of the Cybermen’, replied Dufus.

‘Well I don’t remember him’, said George.

George’s steward, and then several other attendees then spent several minutes striving to get Dufus’ phone to take a photo of him with George, whilst Shirt attempted to pretend that he wasn’t with him.

The final guest for the first session was Colin Stinton, the ill-fated President Winters in ‘The Sound of Drums’, who only Shirt wanted a signature from.

This completed and a photo taken, and the two moved off to look at the 10x8s being sold on the nearby table (Shirt having bought several Louise Brealey photos on the last occasion). This time Shirt purchased a ‘Maid Marian and her Merry Men’ publicity photo for 50p. Dufus then cut himself a piece of John Levene’s cake.

Looking at the time, they decided to pop out to get some lunch, and on finding only limited selection at the small supermarket close to the venue, decided to walk back to the supermarket opposite the train station. Having bought their lunch, they had been walking back for about a minute when Shirt realised that he had lost his attendee sticker (he had been taking it off for his photos and when they had left the venue, sticking it to his bag). However, repeatedly removing it meant that the stickiness had run out, causing it to fall off his bag. They therefore walked back to the supermarket, checking that it had not fallen off at the tills, and walked slowly back scanning the ground.

‘If we can’t find it, you can have mine. There’s only one person I want in the second session’, kindly offered Dufus.

However, on reaching the side-road that led down to the venue, to his delight, Shirt saw his lost attendee sticker, picking it up and placing it in his pocket. Sitting on the wall outside the hall, they ate their lunch, and enjoyed the conversation of two Sixties Cybermen (Barry Noble and Derek Chafer) as they walked past them, going completely the wrong way back to the Underground station. Initially they discussed Freedom Passes, then one asked the other,

‘Do you remember Reg Whitehead ?’

‘Who ?’

‘Reg Whitehead’

‘Reg Whitehead ?’

‘Yes’.

At this point they realised that they were going the wrong way, and retraced their steps, passing our friends again.

It was time for the second session, and entering the venue, Shirt found another lost sticker on the floor, swapping it for his due to the other being stickier. First up was Robert Goodman, regular supporting artist, who signed Shirt’s ‘The Eighties’, then Jack Parker who played a Zygon in ‘The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion’, who signed his ‘Series 9’ poster. Moving across the hall, Shirt got Aled Pedrick, Idris Hopper in ‘Boom Town’, on his ‘Series 1’ poster, then Danny Horn on ‘Living History’ (from Large Endings’ ‘The Churchill Years’), who also posed for a photo.

Having bought an extra autograph voucher, Dufus then got John Abbott (Vince) to sign his ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ DVD sleeve and pose for a photo.

It was then time for the final guest of the day, Edward De Souza, whom Shirt wanted to meet again due to some Sherlockian credits. He therefore got Edward to sign ‘The Roof of the World’, then posed for a photo with him.

Leaving the hall, they made their way back to the station for the third time that day, where after a short wait, they caught a train. However, due to not paying attention they missed their stop, and had to travel back further than intended. After buying some bubble wrap at Poundland (and taking a gigantic empty cardboard box from outside), they stopped at a supermarket where they managed to purchase some brown parcel paper and get some empty fruit boxes perfect to post a ‘War of the Daleks’ board game.

The early evening was spent in preparing for the others, who all arrived together at 8pm – Chalky, Tigger, Lupine and Zygon Curry (Enigma had forgotten that she was on holiday when she had agreed to attend). Cue an enjoyable evening of ‘Shirt Sea-Slug’s House of Games’ (based on the similarly named BBC2 show), in which Chalky proved to be an expert answer-smasher, winning all three games and therefore the little plastic trophy. Tigger as usual provided a wonderful cake, meaning that Shirt no longer regretted forgetting to have a piece of John Levene’s earlier.

The next morning Shirt packaged the final few items, and Dufus left after Sunday lunch, expressing a strong intention to come to the ‘Season 18’ event in a month’s time. Both agreed it had been a wonderful weekend !

[PL]