WC MAY 25

Just written an article for the next edition of The Beacon, which, hopefully, looks like it could be July. During the final 10 days before the lockdown I managed to undertake five in-person interviews, which had all been prearranged. One of these will be my next Beacon feature. She is such a popular actor from several hit television series. One of the other four that I managed to fit in is pictured.

Just been finalising the release order of my six DVDs from my 120 television shows for TV12 and Solent TV. At present it seems the total of interviews used will be 43. Some will be for 13 minutes and others for 26. I am very excited by the contents from some wonderful guests. There will be a facility to call each separate interview up for instant viewing, thanks to my good friend Maurice Gilliam.

The end of the week was quite emotional, for different reasons. I was sad to hear the news that two friends had died in the past few days. Patsy Perkins, who I had known for around 60 years, passed away on Friday. I had seen her last a few weeks before the lockdown. Sadly she had two forms of cancer. Her brother Terry, more famous as pop star Craig Douglas, has been a long term friend of mine, as have the whole Perkins family. Such sad news.

Also sad to hear of the death of my old school pal Winston  ‘Olly’ Downer. What a great character he was. He gave so many so much fun over the years. It was laugh a minute with him.

On a happier note, it was such a surprise to get a call from my long term friend Mike Rogan from Whitehaven. It really cheered me up. He played over 400 Football League games for Workington. Such a great guy and another avid record collector, like myself. He spent a couple of holidays with us here on the Island back in the 60s and 70s. We also spent a couple of holidays in Whitehaven.

I was also feeding the ducks, chickens and moorhens at the Moor Farm duck pond, one of my favourite walks, when my phone rang and it was a video call from my son Sean and his wife Susie. It was perfect timing, as their two twin boys, Roddy and Ronnie, could see the animals on the WhatsApp. It was brilliant and they were shouting ducks and saying ‘quack quack.’ They even spotted I was wearing a hat. A precious family moment.