Today I took a trip down to Brighton for
Timey Wimey - a small charity event headlined with none other than Tom Baker
and Louise Jameson.
It meant an early start, but luckily there is a direct train from where I live direct to Brighton central, so thankful it was a stress free trip. To pass the two hours productively I took along some hand stitching. Someone soon will be getting a Sixth Doctor coat where their appliquéd strip was sewn while I was in full Tom Baker costume!
The event took place at the Thistle Hotel on Brighton's sea front, only a stones throw from where the opening scenes of
The Leisure Hive were shot.
It was also close to Brighton Pier, where back in 2005 the very first new series
Doctor Who exhibition took place. That was quite a small affair, with only 13 episodes to plunder for exhibits, compared to the all-singing all-dancing Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff.
It was raining heavily when I got to Brighton, so a taxi to the hotel was in order - don’t want to ruin my costume!
A Dalek was on hand to welcome everyone, and after registering I quickly realising I was one of only a scant handful in costume! A couple of the event crew were past clients of mine - so it was a shame they were obliged to wear their crew t-shirts rather than don the costumes I’d made them.
The event was officially opened by the mayor of Brighton, who affectionally recalled Tom’s visit for
The Leisure Hive location filming.
The first timetabled event at 10:30am was a stage talk between Toby Hadoke and Tom Baker. I say talk, but these days you just have to ask a vague question and it sets him off for an entertaining ramble of disconnected recollections, rants and general fantasy.
Tom is like a senior citizen stand-up comedian, keeping his audience in the palm of his hand at all times with them hanging on his every word. He does it so effortlessly and it's a joy to watch. For all his off-track wanderings, he does surprise you by his total recall of episode titles when recalling specific guest artists who shared the screen with him.
Once in a while Toby asked a question, or when Tom ran out of steam he turned to him for the next push down memory lane.
To say the audience enjoyed his talk is an underestimation and by the standing ovation he received both before and after was testament to his enduring appeal and convention draw.
The next talk at 12:15pm was with
Big Finish, but I was booked in for a one-to-one photo with Tom so I’ll have to catch them another time as I had to get in the queue.
Since it was a small event with limited tickets available, the queue wasn’t too long and they got through everyone nice and quickly.
Tom was happy to play along and pretend to me reading my River Song diary. Not his best performance, but acceptable!
One of my clients sent me a couple of great photos today.
