BAFTAS & Richard Armitage

Thanks to PG for the pic

On Sunday I attended the BAFTA ceremony for Television.

For a couple of month's my Armitage Army website has been sending visitors to vote for The Vicar of Dibley in the Pioneer Audience Award. Last week they emailed to say we were the highest referring fan site and that Richard Armitage would be appearing at the BAFTAS. A couple of days later they gave me tickets to offere as a competition prize.

The competition was massively successful with 1,409 entries and in the end was won by a girl who turned out to be LG on the RA Forum. After she had recovered from the shock, she contacted me to say she wanted to take me as her guest as a thanks for the website. I was so touched, and it was lovely the amount of people who agreed with her and would have done the same.

There then followed 2 days of mayhem, and frantic worrying about what to wear. Finally w I chose a long champagne coloured grecian style dress. The most glam thing I've worn in my life.

Sunday dawned sunny and warm and I got up at 8am having not slept well, and doing my best impression of a zombie. The mood on the RA forum was one of great excitement, even at 8am! There were already RA girls at the viewing area outside the Palladium, PG and Milton, Soule and Sue would join them later. In between curling and cosmetics, I would keep checking the board where things were reaching fever pitch. The phone never stopped and I was thrilled to get a call from Beate in Germany. Beate has met Richard before. Looking back that must have been my lucky phone call.

At 3.10pm the cab came (it was late) and off I went to central London. Its was busy up town and LG had already arrived and was frantically texting to find out where I was. We had to drop off a little way from the hotel where the champagne reception was held. As I walked along, trying not to trip over my dress I realised one half of my dress was lower than the other. I looked down and one strap had snapped! Typical, thought it was going a bit too well. At the hotel met LG who looked very glam and stunning. She asked reception for a sowing kit, and they turned up with a shaving kit - trying to tell us something! Luckily I managed to hide between the nearest pot plant and reattach the strap.

We went to the Reception and had some champagne. It was full of guests of Pioneer, and we got chatting to Gary and David, Gary was from Sky. They were great fun and we had a lovely chat. At 5pm, we were told it was time to walk the red carpet. So nervewracking. Just as we left the hotel PG called and said Richard is on the red carpet. Cue me and rebecca trying to get along the road as fast as possible, not easy in heels and a long dress. We had to wait and PG said he'd moved on from them. So gutted, then she said he's coming back this way. I said try and get him again, and I could hear her shouting "Richard, Richard", then I heard "can you say hello to Eli from the Armitage Army". Next thing I heard was a voice I know so well in my ear "Hello Eli" said Richard, and me the master of conversation said "Hello Richard", my mind just went blank.

We then went onto the red carpet. It was mayhem, people shouting, photographers shouting, trying to dodge the TV cameramen walking up and down. We saw the girls in the crowd and did our red carpet poses for them while they took photos. It was just madness. Could hear I photographer shouting over here and turn round. It was only when I saw the photos I realised he was shouting at us. he obviously thought we were someone, because of people taking photos. How disappointd he must have been when we turned round.

Richard was just in front of us signing autographs. he looked absolutely gorgeous. Guy of Gisborne wedding hair plus tuxedo. Nice combo. We walked down the red carpet past him and to the door of the Upper Circle. Security was telling everyone to go inside, but we stood for a while as I was really warm. Then Richard came near us, so I said to Rebecca can you get him, so of she went, nearly taking out a cameraman on the way. She stopped him, and I wandered over.
LG introduced me as Eli, webmistress of the Armitage Army. Richard said "Really" gave me a great big smile and held his hand out. Shook hands and he said he was really pleased to meet me. We then had a chat about how we were there, and when I told him the AA was the highest referrer he thought that was great, so I said, well you might know what your fans are like, and he smiled. he told us to have a lovely evening as there was loads of champagne (am now concerned RA thinks I am a lush).then he was whisked away to do more photos. He was absolutely lovely, very softly spoken, and gives you his full attention with those lovely blue eyes of his. he really made LG and my night, as well as the girls from the AA who stood for hours.

Messages were being relayed by PG in the crowd to Tonia on the RA forum, and when the news broke on the forum, we'd met him it was absolute mayhem. The girls on the RA Forum were so excited about it, bless them.

We took our seats and settled down, with another glass of champagne. We could see Richard Hammond, Stephen Fry, Zoe from Any Dream will Do, and Janet Street Porter (we knew it was her because of the outfit). There were two young girls sitting next to us, and one of them was out of it, drink, drugs don't know what but next minute, she threw up, including on the poor lady in front. They took her away and we were allowed to move seats, so we went and joined Gary and David, and had a great time sitting with them and chatting throughout when our favourites did or didn't win.

Graham Norton was presenting. Love Graham Norton, another celeb I've met previously and who is lovely in real life too. He was very funny, but I gather some stuff was a bit too risque for the BBC and got cut. Shame! About an hour in Richard presented the award for Best Serial Drama, alongside actress Victoria Smurfitt. He was very composed and did a great job, especially when none of the winners seemed to get their act together to take the award from him. Vicar of Dibley sadly didn't win, but was beaten by Life on Mars which got a massive cheer, it having been robbed in the best drama series category by The Street (whatever that is). Could cope with VOD being beaten by LOM as it's an excellent programme and one of my favourites. Final award was the BAFTA Fellowship to Richard Curtis, presented by Stephen Fry who was as always very funny. There was a video tribute too, with Dawn French, Colin Firth and others which was a scream.

At last it was all over and done with. All the winners were gathered on stage for photos and champagne, and we made our way outside. PG and the girls had gone to wait outside The Natural History Museum where the after party was being held. We grabbed a cab and made our way there to meet them. Richard had already arrived and they had another chat with him which was great.

The cab pulled up and all these security ran up to open the door and tried to usher us onto the party, so we had to get out of that. Met up with PG and the girls, and had a chat. Stephen Fry then arrived right next to us, said hello and he said hello back. Then Mitchell and Webb arrived, Robert Webb was clutching his BAFTA so PG said well done and he smiled and said Thank you.

After a while, we left and made our way home. When I got in it ws still mayhem on the forum, so I sat up until 2.30am telling everyone about the night. Hedgeypig had screencapped the show, and PG had posted some of her red carpet pics of Richard which were gorgeous.

Had an amazing night, and so pleased I got a chance to meet Richard.

George Gently

I watched the Detective drama George Gently last night. Its not something I'd normally watch, the words, Sunday night and 1960's always bring to mind twee dramas like Heartbeat, but a certain Mr Richard Armitage was donning his leather again to play Ricky Deeming, the leader of a biker gang in the North East. I was pleasantly surprised. Gently was entertaining, good bits of tension at the end and has all the ingredients to go on to be a very good Detective series. The pair of detectives, Gently (Martin Shaw), the world-weary London Detective, sickened by the corruption all around him, and the eager Geordie Sergeant John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby), who can't wait to get away to the bright lights of London, and who's not afraid to bend the rules and go on instinct, make a very good double act.

The story is taken from Alan Hunter's Gently novels, in this case Gently Go Man. George Gently's wife has just been killed in a hit and run accident and he believes his nemesis, gangster Joe Webster (Phil Davis) is behind it. Sickened by the corruption rife in the Met Police which allows people like Webster to get away with their crimes, he decides to retire. He then learns that Webster was seen at the funeral of a teenager in Northumberland. His curiosity is piqued, when he learns the boy's death is being treated as suspicious and he asks for the case. Travelling to Northumberland, he teams up with local Detective Sergeant John Bacchus to investigate. When another murder follows, Gently is convinced that Webster is involved, but why would a London gangster be interested in a group of Bikers in the North East?

Ricky Deeming, leader of The Durham Defenders biker gang was close to the murdered boy and whilst Bacchus thinks he's a suspect, Gently thinks Ricky may be in danger himself. Could the boy's death be linked to his homosexuality, and what was his exact relationship with Ricky.

The main cast were excellent, Martin Shaw and Lee Ingleby make a great double act. There's a very funny scene in the lobby of a hotel, where Bacchus is expressing his thoughts on homosexuality (bad) and Gently is questioning him on his views, whilst winding him up, in front of a very interested waiter. Phil Davis plays the psychotic Webster with relish and thanks to Peter Flannery the writer, who gave him some great one liners. Yes there were a few police cliches thrown in - Gently to Bacchus, when Bacchus is egging him on to shoot Webster - "there's supposed to be a difference between them and us" he says, before putting away his gun. But on the whole it was well written. Flannery again showing his knowledge of the North East in times gone by (see Our Friends in The North).

Richard Armitage did well in the role of the slightly spiritual and poetic, hint of homosexuality, biker. His accent was a bit ropey, but I am sure his many female fans would have forgiven him that, especially when he fufilled a few female fantasies by being yet again tied up. Leather and being tied up, is this to be a recurring theme for RA?

Hopefully this did well enough to warrant a whole series, but here's hoping they don't go back to the books and Gently's earlier cases, but continue with the excellent partnership with Bacchus. It did appear that this would be the case from the hints in the ending.

Manfred

I went to see Manfred at The King's Head Theatre, Islington on Sunday. The part of Manfred was being read by Harry Lloyd (Will Scarlett in BBC's Robin Hood). The play was part of the Forgotten Classics series of readings by Primavera.

Manfred is the story of a noble who lives in the Bernes Alps. Tortured by the memory of an incestuous relationship with his sister which has somehow led to her death (by his or her own hand is not made clear. Manfred seeks forgetfulness and asks the Spirits/Destinies of the Earth to grant it, but this they are unable to do. He wanders the alps and is prevented from committing suicide only by the intervention of a passing chamois hunter. His torture continues and he visits the Underworld to challenge the King Arimanes where he encounters the Destinies again. They are enraged by his refusal to pay homage to Arimanes, but they produce the spirit of his love Astarte, but she refuses to speak and Manfred sees that as proof she has not forgiven him his crime against her.

Returning to his Castle, an Abbot tries to persuade him of the power of redemption through God, but Manfred refuses to seek that path and dies.

The play by Lord Byron is seen as semi-autobiographical. Its was written after he had fled England following his acrimonious separation from his wife Arabella Millbanke. Amongst gossip that Byron had taken part in sodomy and other (as were seen at the time) deviant practices, was the accusation that he had an incestuous relationship with his half-sister Augusta Leigh. The play was banned in Byron's lifetime, possibly as a result of its content, and possibly because of the vitriol felt towards him by members of English Society.

I have now seen Harry Lloyd in two plays (or readings) and he really has impressed me. At times he is quite stilted in Robin Hood, but here he was all passion, guilt and self loathing as the eponymous Manfred. He had no problems with the language and I never noticed him stumble over one word, which is more than be said for some of his fellow actors.

The other cast members of note were Phil Nice (lately seen in Bonkers on TV) as the Chamois Hunter and Herman, a servant of Manfred, Timothy Allsop as Manuel another servant and Davina Silver who brought a sprightliness and pertness to Spirit 1/Destiny 1. there was one part where Herman and Manuel were gearing up for a gossip, and the actors, restricted by their seats, managed to draw the audience in by their body language, leaning into each other in a conspiratorial way.

Its a shame this work is so overlooked, the poetry is at times beautiful, especially the introductions of the Destinies, and whilst it does lend itself very well to a reading where you can concentrate on the beauty of the dialogue, it would be interesting to see it performed as Byron meant it to be.

I went to see the play with 2 girls from the AA forum - Suzieq and PG and they were great company. An enjoyable evening was had by all and we had a lovely chat about all sorts, movies, actors, the AA, Robin Hood et al. This was added to by the fact Harry Lloyd stood chatting next to us for a while. In fact he knocked my arm and nearly spilt my drink - but I'd forgive him after that wonderful performance.

Equus

Chloe, Mes and I went to see Peter Shaffer's play Equus last night. The play at the Gielgud Theatre has been attracting a lot of attention, mainly due to the fact that it stars Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame and the fact he is required as part of his role to appear on stage completely naked. Its a shame that most of the talk concerns that rather than what a compelling, disturbing play it is.

Alan Strang (Radcliffe) has blinded 6 horses in his care with a hoofpick. He obviously loves and has an affinity with horses, so what has driven him to this awful action. Rather than be sent to jail he is placed in the care of Psychiatrist Martin Dysart to attempt to find out why he acted and to treat him. What follows is Dysart attempting to get Alan to open up about the night in question and to work out what drove him to harm the animals. At first Alan will not even speak, communicating only by singing TV advert jingles. As the relationship between the two grows, and Dysart learns more about Alan's home life, his parents opposed on matters of religion, it becomes more apparent why Alan acted why he did. His feelings towards horses twisted by transference of Jesus/God Like status onto them, and his confusion about sexual relations.

The first disappointment we had was that Richard Griffiths who plays Dysart was ill and did not appear. His place was taken by Colin Haigh. He aquited himself well, but at times I would find myself imagining Griffiths in his place and how he would have played it. Also for the entire second half, he was referring to what at first glance appeared to be a prop - a notebook, but which was obviously the script. This was extremely distracting. Second disappointment was Jenny Agutter. She seemed to be shouting her lines, I know we were in the Gods but the other cast members managed to project their voices whilst still sounding natural. Her scenes were with Dysart and while he was having a conversation it seemed like she was shouting at him all the time.

Now to the good things. Daniel Radcliffe was extremely good, capturing Alan's confusion, anger and wonderment perfectly. At first he seemed a little stilted but as the evening went on, he became more comfortable and yes that includes the infamous nude scene, which leads up to the plays denouement. You could have heard a pin drop in the theatre as he and Joanna Christie disrobed, but it wasn't well for me at least because of who he was or what he was doing, but rather because of the sympathy you felt towards his character, a young boy on the verge of his first sexual experience. You could feel his confusion and trepidation. The silence broken by Alan's frenzied attack on the horses.

The staging - The set is stark, a centrepiece with blocks and surrounding it in a semi circle the six stables. Everything is bought to life by the lighting - transforming the stage into a beach with the sea swirling round the edges, picking out the horses fear and panic when attacked, enhancing the feeling of frenzy during the attack scene.

The horses looked amazing. Dancers clad in brown with amazing metal horse head cages. There was one part where their eyes were lit and it looked absolutely stunning whilst reinforcing Alan's obsession with their eyes and the feeling the were omnipresent and watching him. The movement of the dancers playing the horses, and the sound of their hooves clipping on the stage, made you think of them as horses, added to that the soundtrack of neighs and whinnies.

I would recommend seeing Equus. Its very atmosperic and disturbing and was a spellbinding portrayal by Daniel Radcliffe of a very disturbed young man.

The Illusionist

I saw The Illusionist a couple of nights ago. I hadn't heard of the movie, but kept seeing the poster on bus stops everywhere and it caught my eye. So after a quick look on the official site and viewing the trailer I thought it was my type of film and I wasn't disappointed.

Edward and Sophie are childhood sweethearts despite being at different ends of the social scale (he is the son of her father's carpenter). Despite being told they cannot see each other, they continue to meet in secret. Finally they are discovered together, and Sophie implores Edward who has been studying magic to make them disappear, but he can't and the two are seperated for good. He leaves and travels the world learning more about the craft of magic. Years later, Edward in the guise of Eisenheim, the Master Illusionist and Sophie who is now the Fiance of Crown Prince Leopold of Austria meet again at one of his stage shows. They resume their affair, but as they plan to run away together tragedy strikes. But all is never what it seems.


This is the best role I have seen Edward Norton in since American History X. He is outstanding as Eisenheim making him a charismatic yet human character. The support is equally as good - Paul Giametti as the dogged, flawed yet enlightened Police Inspector on his tail, and Jessica Biel suprising me with both her ability to do accents and her luminence as Sophie. Rufus Sewell plays the psychotic yet charming Leopold, an act he can probably do in his sleep by now, seeming to be one of the long list of English baddie actors in Hollywood these days.

The film is gorgeous to look at, the colours and opulence enhancing the period, and at times the photography gives the film an almost dreamlike quality which fits in well with its subject matter. Added to that the haunting score and the movie is perfection. Plus its nice to see something original on the screen and that actually makes you think and question what you've seen earlier in the movie.

When Good Fans Go Bad

Being a part of two very different fan communities - Robin Hood and Richard Armitage, I am exposed to different levels of fan worship all the time. It's something that fascinates me how I can look at something/someone objectively and see good or bad points and yet another person can never see the bad only the good and in some instances flame anyone who dares suggest their chosen idol/topic is less than perfect.

I came across an article on WikiPedia that actually discusses the various stages of fan worship and actually gives it a name - Celebrity Worship Syndrome (CWS). There are 3 stages:

Mild affliction

People with mild affliction have a passion for talking about their chosen celebrity. They will pursue an interest in one celebrity and denigrate competing stars.

Someone with mild affliction would say, "My friends and I like to discuss what my favourite celebrity has done" and "Learning the life story of my favourite celebrity is a lot of fun." Psychologists found that people with mild affliction were generally extroverts.

Moderate affliction

People with moderate affliction were found to have an intense personal relationship with their idol.

Someone with moderate affliction would say, "I consider my favourite celebrity to be my soul mate" and "I have frequent thoughts about my celebrity, even when I don't want to."

Intense affliction

The third group were found to generally be solitary, impulsive, anti-social and have insensitive traits.

Psychologists enlightened that Hardcore CWS sufferers feel that they have a special bond with their idol. However, their bond is more intense than that of a sufferer with mild affliction. They believe their idol knows them personally and are prepared to do anything for their idol, even sacrifice their life.

Someone with Hardcore CWS would say, "If I were lucky enough to meet my favourite celebrity , and he/she asked me to do something illegal as a favour I would probably do it" and "If someone gave me several thousands dollars(pounds) to do with as I please, I would consider spending it on a personal possession once used by my favourite celebrity."

Researchers indicate that their form of CWS is borderline pathological.

I find it quite interesting that despite running fan websites and forums, I actually only come under the heading of mild affliction and even then I don't meet the criteria entirely, not being one for slagging off other actors because they are not Richard. It actually really annoys me when people do, as by my very great and public annoyance with some RA fans slagging off Jonas Armstrong, because in a series called Robin Hood in which he plays Robin Hood he gets more screen time than Richard who doesn't play Robin Hood.

With regards to moderate affliction, well I don't think RA is my soulmate, and I'm more likely to have sudden thoughts about a bloke I like in real life than RA.

Definitely not Intense Affliction. I would not do anything illegal for RA, neither do I feel I have a specila bond and if someone gave me thousands of pounds I'd buy a new car.

Unfortunately on several occasions in the Richard Armitage Community I have come across behaviour that borders on Intense Affliction.

Examples

On hearing her favourite actor may be gay or in a relationship, one fan confessed she couldn't stop crying. On seeing a picture of this actor with another woman, she couldn't believe how others were happy he seemed to be happy in a relationship with someone and again wanted to cry as it was bad he may have a girlfriend.

Very Scary Mary behaviour IMO. This is very much in the realms of "if he didn't have a girlfriend, he would be with me, if he knew me"

Some people write fan letters to their chosen celebrity - done it myself. However, some people write continuously, somehow that suggests to me, they consider they have some relationship with the person. Hmm Yes - in their head and nowhere else. This obviously would put them in the second category of CWS.

I find it very sad and very odd that some fans just can't see the difference especially when actors are concerned between playing a role on screen and how they actually are in real life. They may be nice in real life but who knows, not a fan, despite some thinking they do. The operative word here is Actor - i.e even the 'real' persona they present through interviews and public appearances, is their public persona, not necessarily how they are in private. Sad that some fans just fail to recognise this again it suggests they believe they have some 'connection' or relationship with the celebrity.

I think it sad and a little scary that some fans put all their emotional energy into someone they don't know and it is a little scary I'm sure for the celebrity to have to deal with this behaviour.

You can read the whole Wikipedia article on CWS here

BAFTA & The Last King of Scotland

I watched the BAFTAS last night. I don't know why but it seemed a little dull this year. Perhaps it was missing the wit and repartee of Mr Stephen Fry who sadly was not hosting this year. Don't get me wrong I am big Jonathon Ross fan, I mean who else could dare to wear a Robin Hood hat with a tangerine coloured suit and be so nonchalant about it, but he just seemed a bit too well behaved and obsequious, which is unlike him.

My film viewing has been sadly lacking in the last year, so I had only actually seen two of the main nominees - The Last King of Scotland and The Queen, both of which were dead certs to win awards anyway so I suppose I didn't have that nervous tension of was my favourite going to win an award. In fact I've never really felt that since the night The Return of the King won all those Oscars, I suppose it would take a lot to beat that amazing moment it won Best Picture.

Back to The Last King of Scotland, Forest Whitaker won Best Actor, deservedly so for his performance as the charismatic yet murderous Idi Amin. However, I'm slightly annoyed that James McAvoy seems to be getting ignored in the majority of the awards and plaudits thrown at the film. Although his performance is not as good as Whitaker's it's certainly not far off it.

Another thing that puzzles me is that Nicholas Garrigan (McAvoy) is in the majority of the movie and the story is about his time in Uganda with Amin, despite the title Amin is in the movie much less, so how come Whitaker is nominated for best actor awards and McAvoy in the case of the BAFTAS, best supporting actor. Very odd, I wonder how they work these things out.

I would recommend seeing The Last King of Scotland, its an interesting, if at times unpalatable story of one man being sucked in by Amin's charm and how he becomes complicit by his inaction in the atrocities going on around him before Amin turns on him. It is gory in a couple of places, but having heard of the killings and tortures carried out under that regime, the film makers could have made it much worse.

Since James McAvoy didn't win Best Supporting Actor I was hoping Michael Sheen would for his performance as Tony Blair in The Queen. I thought he and Helen Mirren were wonderful together in the film, and his performance was certainly as good as hers. Alas it wasn't to be. Although Little Miss Sunshine has been on my Must See list for some times, so I'll reserve opinion on whether Alan Arkin deserved to beat my two actors until I've seen it.

We Go To Nottingham

I visited Nottingham this weekend to meet up with some of the Ladies and one Gentleman of the Robin Hood 2006 Forum .

I arrived on Friday lunchtime, and since I have never been to Nottingham before was totally lost the minute I stepped out of the train station by the wrong entrance - note to Midland Mainline your signage is pants. Floowing my inbuilt shopper radar, I soon found the shops and had a calming latte before eventually discovering the Tourist Information Centre. Pausing there briefly to grab a free map and some brochures, I left before I did too much damage to my finances in their shop.

It rained all afternoon, and there was me trudging round Nottingham with nary an umbrella and weighed down by a bag full of Robin Hood goodies from The Tales of Robin Hood, obligitary pen, teddy, snowglobe and hat, so I nipped into Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem for a half, for purely medicinal and drying out purposes of course.

The pub is extremely old and full of small nooks and crannies. Standing at the foor of the Castle, its well worth a visit if you're in Nottingham, it has a good choice of local beers and the usual drinks and a varied menu. The food is delicious, service quick and friendly and decent size portions.

After I was suitably dried out and refreshed I made my way to my hotel. I walked but I would recommend (especially in rainy weather) geting a bus or a cab. I stayed at The Travel Inn, Castle Marina. I like Travel Inn's, know what I'm getting with them and not pricey either.

I spent the evening with Dantesmuse from the Forum who is a Nottingham resident and who runs the wonderful Robinhood.org website. After meeting her in the centre of town in by this time heavy snow.


On Saturday I made my way back to the Trip to meet the ladies who were arriving that day, Lady Wolfshead, Clberg, Lexie, Hazzardgal, Nottinghamlass, Piffy, Tdcheck, Dantesmuse, Scarlettwoman. However, we seem to have mislaid a member somewhere, our very own Romantic Knight, could it be in fact he was just a lily livered knave who was scared of being the only man in a group of ladies. Hmm, well he came out with multitudous reasons for not attending and was berated soundly over the phone by the group, and threatened by Clberg with all sorts of things mainly involving handcuffs.

After a very enjoyable lunch and chat (and alcohol) we made our way up to the Robin Hood statue for photos. Time was spent admiring the statues, especially that of Robin, with close attention paid to his big sword and thighs. There are also statues of the Merry Men and some wall friezes depicting amongst other things Robin firing an arrow from his deathbed - in the legend, Robin having been poisoned by the Abbess of Kirklees Priory and her lover, lies on his deathbed in the gatehouse and tells Little John that he will fire an arrow and wherever it lands is to be his grave

We then went to the castle. Stopping non too briefly in the shop, very tempting to buy bow and arrows and wooden swords

The castle is a more modern building, built in the 17th Century, so for those of you whom like me were expecting something similar to Alnwick or Warwick Castles, you could be disappointed. The old castle was knocked down during the civil war, although parts of it remain - namely a bridge built by Henry III I believe and the gatehouse in the photo above. The castle itself houses an art and sculpture gallery and also something we nearly missed, but which Lexie and I had a look at - The Story of Nottingham which is very interesting, and you can see artifacts, models and old photographs of the City there.

We followed this by a trip to the tunnels and caves under the castle. Built into the rock itself, the visit takes you way down underneath the castle where you visit the dungeon where King David I of Scotland was held prisoner for 5 years. Its very damp, dark and cold. Its hard to understand how anyone could have survived a winter down there, 30 minutes was enough to chill me to the bones. Leaving that area you climb back up and emerge in the courtyard where the old stables and coach houses are, which is quite suprising. There is a pillory there which is great for photo opportunities, and with the help of Clberg we used them.

Leaving there you walk under a tunnel, then back up some steps to the castle before going deep below again to Mortimer's Hole. This is named after Roger Mortimer, lover of Queen Isabella the consort of Edward II. Isabella and Roger had had her husband killed, a homosexual, Edward was killed using a method which did not leave marks on the body - a red hot poker inserted into his bowels - not pleasant. This was a painful but effective way of ensuring that the body looked untouched. However, it was obvious what had happened, and Edward and Isabella's son, King Edward III, resenting what they had done and also the fact that they were ruling the country in his name, sneaked into the castle through the tunnel in which we stood and with the help of others dragged Roger Mortimer out through the tunnels, from where he was taken to London and hung, drawn and quartered. Legend has it that Queen Isabella was locked up in the castle for the rest of her life where she went mad, but in reality, she retired to Castle Rising in Norfolk.

The visit to the caves was extremely interesting. However word of warning it is not suitable for infirm or extremely unfit people, there are a lot of stairs up and down, some quite narrow and in places slippery.

We finished off with a visit to the Brewhouse Yard which is next to the Castle. Your ticket for the Castle gets you in there for free. This has a series of rooms and a shop depicting life in the last 300 years. You can stand in an old kitchen and air raid shelter, and with its interactivity it encourages you to touch and smell the artifacts there.

All in all it was a great weekend, despite the weather and lovely to meet and put faces to some of the members of the forum.