Having been engaged in one of his other interests (the traitor !), namely meeting the king of Sketcheristic Spoons (I mean Spooneristic Sketches), Ronnie Barker, whilst Dufus was meeting Mr. Baker the Elder (see Dufus meets Tom), Shirt had to attend another signing, being held five days later at Frames Bookshop. Chalky and Enigma being otherwised engaged on the night in question, Shirt attended said event alone (Well, that's his excuse and he's sticking to it !).

Shirt had spent the day enrolling at the University of Hertfordshire, and therefore, had to waste time up in London. The idea that the Oxford Street branch of VG Jones would be a good place to do this was scuppered by the fact that the Spice Girls were doing a signing of their new book, whose name I am pleased to report escapes me ! No problem, thought Shirt, I'll go to the Great Western Humangashop. WRONG !!! Said store was full of Red Dwarf fans (Dwarfians ??) for a signing by Doug Naylor & most of the main cast of Series 8. Seeing that joining the queue would be fruitless, there being more chance of Dufus being able to stand upright for more than 30 seconds when standing still, than reaching the front of the queue before the next millennium, Shirt retired to Frames bookshop 45 minutes early.

As per normal, none of Frames' staff had any idea of where the signing was taking place, however by following a chap in trenchcoat and white, very-bleached looking "Doctor Who" T-shirt (which he had probably had for at least the last 25 years), Shirt eventually found himself in the right place. Chairs were provided, so Shirt bought a copy of the master-work "The Boy Who Kicked Pigs" (at 30% off), and sat down idly flicking through, looking for the rude words.

45 minutes later, and six tannoy announcements from an American woman who obviously had no idea of who Tom Baker was (other than "the ultimate Dr Who", which it obviously said on the piece of paper in front of her) GOD arrived !! A vision of crumpled white hair in a long cream trenchcoat, he stood in front of the table where the signing was to take place, and addressed his audience directly. Apparently he had borrowed a mobile phone, which he was keeping in his deep coat pocket, and which had started ringing, causing him to worry that the end was upon him as "his balls had started ringing". From this point onwards the audience were entranced. Around eight anecdotes later (half from "Who On Earth is Tom Baker"), including a lengthy rant about Huw Edwards' hair, to which the audience laughed whether they were funny or not, he retired behind the table to begin signing. Nobody had the heart to tell him that he was supposed to be reading them extracts from the book, but c'est la vie.

Shirt's conversation with Tom was short but meaningful.

"Can you sign it to Shirt, please ?"

"Can you sign my 'Sontaran Experiment/Genesis of the Daleks' video sleeve, please ?"

Then it was out into the cold London night, stopping briefly to pick up a copy of "Classic Television" which had articles on both TV Sherlock Holmes & "The Royle Family". All in all, an entertaining evening with a strangely likeable nutter !