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Is it really five years that you have all been kind enough to log on to this website and see how your humble blogger has been faring and what I'm up to generally and professionally? ÌýFive years â€� gosh!Ìý And it would be wrong of me to allow this anniversary to go past without reiterating my great thanks to Rob Cope who has mastered the intricacies of web design and maintenance at the same time as being endlessly patient when this old codger forgets to update him about my doings.Ìý Part of the problem is that he is so competent and knowledgeable that I seem to expect him to know things by osmosis.

"I know it therefore Rob must know it too!"

Clearly this is asking a lot � but he is always very forgiving when he is the last to know something!

Today, as I write this, it's Mothers' Day and the sun is shining â€� Spring is nibbling away at the Buckinghamshire countryside outside my window.Ìý I am grabbing a few minutes away from the chores at Baker Towers to share with you all a few words about what is going on in my life.

I have agreed to go on tour with a really exciting new play by Chris Paling called The Final Test. It is beautifully written piece about a man who is perhaps a little too fond of his crossword and the cricket to know what is actually going on a round him and has to deal with the consequences of that lack of attention to the people in his life.ÌýI mustn't tell you any more about the plot, as it would spoil your fun if (as I hope) you all come and see it while it is on tour this summer.Ìý It opens in Lincoln on May 31st and tours for the next three months to venues all around England and Wales (alas no Scottish dates at the moment) You can check the venues elsewhere on this site.Ìý The play is being toured by Ian Dickens International â€� the same producer for whom I did Woman in White last year.Ìý Also in the cast will be Peter Amory and Karen Ford who were both also in Woman in White, which I am delighted to report will also probably be touring again later in the year to some of the theatres we didn't appear at in 2011.

Before that I shall be recording a few Big Finish audios in April, as I will not be available to record any for a few months after then.Ìý As you know, I am always delighted to get back in to Moat Studios to revive the doings of 'Old Sixie', and his endless stream of excellent companions â€� one of the vintage ones will be returning imminently!Ìý I shall also be recording an exciting and spooky audio drama for Moonscape Productions in the West Country soon.Ìý It is called 'Abercorn House' and is written by Kirby Fraser.Ìý I'm looking forward to going down there in a couple of weeks time to record it.

I've been enjoying a rare opportunity to attend a few games at Adams Park where my local team Wycombe Wanderers play their home matches.Ìý I'm a season ticket holder but usually I'm on tour and we always work on Saturdays in the theatre, which are invariably two shows days, so I miss a lot of matches.Ìý Mind you, my presence doesn't seem to have worked wonders as we're struggling at the bottom of League 1, though we are showing recent encouraging signs of a late come back and recovery. Fingers crossed.

Life at Baker Towers remains as hectic as ever.Ìý Our Jack Russell puppy, Henry Herbert, is keeping us on our toes.Ìý He is simultaneously the naughtiest and the most beguiling dog we have ever had.Ìý His favourite trick is to grab something he thinks you might like/want/need and then leg it, stopping to waggle it at you as if to say 'Come on - chase me!' ÌýHe also has a slightly protruding lower jaw and a snaggle tooth which add to the raffish and comical air. The end result is we have fewer hairbrushes, pens, pencils, loo rolls than we should â€� but we're never bored.Ìý And if we do get cross with him he just rolls over and presents his tummy for a tickle.ÌýI wish I could get away with that when people are cross with me.Ìý Maybe I should try it.Ìý On the other handâ€�.

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Well, panto is over and I am sufficiently recovered now to send my greetings to all of you who are kind enough to give a hoot what I have been up to since October when I last blogged.ÌýThe Woman in White tour ended just before panto started and was one of my happier experiences on the road.Ìý They were a great company of actors and we're all waiting to hear whether the play is going to be touring again later in the year.ÌýProvided that I am free, I would be more than happy to give my Count Fosco another airing to those areas of the UK that haven't yet seen the play.Ìý It's a great story; and now we've played it to a dozen or so towns, we know the areas that need tightening up and it could be even better next time out.

As soon as that tour ended I got caught up in the exhausting process of recording 'Come Dine With Me', which many of you may have seen when it went out in the week between Christmas and New Year on Channel Four.

My first reaction when my agent said that they wanted me to do it was to say 'Not for all the tea in China!' - I genuinely am not ,and never have been, anything resembling a cook, let alone a cook with pretensions to giving dinner parties for anyone â€� let alone four strangers.Ìý But, as always, my family urged me to do it and I decided not to be a wuss and thought 'What the heck!Ìý As long as I don't poison the unknown foursome, it could be a laugh!'

Fortunately, a lovely actress called Karen Ford (who had played Mrs Michelson in Woman in White) had entertained the cast after the show one night with a superb dish that she had said was 'easy' to do, when we all declared how wonderful it was.Ìý It was a slow cooked shoulder of pork and was mouth-wateringly stunning.Ìý So, I got the recipe off her and had a couple of practices on my family before the big day.ÌýI'm glad I did because one or two of the other celeb cooks were literally winging it on their nights, it seemed.Ìý Anyway Karen's pork won the day for me and I collared £1000 for my local dog charity â€� The Stokenchurch Dog Rescue Society –which was fab!Ìý The process was exhausting though.Ìý Most nights I didn't get home until long after 2am from the other people's houses â€� and on my night,the camera crew arrived at 9am and the last person left at 5-30 the following morning!Ìý I genuinely don't know how they do it, because we only had to do it for that week.Ìý The production team and crew have to do it week after week.Ìý They were a great lot though and seemingly still retained a sense of humour and some energy.Ìý Heaven knows how.Ìý Funnily enough it was the two young ones of the 'celebs' who found the pace unbearable and kept falling asleep over dinner.Ìý And they were the ones who were used to going out clubbing all night!Ìý We three older diners, who generally view any time after midnight as alien territory to be avoided, seemed to hold out much better and keep our sense of humour.Ìý Linda Nolan made me laugh a lot.Ìý She was great fun.

As soon as that finished and I had had a few hours sleep, it was into panto time.Ìý The Mansfield Palace Theatre.Ìý I don't know what I did expect, but it wasn't that I would come away saying that was my best panto experience ever.Ìý But it truly was.Ìý The cast were, without any small exception,the nicest bunch of performers I've ever worked with â€� and talented in equal measure too. The Palace Theatre is a little gem that I had never been to before. And the management and crew made us all feel more welcome than I have felt in a theatre for years.Ìý If you had told me before I went there, that I would say 'I can't wait to go back to Mansfield', I wouldn'thave believed you.Ìý But it's true and I hope I get to work there again.Ìý And I hope too that I get to work with all or any of the cast.Ìý We were genuinely sorry to leave each other. Usually I have to be, let us say, 'diplomatic' in one or two cases when I leave a job.

Now I am at home with a diary full only of Conventions and signing events at the moment, but for a few weeks I won't be agitating to get work.Ìý My agent's phone isn't getting red-hot yet, though in a few weeks I might arise from my torpor like Smaug and start harassing him.

The good news is that my book of short stories, 'Gallimaufry' is, even as I write this, being printed.ÌýYippee.Ìý Tim Hirst, the publisher, had to wait longer than I would have liked for my final manuscript, which I delivered before Christmas at his busiest time, poor chap.Ìý But we have been through the setting out and proof reading processes and I am really pleased with how it looks.Ìý I only hope that the reading of it provides some pleasure to the countless millionsÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý (I wish!)Ìý whobuy it.Ìý There are a couple of stories in particular that I am especially proud of and hope that they find favour.Ìý Perhaps it's time for me to dig a novel out from the recesses of my chaotic imagination.ÌýI'd like to give it a go before senility creeps in, anyway!

I am enjoying my Twitter life - both in reading other people's wittering and chuntering on myself.Ìý The joy of Twitter is that you can take it or leave it, follow who you like and others can do ditto.Ìý When the odd numpty becomes abusive or irritating, you can just block them and they go away, well at least as far as you are concerned.Ìý Most Tweeters are lovely â€� and, of course, brief â€� which is the joy of Twitter.ÌýWhenever I can, I scroll through the @mentions and answer a couple, although I can assure you that if I answered all of them, I would get nothing else done at all.Ìý Not showing off â€� just explaining.Ìý So don't feel rejected or ignored if you tweet and get no response.Ìý There just aren't the hours in the day, I'm afraid.Ìý

My next event is a trip to Prestatyn this weekend to Pontins for the SFX event, at which it appears there will be hordes of folk.Ìý Should be fun.Ìý See you there perhaps?Ìý And in two weeks time â€� Belfast.ÌýI'm really doing the UK this month!Ìý Check elsewhere on this site for full details of all .Ìý Spring's on its way.Ìý Hooray!Ìý And my thanks yet again to Rob Cope website maestro and guardian of my reputation for keeping this site so interesting and as up-to-date as he can given my terrible memory!

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Once again I should start by apologising for the length of time it has taken me to update this occasional Blog.ÌýBut it gets tedious if I always start by saying 'Sorry' and making feeble excuses â€� so I won't.Ìý Although I am. Anywayâ€�.

Since my last update I have been trotting around England being Count Fosco in The Woman in White.Ìý The production, I am delighted to report, has been very well received everywhere, since we opened in Wolverhampton back in July.Ìý The reviews have been very positive, which has surprised all as we had, to be honest, been worried that a play which is in total pretty much three hours long might prove too much for most people.Ìý We hoped we were doing a good job but feared for the staying power of the audience!Ìý But such is the strength of the original story by Wilkie Collins that the length of the play doesn't seem to bother people.Ìý That is useful to know for the future.Ìý I have been in plays that have been around two hours forty five minutes long in the past and people have complained that that was too long.Ìý Clearly, if what the audience is watching is sufficiently gripping, then the time will go quickly.Ìý

I guess too that the adaptation by Nicola Boyce and the actors can and should take some of the credit as the cast is very strong throughout � and it is a larger cast than one might normally see on tour these days; so the producer, Ian Dickens, should be commended for taking the risk of sending out such an expensive production when times are so tough financially.

It has been a great cast to work with and all of them have become good friends over our three months together.Ìý Most of us shared a house when we were in Derby and had the best week I've had on tour for many a long year.ÌýWe rented a big old mansion near Ashbourne and stayed up far too late and talked far too much.Ìý But it was great.Ìý As I write this, we have only three weeks to go before the tour ends; so if you are in Crewe this week, Malvern next week or Taunton the week after, come and see us, if you haven't done so already.

Otherwise, I must confess that I have still failed to deliver the final version of my book of short stories to Hirst Books, so the delayed production of it remains my fault and not the Publisher's. Sorry - all of you who paid up front.Ìý I promise you that Iwill complete the final bit before my tour ends in three weeks time and deliver it to Tim Hirst.Ìý Otherwise all is well at Baker Towers.ÌýNo 1 daughter Lucy has started her second Year as a Primary Schoolteacher.Ìý My second daughter Bindy whohas been in Rhodes since April as a quarter of an ABBA tribute band has returned, slimmer, browner and glad to be home â€� and is now â€� as is the norm in the entertainment business â€� looking for the next gig.Ìý No 3 â€� Lally â€� is all graduated and ready forthe fray â€� but in common with all those other young hopeful graduates lookingfor the right job, while doing a temporary unpaid internship for an animal charity.Ìý Rosie myÌý fourth daughter is still saving her pennies as fast as she can before auditioning for Drama School.Ìý

We have a new dog â€� a Jack Russell puppy now five months oldwho is a complete NUTTER!Ìý His name is Henry Herbert.Ìý He is very funny and very naughty and has fitted very well into the existing menagerie.

My wife and I managed to grab a three day 'holiday' in Cornwall during a weekout from Woman in White and were lucky to do so during that wonderful weather at the beginning of October. We both share a love of Cornwall and dream of downsizing there whenthe girls finally flee the nest.Ìý If ever!

Panto approaches fast.ÌýAlthough I have a day or two in audio studios coming up â€� not sure if I'm allowed to say what I'm doing so to be on the safe side I won't say what I'm doing now and will update in the fullness of time.

I still haven't found anywhere to live while I'm in Mansfield and really should be doing something about that instead of writing this probably â€� but I have never been a very good time manager and felt a sudden stab of guilt for Rob Cope whose continuing generosity of spirit keeps this web site running.Ìý

The most exciting thing that has happened to me this year arose because of very sad circumstances.Ìý My dear friend,Ìý the much loved Nick Courtney died this year, as I mentioned in my last blog.Ìý As a result the Presidency of the Doctor Who Appreciation which he so rightly and gloriously held after the first President Jon Pertwee was taken from us, became vacant.Ìý I was astonished and humbled when I was contacted by DWAS to ask if I might consider accepting the Hon. Presidency.Ìý Anyone who has seen me at a Convention knows that I am not normally at a loss for words; but on this occasion both given the status (in my eyes) of my predecessors and the wealth of other Doctor Who luniaries available, it did not occur to me that I might be in the frame for this great honour.Ìý I am very, very touched that the membership who voted consider me a suitable person to bear the grat seal - and I do most sincerely hope that I will be in charge of it for some considerable time.Ìý But I must be circumspect here - I did - remember - say I wanted to beat Tom Baker's seven years as the Doctor when I got that job.Ìý So I shall just be honoured and humble and shut up now!

We have also just seen another fabulous new season of the programme reach a very complex and stunning conclusion.Ìý I loved it and cannot understand those few fans who say they don't.Ìý I think Matt Smith just gets better and better and for me just IS the Doctor.Ìý No question.Ìý I hope he stays on for some time.Ìý He and Steven Moffat are a winning combination - long may it continue. And bring on the labyrinthine plots, I say!

As for next year for me â€� it is at the moment an open and empty diary after panto.Ìý I was in the running for a rather nice tour but someone else recently pipped me to the post for that â€� so that's another actor's name to add to me grudge list!Ìý Watch this space basically.Ìý I shall notify Rob as soon as I know what is afoot.

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ÌýÌýI'd like to be able to report that the reason that it is so long since my last update was that I have been so busy.Ìý But that would not be very accurate, I'm afraid. As is always the case, we find more time to do things when we are busy than when we aren't.I have, of course, been away.Ìý I attended conventions in Australia and New Zealand at the end of March/beginning of April.Ìý That was a brief flurry of activity for three weeks.ÌýAs always when I go to there, I met a lot of splendid people. The fans in both countries are so appreciative when one of us treks all the way to see them. The process of travel by aeroplane to the other side of the world is (it goes without saying) quite vile, especially when you are not the size of a flat race jockey on a diet.Ìý If I am comparable to the practitioner of any sport I would perhaps be more like a rugby player gone to seed or â€� oh alright â€� a sumo wrestler at his prime.Ìý So shoe-horning myself into the seats offered to the air passenger these days is no joke.But once the travelling bit is behind you, there a few more convivial people to visit than Aussies and Kiwis, unless we happen to be competing against them in some sport at the time.Ìý I visited Adelaide first Ìýâ€� lovely weather, nice people and appreciative fans, Melbourne â€� where I metÌýSteve Gerlach and Megan â€� greyhound owners ( greyhound called Jazz) , writer and artistÌý and Dr Who fanÌý and partner.ÌýSteve very kindly took me out to lunch in a lovely winery in the suburbs in exchange for my scrawling my name inside his Tardis.Ìý A fair exchange I thought and one that enabled me to get some quality dog stroking time in. Then on to Brisbane â€� got stranded at the airport (saved by Twitter â€� more anon) and got arrested for jaywalking â€� which those of you who check up on my movements via my weekly Bucks Free Press articles may already know about, so I won't go on and on about it again.Ìý Then, it was over to Auckland for a three day layover, where I was entertained by various people and enjoyed the many delights of that city and read a few books. Finally â€� Wellingtonâ€� one of my favourite cities, nestling in a natural harbour amongst bays and hills and with lots of creative people around the place.Ìý It is the home of WETA after all and Peter Jacksons's studios.During the trip I shared platforms and signing tables withsome delightful actors from the UK and USA and elsewhere.Ìý From the latter Kristanna Lokken the bestlooking cyborg from the Terminator films who was very charming and good company,as was Katie SackhoffÌý from Battle Star Galactica. And I spent a great day sitting next Gimli in the form of John Rhys Davies. ÌýThe undoubted draw, however, whose queue of teenage girls snaked around the venues into infinity was Tom Feltonâ€� Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter, who was kept signing for hours after we others were in the bar celebrating a good day well spent.Ìý The Harry Potter franchise is truly phenomenal.Ìý I have to report that Mister Felton is a really nice chap and not at all like the character he plays.Ìý I am never surprised any more when the actors who play 'baddies' are cool and quite opposite to the roles they play.Ìý In fact, in the very odd case of 'difficult' actors who are 'up themselves' â€� they tend to be the actors who play the 'nice'roles. Interesting! ÌýI guess that being a baddy is cathartic.Then the interminable journey back via Melbourneand Hong Kong and the inevitable consequent jet lag.And now the real world surrounds me, which is no bad thing.Other work has included the continuing (hopefully forever)joy of Big Finish. I have recorded a few already this year and am about to enter a phase of recording three more over June, which I am looking forward to enormously as the word I am hearing from BF is that the scripts are very exciting.I am in discussion about doing a play later in the year which I will alert you all to if and when the finer details are agreed.And I shall be strutting my stuff in Jack and the Beanstalk at the end of the year in Mansfield.Ìý A panto I have done before (in both Bath and Malvern most recently) but at a venue that will be new to me, so I am looking forward to that new experience too.I have also recently discovered the joys of Twitter, as I mentioned earlier.Ìý I have resisted Facebook and other chat sites, after realising how time consuming and invasive they can become, but a friend suggested Twitter to me and I find it great fun.Ìý Limited to 140 words, you can follow people who interest you â€� like Wycombe Wanderers footballers, actors I have worked with and people like Danny Baker, Rio Ferdinand, Alan Sugar â€� there's eclectic for you! ÌýYou can also get information out there quickly when necessary and have a bit of merry banter with your chums.Ìý I am able to keep in touch with my dear companion Nicola Bryant much more often than I have thitherto but without it taking up too much of her or my time and it seems to delight the fans too, with whom I can also interact.Ìý Saw if you haven't discovered me yet on Twitter - @sawboneshex â€� give it a go.On several occasions it has proved a boon when I have been in situations where I need help or advice; a quick word on Twitter and I get scores of helpful responses.And I can update you all on my upcoming gigs too.Ìý Although your first port of call should always be this my official website, which is dependent of course on me remembering to update it more often and keep Rob â€� 'upon whom may the Gods smile' â€� informed.See you soon.

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Happy New Year all.

Not an awful lot has been going on this year although I did spend a very pleasant few days in January recording an episode of Doctors forthe BBC. It is called 'Every Heart that Beats' and is due to be aired sometimein April I gather.Ìý It's bound to be while I am away in Australiaâ€� more of that later. I am quite proud of this one as it was a really nice part with a bit more depth and development than some of the parts I have played on television lately. I played a QC called Augustus Bloom who undergoes something of a 'Road to Damascus'change of heart that really affects his life in many ways.

Great director - James Larkin, who as an actor himself, was completely in tune with what actors need from a director when the pace is asfast as it is of necessity recording Doctors.ÌýThey really do shoot at a very crisp rate â€� which isn't too bad in this case as the team are really on top of it and as long as you can cram the words in at a fast rate then it all goes very smoothly.

I recorded some audios for Big Finish in January too, which was (as always) a great experience.Ìý I always look forward to my visits to the Big Finish studios mainly because ofthe people involved â€� David Richardson the producer and Toby the studio owner and genius with the dials, computers and microphones (as well as being the best caterer in the known Universe) and Nick, Ken and all the directors.Ìý Big Finish consistently turn out audio dramas that even eclipse the mighty Beeb's output. I wish that we actors could take the credit but it is the extra hours and hours â€� days even â€� that are devoted to the post-production sound build that make the difference.Ìý

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Otherwise all my activities have been home and family related pending my trip to Australia in a couple of weeks. Bill Geradts who took me over to New Zealand a few years ago has invited me to do a few events in Australia and New Zealand in March/April so I am flying off to Melbourne to start a whistle stop tour that takes in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Auckland and New Zealand before I return just over two weeks later.Ìý I have enjoyed both my trips to those two wonderful countries before so have no doubt that I will be made most welcome and have a great time.Ìý I was to meet up with Sylvester there but I gather that his filming in New Zealand has been delayed, so I shall be doing the rounds with only John Leeson as a companion.Ìý I say 'only' â€� but John is a very witty and sophisticated person so I suspect it will be a fascinating couple of weeks.Ìý He is also a wine connoisseur which in the Antipodes will come in very useful.

The sad note of the year so far has come with the death of dear, lovely Nick Courtney.Ìý He really was 'the guvnor' as far as Dr Who was concerned and there was only one of him.Ìý Doctors? Ten a penny!Ìý Companions? ÌýTwenty a penny!Ìý Brigadeers? ÌýJust the one.

Not only that but he was in every sense of the word â€� a gentleman.Ìý I never heard him say anything hurtful to anyone, nor did I hear him do anything other than see the other fellow's point of view.Ìý Things that would make me furious and vocal would only provoke the merest of sighs and resignation from Nick. Even when he said 'No' he did so in the most charming way so that theperson concerned did not feel rejected but honoured that his Brigship hadshared a conversation with him.

I went to his funeral last week which was made most affecting by the fact that the officiating priest Bert Baker was a personal friend of Nick and Karen â€� indeed he had married them.Ìý So unlike what can happen on this occasion she was able to speak from experience of the splendid fellow that Nick was. I sat with Sylvester, Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines and we were all greatly moved.Ìý

It was a substantial turn out, many of those attending from the world of Doctor Who, which was a tribute to the great man that Nick was.Ìý I remembered that whenever I met him he never failed to ask after my daughters whom he enquired of by name. He was an impressive man with great memory for people and a great interest in them.Ìý I gather there will be a memorial to him later in the year and have no doubt that the attendance at that will be huge and we will hear countless stories of his charm, humour and thoroughdecency.

I will miss him hugely and can only imagine how Karen, his wife, will be feeling.Ìý My heart goes out to her.

I have this very day decided to Tweet.Ìý I am now on Twitter and hope that I can somehow manage to regularly let anyone who might be interested know the trivial minutiae of my life.Ìý You will perhaps then realise how little I actually do that is of interest.Ìý Hopefully that will change soon!

I have also agreed to do pantomime in Mansfield this year. Jack and the Beanstalk, reprising my role as Fleshcreep for UK Productions.Ìý This time Nick Wilton (who is an old friend) will be dame-ing which I am looking forward to.ÌýHe is smashing chap and very good actor.ÌýIt should be fun.

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I wrote this blog â€� or one probably rather like it before Christmas and â€� and having checked my spelling like a good blogger managed to then consign the whole lot to the depths of computer Hades instead of this page on the website, where I hope it now nestles comfortably and securely this time round.Ìý After spending some time baring my tedious life for your perusal I then stomped off in a huff before deciding that I could bear to give it another go.Ìý This time I am backing up as I goâ€� I am capable of learning still, you know.So wish me luck, dear readerâ€�.My last contribution to this page was written as I contemplated rehearsals for House of Ghosts, the play that occupied my time from the beginning of August through to the beginning of December. It was an exhilarating, if initially intimidating, experience.I was not, (some might think strangely) intimidated by the fact that the great and much missed John Thaw had played the part before me.Ìý Perhaps I should pretend I was â€� but truthfully my reservations were related to me, not him.Ìý Someone thought he was right to play it on TV and other people â€� the director and producer â€� thought I was the man for the stage version.Ìý That is very empoweringand very uplifting.My reservations grew during the rehearsal period, when I was working with a talented and delightful bunch of actors who were dependent on me as 'the lead' to provide the framework of the play in which they could show off their considerable wares to best advantage.ÌýAnd in common with any actor playing 'the detective' in a play, I discovered that the bulk of the lines were mine â€� and it was often comprised of a series of questions and quite random thoughts.ÌýDriving the lines into the Baker cranium proved almost a challenge too far â€� and without the wonderful support and encouragement of the director â€� Robin Herford â€� and the rest of the cast - ÌýI doubt that I would have succeeded towhatever extent I did.But as always happens when you think that this part is the one that is going to expose the fact that you are a fraud and should never have been allowed anywhere near a stage â€� several weeks later you find yourself riding the part like a steady old cart horse rather than the untamed mustang that you kept falling off a few short weeks earlier.The tour was largely well received, I am glad to say.Ìý Some reviewers found the image of John Thaw too strong to eliminate from their memory, but most of them were kind enough to find favour with my version of the great Oxford genius and curmudgeon.I was also lucky enough to make several good friends among the cast and crew, whom I hope I shall work with again in the future.Ìý Indeed, some of us may re-assemble either later this year or in the Spring of next year, as there is a strong possibility that after a few re-writes by the writer, Alma Cullen, that we may take the show out again to pick up the dates that we missed on the last leg.Ìý The original intent was to continue the tour in the Spring of 2011 but those plans were cancelled when they could not get a continuous run of dates at theatres.Ìý So the plan is now to 'improve' the play here and there and try to get a tour list together either in the Autumn of 2011 or Spring of 2012.Aside from Morse-ing I have managed to fit an a couple of Big Finish audios and will have run into some of you at Conventions or Signings in Newcastle, Swansea,Cardiff and Newbury.My second volume of my Bucks Free Press column selections (Second Thoughts) was published and â€� thanks to you wonderful people â€� has sold enough copies not to make a pauper of the publisher Tim Hirst. He is now waiting for me to finish the last of my short stories so that 'Gallimaufry' can be published.Ìý I am afraid that the stresses and strains of touring, followed by the inevitable energy collapse that follows a long tour when you are a decrepit old thespian like me â€� has resulted in my failure to deliver the finished script in a timely way.Ìý My apologies to those of you who have pre-ordered it.Ìý I just hope that you consider the wait worth it when I finally get my typing finger in gear.Ìý I succumbed to Norovirus just before Christmas.Ìý Its other name is the Winter Vomiting Bug â€� so I will leave the rest to your imaginations there.Ìý Christmas Day I was well again â€� hurrah.Ìý Then on Boxing Day man-flu struck.Ìý I am sitting here with a bottle of linctus and oddles of kitchen roll, blowing my poor reddened snout as I type.Yes I know…No sympathy from the girls out there â€� but you chaps will understand, I expect.I should hope to be hail and hearty by the middle of January when I start filming a rather nice part in ÌýDoctors for the BBC.Ìý And then I have a few Big Finish audios to record before unemployment stares me in the face yet again.Sadly Coronation Street has not yet beckoned.Ìý Although I am enjoying watching my friend Will Thorpe playing a villainous thug superbly, which is doubly impressive when you know, as I do, that he is just about one of the nicest, gentlest people I have ever worked with (Strangers on a Train).My current leisure preoccupation is the Fantasy Footballleague which the cast of House of Ghosts started in August. My team were briefly top of the league at Christmas before being dislodged by Glynn Sweet, who played Superintendant Strange, just after Christmas. I suppose that is onlyright as my superior officer.ÌýFortunately Lewis hasn't overtaken me --- yet!I should of course be writing my short stories, tidying my 'study' which is a mess and doing scores of other household chores â€� but I'm not well at the moment.Ìý I will when I'm better –honest injun.Ìý

Given that this blog is entitled 'Thoughts of a Time Lord' you would be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that I haven't had a thought in my head for six months.Ìý Whereas I am sure that Rob Cope who went to the enormous trouble of setting up this splendid website is probably thinking 'Why did I bother?'Ìý I can only apologise to those of you who are kind enough to show interest in my activities.Ìý Part of the reason is that there hasn't been much going on that I thought would be of interest to anyone other than my family (ie got up, had breakfast, took the dog out)Ìý Work has not been abundant, although there have been bits and pieces to keep me occupied if not wealthy!!Ìý As I am about to get busy, I thought I should perhaps let you know I am still here in sunny (today) Buckinghamshire.Ìý As I type this, Wimbledon is reaching its final stage and Rafa Nadal has just taken the first set off Thomas Berdych.Ìý I like Rafa - his on court persona is quite different to the genuinely diffident chap you see off court.Ìý I hope he wins - and I am a little tired of Federer and his monogrammed jackets celebrating his victories that are prepared for him before he even starts the matches! Pity of course about Andy - who played really well but Nadal just played better.Ìý Bit like the German football team - although however much I would like to be able to say otherwise the English team weren't firing on many cylinders were they.Ìý Thank goodness we did better against them than the Argentinians though.

Still n the football front, I am as some of you may know, a season ticket holder at Wycombe Wanderers (my local team), who despite a late rally under their new manager Gary Waddock did not survive in Division One and were relegated this summer.Ìý I am looking forward to seeing at least the first couple of matches before I start my autumn tour (more later) at the beginning of the campaign for instant return to that division - and I'm feeling very positive.

I have been quite busy trying to get my book of short stories finished.Ìý I'm quite pleased with the way thet're turning out and hope that when they're published (Hirst Books) that you enjoy reading them if you are kind enough to purchase the book, provisionally entitled 'Gallimaufry'.Ìý And, of course, as the reaction to my first compilation of my columns in the Bucks Free Press has been so gratifyingly positive, Tim Hirst is bringing out a second volume imminently, which is very gratifying.

Acting-wise - I am about to launch into a few weeks of Big Finish audios and am looking forward to that as I always do - especially as I shall be seeing my dear friend Maggie Stables again for the first time in a couple of years for a story with Evelyn Smythe - I mustn't say too much more as I know I will get my legs slapped by the folks at Big Finish for giving too much away.

Back in April my very good friend, Louise Jameson and I entertained the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Eastbourne Theatre Supporters Group to an afternoon where we interviewed each other as a tea time entertainment at the Winter Gardens in Eastbourne.Ìý I went to see my daughter Bindy's showcase in London - she is leaving her drama school this summer and will be out there fighting for work with all the rest of us in this strange profession that we somehow can't resist subjecting ourselves to. She has completed a musical theatre course so watch out for Bindy Baker in the West End one day...

My oldest daughter Lucy has qualified as a primary school teacher and has secured her fist post at a primary school.Ìý My No 3 daughter, Lally,Ìý will be starting her thrid year at University in the Autumn and my fourth daughter, Rosie, has just finished her A Levels and is planning a gap year before also having a go as an actress, auditioning for drama schools.

Our lovely old Jack Russell, Arthur, died this spring, aged 14, and we have just acquired a lady greyhound (Susie) from a local dog rescue group.Ìý She is an ex-racing dog, who clearly did not cut the mustard as she achieved three sixth places in three races. ie she was last in all of them.Ìý She was then presumably dumped,as she was found wandering the streets. (You are able to find out the history of racing greyhounds from the tattoos in their ears). After our two cats initially moved out, some six weeks later things have settled down and they both treat her with same indifference/contempt as they do the other dog we have - Daisy - the poodle/Jack Russell cross who thinks she is a cat and loves chasing balls to the exclusion of all other activities.Ìý One of our two Shetland ponies has laminitis and has to be kept away from grass.Ìý My daughter's horse is lame and can't be ridden for several weeks.Ìý All very expensive - situation normal. And don't get me started on cars!!

In my I did a book signing at the Who Shop in Blackpool which was great fun.Ìý Dave and Cat who run the shop are really great people and they have recently moved to a bigger shop and have great plans to expand there.Ìý I went down to Cornwall to contribute to a film called Back2Hell but in fact was unable to film because another actor had to return to America unexpectedly.Ìý It was quite disappointing as I was looking forward to playing the rather unpleasant American gangster - Wynchapel.Ìý They have rescheduled but the dates at the moment clash with my upcoming tour, so it may be that I can't make it second time around.Ìý Shame!Ìý I had a busy time at Collectormania at Milton Keynes and down in Bournemouth at the Collectors' Fair there.Ìý And I enjoyed meeting some of you at Bad Wolf in Birmingham where I was signing my book.

Unfortunately I had to withdraw from the concerts in aid of Muscular Dystrophy which I had agreed to do in association with the Sound Power Orchestra, whose conductor, George Hastings is a personal friend.Ìý I had agreed to do them as a favour to him and the orchestra, but when the organisers decided to engage another orchestra for the series of concerts with Russell Watson, then my services as compere were no longer appropriate.Ìý A shame, but these things happen occasionally.Ìý

I had great fun doing a low budget film for some friends of my good friends Jane Tucker and Freddy Marks (two thirds of Rod Jane and Freddy from Rainbow). I filmed over two days in Licolnshire at a wonderfully remote rural location in front of a green screen.Ìý The film is Shadows of a Stranger - and if you want a sneak previewÌý go to the website

I was very impressed by Rich Dutton, Chris Clark,Ìý Brad Bourne, Alex and KitÌý - the guys who are making the film - and greatly enjoyed playing William, the legless (literally not intoxicated!!) millionaire who hires a detective to find his son who has been missing for a long time.Ìý Watch out for it.

And of course, I am about to start rehearsals for the autumn tour of House of Ghosts where I get to play yet another iconic role - Chief Inspector Morse.Ìý And I will 'endeavour' to fill the shoes of the late and veryÌý great John Thaw with as much distinction as I can. I have been working my way through Colin Dexter's novels during the summer and have only the last one to read now.Ìý I have of course found them incredibly useful in getting into the skin of the grumpy genius but I have also enjoyed reading them as stories.Ìý But I have been astonished (and slightly appalled) at the similarities between Morse and myself. Whilst I may not be 'of slight build with a paunch' - well not the slight bit anyway - I share many of his characteristics.

I did Greek at Grammar school. I don't like spiders, blood or heights.Ìý I prefer instant to ground coffee.Ìý I love doing the Times Crosswords and when I did it on a daily basis could do it in much the same time as Morse.Ìý I get hot under the collar about the misuse of English and correct people's grammar.Ìý I cannot wear wool. I was emphatically not a boy scout. I played a bit of tennis and had a mean backhand.Ìý I didn't study physics. I could never bear not knowing what words meant and always had to go and look them up in books too. I had a Meccano set and read the Dandy and the Beano.Ìý Add to that the fact that I took my driving test in my father's car when I was 19 and he suddenly had a stroke so I had to learn to drive quickly - and that car was a maroon Mk 2 Jaguar.Ìý Also all my children were born in Oxford as well!

So really all I have to do is learn the lines and hope that the audiences will accept me after John Thaw's wonderful and definitive performance.

The tour dates are elsewhere on this site - and I look forward to seeing some of you maybe as I tour the country until Christmas.Ìý It looks like no panto this year as a result, which is sad in one way.Ìý But I will get to spend more than one day with my family this year.

Oh and watch out for a celebrity Eggheads this Christmas, featuring yours truly and Louise Jameson, Frazer Hines, Katy Manning and John Leeson.Ìý My lips are sealed.....

At last I have surfaced again after the build up to and performance of this year's panto. Most of my autumn activity was taken up by Big Finish - the Lost Stories and the sequence of stories with Frazer Hines.Ìý All of which were great fun to do and which I am delighted to learn are receiving good feedback from the listeners as they are slowly realised.Ìý I have also been preparing the content of the my first book to be published.Ìý Tim Hirst who made such a superb job ofÌý Anneke Wills two autobiographies, approached me with the idea of publishing a selection of my fourteen years output of weeklt articles in the Bucks Free Press in a softback book.Ìý As I write this the wonderful people who pre-ordered Look Who's Talking have all hopefully received their copies and I would like to thank them all for their orders of the book, which meant that Tim knew that he wouldn't lose his house in the risky business of book publication on my weekly musings in a local newspaper.

I cannot tell you how proud I felt when I held in my hand a book that I had written entirely on my own.Ìý I think that lists along side all those other things that fit into the category of "If you had told me all those years ago that one day I would...I would never have believed you."Ìý That listÌý varies according to how far back you go.Ìý When I was at Primary School it would have been "If you had told me that one day I would drive a car....."Ìý Then it would have been "... have a girl friend...",ÌýÌý then "become an actor...." and "be on television..." - with lots of other unlikely activities along the way culminating of course in " be Doctor Who" or "have a regular column in a Newspaper...."

I wonder what the next unexpected thing will be....

My life is rarely boring, I must say.Ìý Last week after finishing panto I was opening a new high-tech medical scanner in Harley Street and compering and presenting an insurance company's annual sales conference in Wales.Ìý This week the busy period is behind me and I have the opportunity to reflect on the time that has passed since I last posted my thoughts here.

Panto was fun again as always.Ìý It was Jack and the Beanstalk in Malvern, Worcestershire - a beautiful town that I have appeared in before at the Festival Theatre but never stayed for any length of time, as when I am appearing once nightly it is communtable from my home in Buckinghamshire.Ìý But as panto, as always, is twice daily I rented a very nice flat near the theatre for the duration.Ìý Ity was 400 yards from the theatre which was just as well given the appalling driving (and walking) conditions that we have recently endured all over the country.

Also in the cast were a lovely bunch of folk, which is always a relief.Ìý All actors have theÌý fear of spending two months in close proximity to anyone difficult, but fortunately there are only a few performers, directors or producers who fit that description and I have been very lucky for a few years now.Ìý Douglas Mounce, the Dame, interviewed me several times I think as a radio presenter in the West Country and is not only a very funny and clever Dame but also a delightful man.Ìý We shared a very similar view of life and saw humour in the same things which is always a bit of luck.Ìý Sarah Thomas, the fairy was similarly jolly and talented.

It was a delight to meet Mike Fischetti whose energy was phenomenal from day one to the last performance.Ìý A really splendid young fellow who built on his TV artistic talent and evolved into a fantastically energised and creative Simple Simon.Ìý And it was only his second panto.Ìý Watch out for him.Ìý And Amy Thompson and Lucia Matisse, respectively Jack and the Princess were two lovely girls, as well as being great singers, the latter becoming my No 5 daughter by the end of the run.Ìý As always at the end of panto one finds oneself glad that the hard work is over - and the twice daily schedule is quite tough even on the young ones they say, so you can imagine how this old codger must fare.Ìý But at the same time you have worked with some really fabulous people and experience of this business makes you aware that it may well be that you never work with most of them ever again.

I am now in a position to survey the next few weeks quite calmly as at the moment there is little to make me dash about, aside from family and local activities at the school of which I am a governor or the local authority panel with which I am involved.Ìý I am also rehearing a perofmance of Peter and the Wolf which I will be doing with the Wycombe Sinfonia Orchestra (of which I am president) next Sunday afternoon at 3-30 in the High Wycombe Church of England Parish Church in the town centre next Sunday.Ìý I don't like to let the grass grow too much.

It's good to have the chance toÌý spend some time at home and catch up, before deciding what my next writing venture will be too. I've got the bug now and am contemplating a novel.Ìý But as ever something may come along to distract me - like watching myself tonight on Hustle? And hiding behind the sofa.

Where did the summer go?ÌýI know where I went â€� nowhere much until a couple of weeks ago, when I got my driving licence back after six months of enduring the vagaries of public transport, which if you live in the country as I do, isn't that regular or reliable.Ìý Anyway, I have learned my lesson now and have the delight of looking in my rear view mirror and seeing cars desperate to overtake me because I am obeying the speed limit and they are desperate not to.Ìý May be I should put a sign in my rear window saying â€� "Just got my licence back â€� sorry don't want to lose it again!!"

So what did I do during the long summer months.Ìý Well, a few conventions â€� one in Chiswick and one in Shepton Mallet in August for my cousin, Ian Burgess, which was fun.Ìý We did it at what was then called BAPA (the Bristol Academy of Performing Arts) which is now called The Musical TheatreSchool, apparently.Ìý My second daughter, Bindy is a student there now in her final year.

Daughter No 1 â€� Lucy has decided to switch careers and is training as a Primary School teacher in Oxford.Ìý Until then she was working in TV â€� most recently as a researcher on 'Eggheads' â€� you'll see her name flash by in the credits of the current batch of programmes.Ìý No 3 â€� Lally is at Warwick reading Film and Literature and No 4 - Rosie is still at school doing her A levels.

At the end of August, I filmed an episode of Hustle in Birmingham, where they now film the series, after a couple of years of filming in London.Ìý All my stuff was with Robert Vaughan â€� the iconic 'Man from Uncle' himself, which was a delight.ÌýHe is not a young man, clearly, but you would never know it.Ìý He was on set,Ìý the week I worked with him, from 7 in the morning until 7 at night and , although tired (who wouldn't be working a twelve hour day in their late 70's?) delivered the goods.Ìý I won't spoil the story by telling you anything about it â€� but suffice to say that I am a 'mark' but I cause problems for the Hustlers!Ìý Who would have thought that I would ever work with a member of the Magnificent 7? I think he's the only left, so I won't be working with any of the others.

I visited the Whoovers in Derby in September and had a great day playing railways at Midland Railway Centre at Ripley, near Derby.Ìý It was such a good idea to combine a Dr Who Fun day with a railway museum.Ìý The fans got to ride on a steam train with the lovely Anneke Wills and myself and at the other end we 'convened' in a railway shed.ÌýAll around were leisure activities for the families as well as the stuff that would delight a railway enthusiast's heart.Ìý I got to stand on the footplate of a steam train and shovel coal into the boiler, the kind of boys' own thing which never fails to put a smile on your face.Ìý I hope they do more days like that; everyone had a really great time. And I include myself in that, despite the journey up when my 'real' train from Buckinghamshire to Derby stopped in Birmingham and emptied us all out to the accompaniment of the message that the replacement driver was 'sick' so the train was terminating in Birmingham.Ìý Then we had to find another way of getting to Derby!!Ìý I certainly cursed my heavy right foot that got me caught speeding four times in three years then!

At the end of September, I did my Panto Press call in Malvern with the rest of the cast - Mike Fischetti, Amy Thompson, Douglas Mounce and Sarah Thomas (from Last of the Summer Wine) â€� all of whom seemed good fun, so I am looking forward to working with them all in a few weeks.Ìý Gosh, is itreally nearly panto time again?

In terms of acting work all that I have done in the last couple of months, apart from Hustle, is half a dozen or so Big Finish audios.Ìý I would happily spend my entire time recording Big Finish stuff.Ìý It has been a great year for that for Old Sixie, as I have had my series of stories with Charlie (India Fisher) then the Missing Stories/Lost Adventures â€� ones written for the TV series but never actually recorded for various reasons, including the 1985 cancellation of the series.Ìý And now I have been recording a series of stories with my friend Frazer Hines, whom I last worked with a decade or more ago when we did a summer season at the end of the pier in Bournemouth with another chum Linda Lusardi!Ìý It was great to work with Jamie McCrimmon again (after the marvellous time we had filming in Seville in 1984)Ìý He is a naturally humorous individual who must spend every waking moment reading the Ken Dodd book of gagsand one-liners â€� as he is never short of a double-entendre or quick quip.

It has, as you will have gathered, been a quiet summer in terms of acting work â€� mainly because I declined to work away from home while I was unable to drive.Ìý But things are back to normal now and I am looking forward to heading off to Malvern for the Christmas season and I'll then take a deep breath and see what 2010 has to offer.

As you will read elsewhere on this website, Tim Hirst has asked me to let him publish a digest of my articles for the Bucks Free Press –the local newspaper for which I have contributed a weekly column for the last 14 years.Ìý He is in the process of selecting the appropriate 'gems' and when he has done so I will add some linking material explaining, updating and enlarging where relevant.Ìý I hope that you will find it diverting.Ìý I know that some of you log on to the Bucks Free Press website to read and comment on my ramblings â€� and thanks to all of you for that.Ìý The more hits and comments I get, the longer they are likely to tolerate my wittering.ÌýI am up to Article No 744 and am keen to get to 1000 articles without missing a week. I haven't missed one so far.Ìý It might even be a record if I did, who knows.Ìý Five years to go!

Off to Wycombe Wanderers tomorrow to see them play Walsall â€� we haven't won a game for weeks, so here's hoping the new manager, Gary Waddock,Ìý can work some magic for us.Ìý We are currently 'propping up' the division as they say.Ìý The only way is up â€� as the song goes.Ìý If only that were true.

Happy Halloween all!

Ìý

I've been a bit busier since my last blog.Ìý At the beginning of July, I was up in Birmingham filming an episode of 'Doctors' for the BBC.Ìý I was called upon to play a rather sleazy professor who tried to hit upon aformer student who returned to the University as a visiting lecturer.Ìý It was a most enjoyable job. ÌýI got to work with Bill WardÌý- who played the nasty piece of work, Charlie, in Coronation Street and got killed for his pains.Ìý He turns out of course (Bill that is) to be the most gentle, decent and amusing bloke and we had a great couple of days locking horns over the lovely Sara Stewart, who was the object of both our affections.ÌýI'll leave it to you to work out which of us she favoured when you watch itÌý should you choose to in October (14th I think).Ìý Aside from my travel to and from the second city, Ìýwhich you can read about in my articles from the Bucks Free Press on another part of this site, Ìýit was a very pleasant experience - particularly so because I got to work for a lovely new director (to me anyway) called Sarah Punshon, whose name I knew from her theatre work and who created a lovely atmosphere in which to work.Ìý Theatre directors are more often than not very good at getting the best out of actors when and if they move into television.

I also spent a very pleasant and very sunny and hot day in Basildon at the invitation of an old friend of mine, David Alacey, Ìýwho is a councillor in that Essex town which was celebrating sixty years of existence by laying on a great fete and jamboree for the citizens.Ìý They had decided on a 'time travel' theme to reflect the sixty years progress, hence my presence. I hadn't seen David for a while and it was good to catch up with him.ÌýYou may see his photo outside theatres all over the country from time to time with his Rat Pack tribute show -Ìý The Rat Pack is Back. Check him out on

I have also recorded another Big Finish audio ParadiseÌý5 which was yet again another excellent story, which we managed to squeeze in just before Nicola Bryant disappeared off to foreign and exotic climes filming a travel documentary.Ìý Lucky her, say I, given the weather we have enjoyed this July.ÌýIf "enjoyed" is the right word.ÌýÌýMy only consolation is that the bad weather means I wouldn't have been able to drive around with the roof of my convertible down much this summer - were I able to drive! But I am nearly two thirds way through my enforced carlessness now.

A week after Basildon I was in Hitchen at their lovely little Museum where they too were having a Doctor Who day.Ìý I spent several hours meeting local fans of the show and visitors to the museum and was very warmly received by David Hodges and the rest of the museum staff.

Then, two weeks ago, ÌýI headed off to San Diego for the mammoth event that is Comic Con.ÌýI had heard about this convention but was unprepared for the sheer scale of the event. 130,000 people descended on this beautiful city on the Pacific coast to celebrate cult film and TV, comics, novels, computer games and art.Ìý

And everyone goes to Comic Con apparently.Ìý Johnny Depp even turned up at one of the panels.Ìý Given the number of people thronging the vast convention centre it was almost impossible for me to have a good look round, but I did get to see some of the cast of Dexter, including thedelightful Julie Benz, and Leonard Nimoy, Brent Spiner from Star Trek were justround the corner from me, as was the ubiquitous John Barrowman, whom I met therefor the first time.Ìý He was charming the socks (and probably everything else) off the throng of admirers that surrounded him.Ìý I said to him that I was very glad he wasn't around when I was doing the show.ÌýI would never have got a look in!ÌýHe laughed and politely suggested that the Doctor always had a look in!

When I returned home I told my daughters that I had also run into the cast of Twilight - Ìýa film that I had somehow failed to register.Ìý They seemed to have a huge following, I said and was then told that Robert Pattinson (who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter) is the hot star at the moment and I should be ashamed of myself for not knowing who he was. Twilight is apparently to new "in" cult film.

Each night I joined my host Gene Smith (who runs the annual Visions Convention in Chicago and has the franchise for Big Finish in the States) and his delightful and shrewd wife Karen for dinner, when we eventually found somewhere we could get into. 130,000 people looking for somewhere to eat in a small City downtown can put a strain on resources.Ìý One night we were sitting outside one restaurant in the main drag, enjoying the evening sun and eating our pasta, when several hundred zombies came lurching and dribbling down the street, 'terrorising' the passers-by, complete with variable, but mostly excellent, make-up and frantic murderous stares.Ìý Apparently this is a regular Comic Conoccurrence.Ìý I imagine some of the residents leave town for the duration, while others rub their hands together with glee at the prospect of all the extra business.Ìý

I must admit that the majority of convention attendees neither knew nor cared who I was.ÌýHowever the delight on the faces of those who did know, and were polite enough to pretend to care, when they discovered that a Doctor Who had troubled to traverse the pond to meet up with his American fans was mostgratifying.Ìý Almost worth the experience of transatlantic air flight on crowded planes; though the fact that they hadn't changed the films for the return journey diminished the pleasure slightly, until I discovered the screen in front of me didn't work.Ìý Then I was glad I had seen the films on the way out !!

Ìý

Back to a performance of 'Love Letters' with my best friend Louise Jameson. We always enjoy doing this play together.Ìý It is such a beautifully written and poignant and funny piece and each time we discover something new in it.Ìý Last Sunday was no exception. ÌýWe were the inaugural production at a new pub venue in EastbourneÌý- The Lamb.Ìý Newlandlord Jim wants to make the pub an arts venue and seemed very happy with this his first venture, which was mounted for him by Steve Scott who, among other things, puts on shows at the Underground Theatre in Eastbourne.Ìý

The room was full to bursting and the audience were very receptive and appreciative.Ìý It wasparticularly nice to see my cousin John and his wife Shirley, who had trekked over from Lewes to see the play with their friends Cynthia and Dave from Bristol. They were good enough to say that our efforts exceeded their expectations.Ìý Mind you John didn't say what his expectations were.Ìý He supports Brighton and Hove Albion so his expectations can't be that high!Ìý Also there was my friend and vetÌý Malcolm who very generously gave me a lift home to Buckinghamshire.Ìý After my journey down where I spent an hourÌýand a half on a packed bus sitting next to sniffing Portuguese boy with a streaming cold and then another hour on a train behind two Italian boys playing the loudest version of 'Snap' you have ever heard- it was very welcome.

I'm off to the Fleet Air Arm at Yeovilton with another cousin, ÌýIanÌý (from the other side of my family) next weekend, Ìýso if you read this and are coming, Ìýdo say "Hello".

And for now I'm heading back to the cricket at Edgbaston.Ìý It's so frustrating,Ìý Ìýbut for the rain we would have put the Ashes beyond doubt, I think.ÌýÌý But we can still do it.Ìý Come onÌý Freddie!

Ìý