Glasgow Who | Doctor Who Blog

I’m getting slack,

It’s not for the want of trying but you try, pizza delivering, podcasting, website building and trying to find the time to watch the Randomiser story every week, it’s a busy time. Never mind, September should be good for me do more things though.

Well the whole Shabang (that’s my intended spelling Alan, :op) starts of for us Glasgow Who guys on Saturday (29th August) with our little stall at collectormania. Unfortunatley I can’t be there to help sell tickets for Nabil’s little visit 27th September but I will be at the meeting the following Sunday (6th September). I wonder what Bryan’s gonna be doing to excite us this time.

Going onto Who things, i must say I’m pleased to see that Nicola Bryant has great support of us mentioning us in DWM this month but there is one thing that hs annoyed me this week,”Doctor Who’s Greatest Moments,” Is it me or does it seem like the Doctor Who Confidential team are running out of ideas. It’s the first time I’ve almost stopped watching something Who related in ages. It was dire.

Oh, maybe I should of put a rant up on the forum. I might just do that.

Till next time

Barry

As you probably know, we will be manning our usual tablefull of Doctor Who goodness at this year’s fabulous Collectormania at the Braehead Arena on 29 and 30 August (that’s next weekend, fact fans!)

We’re fully covered for the Sunday but we need one or two brave souls to help man our table on the Saturday…

If you think you have what it takes to help us sell the group (plus our Nabil Shaban event and a few photos,) let us know!

Ideally, we’re looking for someone who can be there for the whole day… but if you can only make it in the morning, or just in the afternoon, we may be able to fill our slot (ooh err missus!) with two people rather than one! (Yikes!)

Just let us know on this thread (or by PM if you’re shy!) and we’ll let you know the arrangements!

(Please don’t be offended if you ask to help and you’re not chosen - we will hopefully find someone to fill the gap quickly and we’ll have to get arrangements made as quickly as possible… so don’t hang about if you want to help us out!)

Cheers!

Al.

To quote the opening line of Dragonfire - you lucky, lucky people!

 Glasgow is awash with events and activities for the discerning Doctor Who fan over the next month or so.

 We kick off with the next meeting of the local Torchwood fan club this Thursday evening, run by the lovely Leigh. Just pop along to the Crystal Palace from 7pm and look out for people talking Torchwood at the comfy couches by the window. Beers will be imbibed, chat will be partaken of and a good time will generally be had by all comers. Lovely!

Then, a little over a week later, the sheer loveliness of Collectormania Glasgow once more descends upon those of us lucky enough to be in the vicinity of the Braehead Arena over the weekend of 29 August. Doctor Who guests confirmed to date include Peter Davison, Mary Tamm, Sophie Aldred and Dave Prowse… (I’m led to believe the latter has also appeared in some film series or other but I wouldn’t know about that. Star Warts or something. I think it’s the shocking story of celebrities in space contracting a variety of disfiguring carbunkles.) It’s well worth popping along as, apart from anything else, your very own local Dr Who group will once more have a table at the event, plying our wares. (That’s us, by the way, in case you hadn’t guessed…) We should hopefully have some exciting news by then so please pop over and have a chat!

Meanwhile, over in Edinburgh, there’s still time to catch the lovely Katy Manning in her one woman show at the fringe, hot on the heels of the wonderful event Martin and the Edinburgh group arranged at the start of the month.

Then we high tail it into September (already?! It feels as though May’s Army of Guests were only yesterday…) And week one, as always, sees our triumphant return to The Crystal Palace from 7pm onwards on Sunday 5 September. I’m sure uncle Bryan has been slaving away in his meetings lab, concocting something exciting for us all to partake in amidst the booze and chatter… but I shall leave it to his good self to reveal the results of his dabblings…

And, of course, the end of September (the 27th, to be precise) sees our next event of our very own, The Whole Shaban - An Afternoon with Nabil Shaban, between 14:30 and 19:30 at Trader Joe’s on Hope Street. Amidst the traditional blend of interviews, autographs and photographs, we have one or two very exciting little additions… which we can’t tell you about just yet! And all this for just a tenner! Bargain! Buy your tickets quickly or you will miss out on a fantastic day!

And, not wishing to go too far into the future just yet, but fans of the recently released Delta and the Bannermen will be interested to hear that Agent Hawke himself, Morgan Deare, will be appearing in The Stripper at the King’s Theatre in the first week of October. Ticket prices for the play start at a very reasonable £14.75.

So keep your eyes peeled for even more Dalek-table goodness and we’ll see you at one (if not all!) of these fabulous events!

Cheers!

Al.

What a brilliant Sunday (2^nd August)

After wiping the sleep from my eyes I took the bus into the city centre just after 8 and typically it looked like it was going to rain. I took my umbrella and typically I never used it.
Just before 9 I arrived at the Crystal Palace where Alan and John Hughes were already waiting for our lift, Rintu.

Rintu turned up just after 9 and we were in the city of Edinburgh just before 10 and trying to figure out how to get to the Illicit Still. Alan can never remember the way and everyone else was just as bad!

When we did arrive, after going up the road Alan ignored and told us not to go up in the first place, we all arrived at the venue just after 10. Katy Manning was sitting talking to Martin near the front door and she was greeting everyone who came in. Just after 10.30 we all sat down with our coffees (unfortunately drink couldn’t be served until 12.30) and started Katy came onto the stage.

What a witty woman. I have never known someone to be so engaging and she has so many anecdotes of her life and her time on Doctor Who. I never knew she was friends with Liza Minnelli and she’s such a versatile voice artist. She certainly isn’t anything like Jo Grant’s perceived naivety and under all the scattiness there is a very underestimated and intelligent woman. A joy to listen to and I would like to once again on behalf of the group thank Martin and the team in Edinburgh for a brilliant few hours.

Alan also announced in Edinburgh Nabil Shaban will be with us in Glasgow on 27^th September and he’s already posted a lengthy blog for this so I’ll skip over it.

Photos

Well, what about the photos for the new series filming. Is it me or is Karen Gillan just stunning in whatever she wears. There is even a photo of a recurring guest star but I’ll say no more just now, it’s really a spoiler still.

Forum

The Randomiser is swinging into action and the Fan Fiction section of the Forum is still being looked at but our concentration will be on Nabil’s event between now and September 27^th so any new things for the forum will probably be put on the back burner.

Website

The website as you already know crashed on Monday (27^th July) and didn’t come back up until the following day. We are working behind the scenes to improve this and prevent such a major server failure from happening again. Using a hammer and spade just doesn’t do the job in fixing server quickly nowadays…

There are mumblings that the gremlins of the group are doing something. I’ll let our events gremlin say more…

Till next time I’ll leave you a picture of Rintu, Me and Alan with Katy. Guess which one has had the drink!

Barry

Hello, hello, hello you lovely, lovely people!

Hot on the heels of the frankly fabulous Katy Manning event which was hosted by our friends at the Edinburgh local group this past weekend (what do you mean you weren’t there? You missed a fantastic day…,) we’re pleased to announce that the events bandwagon is rolling once more in a Glasgow-wise direction.

In fact, with so many brilliant guest events this year in Scotland (what do you mean you weren’t at Army of Guests in May either??!! You didn’t know about Collectormania next month??!! You’re just not trying hard enough..!!) you could even say it’s a bit of a Sil-ly season for Scottish fans…

Especially when, on Sunday 27 September 2009, from 14:30 to 19:30, Glasgow Who, The Glasgow Doctor Who Society, proudly present The Whole Shaban, a unique chance to meet actor, writer and director Nabil Shaban, the man behind the most iconic villain of the 1980s, Sil, the profiteering Mentor from the planet Thoros Beta.

Nabil made two appearances in classic Doctor Who - his debut in 1985’s Vengeance on Varos, followed by Mindwarp, part of the following season’s epic Trial of a Time Lord.

So Varos, so goodos!

Nabil has had a fascinating career, ranging from Dr Who to films with Patrick Swayze and Clive Owen to competing with David Tennant for the 2005 Theatre Critics of Scotland Best Actor award, and we’re delighted to be able to welcome such a fascinating guest to Glasgow.

The event will have the usual blend of interviews, photo opportunities and autograph sessions, along with competitions and much, much more! You could even say it’s an event the way they’re Mentor be…

Standard Tickets are just £10.00 and include admission and one free autograph. Gold Tickets are also available for £20.00 and include front row seats, an extra free autograph and first place in all queues. (NB - There are only 6 Gold Tickets available and 2 have already been sold! So Nab yours before they’re all gone!)

To buy your tickets by post, send a cheque (made payable to “Glasgow Who”) to Alan G McWhan, Top Right Flat, 12 Percy Street, Cessnock, Glasgow, G51 1NY along with details of where to send your tickets

To buy in person, come along to our next regular meeting at the Crystal Palace, (Sunday 6 September 2009 from 7pm,) or keep an eye out for additional meetings

To buy online, visit http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/glasgowwho/nabil.html or visit our main website at http://www.glasgowwho.co.uk and follow the links

There are also places for just 4 lucky attendees to join Nabil for lunch before or dinner after the event! Attendance at each of these exclusive meals costs just £5 per person plus the price of your meal! (NB You must have a ticket for the main event in order to book a place at either meal. We cannot guarantee the availability of Marsh Minnows at either meal.)

As there are only 4 places at each meal, you’d (Thoros) Beta be quick if you want to take part…!

Full details are available, as ever, from our main website at http://www.glasgowwho.co.uk, and you can join in the discussion of the event on the forum at http://forum.glasgowwho.co.uk

So join us on 27 September 2009 for The Whole Shaban!

Go on - give us your Sil of approval!

Cheers!

Al.

(This announcement has been sponsored by The Glasgow and Surrounding Areas Awful Pun Society.)