South Somerset National Trust Pub Quiz!

Another fun Friday evening! I had been asked by Matthew Applegate to once again host the annual South Somerset National Trust Pub Quiz evening, with all the competitors coming from the local NT Properties nearby. There must have been about 50 people taking part this year, and Matthew had asked me to set all the quiz questions.

We had a fine evening, lots of fun, but hard work on the voice and the feet! As it happened, Matthew's team, called "The HOD Carriers" (as Matthew and one of his team mates are both Heads Of Department) walked off with the title of champions, winning by over 20 points from their nearest team. The team that came last was a group of some very young sweet ladies who called themselves "The Young Ones" and only managed 15 points in total, compared to the 73.5 points that Matthew's team accrued!

It was a fun evening, and I hope I can do it again sometime.

Godstowe Prep, High Wycombe & Hazeldene Lower, Bedford

It was back on the road again this week. I got up in the wee small hours of Wednesday morning and drove through the clearing gloom to High Wycombe and a third return visit to Godstowe Prep School. It was a nice, relatively easy run up in the early hours. I arrived fairly early and nipped off to get a copy of "Private Eye" and a can of Diet Coke to pass the time until the school opened, luckily only about half an hour.

As ever I was greeted with extreme warmth from all members of staff and it was such fun to be back in such a lovely school. A vast majority of the girls had dressed in some quite stunning outfits and the morning went really well. After a pleasant lunch the afternoon progressed very well with a really rip roaring jousting tournament won by a very strong team of young ladies (I should point out that Godstowe Prep is an all girls school!).

After finishing at the school I headed off to St Albans where I was due to stay with my lovely cousin Liz and her husband Bruce and their delightful children Katie, Sophie and Robbie. Bruce had gone off to watch West Ham play in the League Cup so I helped Liz with the children and had some great fun playing with Robbie who is only slightly older than my own son James. After the children had disappeared to bed Liz and I enjoyed a nice home made spaggy bol and some wine and chats about our childhood holidays we had spent together with all our siblings. Liz is also a dab hand at website design and said she would like to have a go and designing a new look for the Good King Hal website. We shall see...

I woke early and after a quick ablutions session I went downstairs and finally got to say hello to Bruce! He made me a cup of tea and bemoaned West Ham's appalling play the night before. He should have gone for the spaggy bol and wine like me! Far more entertaining!

Soon I was on my way to Bedford, which seemed far further than I had imagined. Anyway, I arrived back at Hazeldene Lower and was once again greeted by Karen, the lovely year 3 teacher there. It was a bigger group for today's shows, more like 80+ children, but they were a fabulous group, very happy and with some good Tudor knowledge. One little boy called Luca was hilarious when I picked him out to play King Frances of France during my "Field of the Cloth of Gold" section!

After a lovely lunch it was back to the hall and another fabulous jousting session, with the ladies managing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and handing the championship to the gents on the very last quoit! A fine day!

The drive home took about three hours, but wasn't too bad and I arrived home to kisses and cuddles from my wife and son, and a steak and mushroom pie and a cold drink. You can't ask for more than that!

Next Henry's are next week in Saffron Walden and Basildon. See you then!

Holly Trees Primary, Brentwood

I had last visited Holly Trees Primary School in leafy Brentwood in Essex way back in November 2004. Not only had I been invited back for a return visit all this time later, but they had also asked me to do TWO days, so who was I to argue?

I drove up to Essex on the Wednesday evening (with many thanks to my friends Alison and Ian in Kingstone for making it possible) and arrived at my parents' house in Mountnessing. The following morning I set off for Brentwood with my Sat Nav trying desperately to guide me to St Thomas' Road, not where I really wanted to go. In the end I found Vaughan Williams Way and then the school. I was warmly welcomed as I had been back in 2004 only this time I didn't turn up with my mother in tow!

The first day was with a predominantly Year 3 group but also a few Year 4's. It went wonderfully with the morning zipping along nicely. All the children had dressed up in fabulous costumes, as did the teachers as you can see from this lovely picture sent to me by Jo, the lady in the picture and one of the teaching assistants for the day. The afternoon was another rousing affair and ended with a loud jousting session which featured a very good boys team who stormed to victory. With nothing to pack back in the car as I was returning the next day I was soon home.

The next day I was back at Holly Trees while my parents went off to France for a little holiday. The second day was with a predominantly Year 4 group but also with a smattering of Year 5's. Again another good day was had by all. I really like Holly Trees Primary, you are made so welcome by everyone - it really must be one of the friendliest schools in the South East. The afternoon went very well and the jousting was once again won by a quite brilliant boys team.

I had to make a choice as to whether I was heading for home on the Friday evening, or leaving early on Saturday. As it was I went to the Hoop Pub in Stock again and had a lovely reunion with lots of members of the old Hoop Cricket Club - Mick Stephenson, Gareth Clipstone, Andy Banks, Adam Hudson and his lovely wife Lisa, Mike Slowey, Brian Boddy - loads of old familiar faces. We had a fine evening with lots of good laughs and happy memories. I capped a splendid night by stopping in Ingatestone for a chicken curry and egg rice from the local Chinese take away. Cue much burping!

I got up at 4.30am this morning and headed back to Somerset. I was here by 8.30am, so I have had a nice full day with Amanda and James. Next shows are on Wednesday and Thursday next week at Godstowe Prep School in High Wycombe and Hazeldene Lower School in Bedford. I am then running a pub quiz for the South Somerset National Trust at Barrington Court on the Friday evening. Lovely!

West Leigh Junior School, Leigh on Sea

A visit to a new school seems quite rare these days, but that is what was in store for me at West Leigh School in Leigh on Sea, Essex. I drove to Essex on Thursday, 13th September and was lucky enough to be taken out to dinner in the evening by my lovely Mother! We went for a really nice Chinese meal in Ingatestone.

Friday dawned clear and bright and I headed down to Leigh on Sea. I think the last time I visited here was in about 1984! I found the school fairly easily, but was alarmed to find one of the smallest car parks in the history of humanity! However, I parked, got my gear in and got ready for the day ahead. The teachers were very kind and welcoming, and the children were brilliant. It was a big group, about 150 children and all year 3. Now year 3 groups normally fall into two distinct categories - the first are an overwhelmed, quiet, very young looking group, who sit in stunned silence throughout my shows and generally look terrified. The second are cocky, self assured, rude little monkeys who come across as a sort of mad hybrid of A.J.P. Taylor and Eric Morecambe. However, the children of West Leigh were unlike either group! They were fun, lively, full of laughter and generally very well behaved. We had a fine day, some good laughs and a really good jousting session which the ladies won by a whisker.

Friday evening I went for a drink over at my old local, The Hoop Pub in Stock near Billericay. I met up with old friends including Mick Stephenson, Brian Boddy and his wife Lorraine, Dan the Man and his cute dog Thistle and even "Little" Jim Hawes. It was a nice wallow in nostalgia. Amanda and James had driven up Friday evening and arrived at my parents a little after I got back from The Hoop.

Saturday it was down to Basildon for a surprise 40th Birthday Party for my wife's lovely sister, Maria. A good time was had by all, but sadly I had to leave early to drive back to Somerset. And here I am!

Good night!

Manor Court School, Chard

The 2007/08 Educational Year started on Friday 7th September, as far as I was concerned! For the fourth year running I was back at Manor Court Junior School in Chard. For the first time though I was not being looked after by Lizzie Reynolds though - she is now the Deputy Head of the School. Instead I was with a Miss Devereux for one class, and another charming lady for the other class (sorry, I can't remember your name!). We had about 66 children in for the day and it was a good one to start the season off. I always love coming to Manor Court School, not just because of it's close proximity to my home, but because the teachers are always really good fun and the children are really nice. A good combination.

As the children were in their first week of learning the Tudors there was obviously a lack of the usual knowledge that I get with groups, but they more than made up for it with their enthusiasm - especially Harry! The morning was cut short first by an assembly, and secondly by us being invaded by some very noisy dinner ladies halfway through my final talk. However, the afternoon went really well and the jousting (won by the gents for once!) was then followed by a jokey teachers race that turned out to be the highlight of the tourney! It went to two dead heats and a play off before we managed to find a winner! Great stuff.

I loaded up the car with some help from some mini-roadies before being asked for a load of autographs from some of the children. An old gentleman walked past pushing his grandchild in a push-chair as I finished off signing the last autographs.

"Can I have your autograph?" He asked. I looked at him.

"Do you know who I am?" I said. He smiled.

"Not a clue, but you must be famous to warrant this attention."

Another good day at Manor Court. I can't wait to go back next year.

Where does all the time go?

James started school today. Four years, eight months and sixteen days after he was born. I was a very nervous Dad today, but also proud. Thank God, he actually seemed to like it and is quite keen on going again tomorrow. To all other parents who went through it today - well done.

And coming next...

Well, the new educational year is about to start, something bound to get Terry Deary frothing at the mouth and nailing pins into effigies of hard working teachers.

In the next few weeks Good King Hal will be re-visiting some old friends from the past. Manor Court at Chard at the end of this week, followed a few days later by a return to Hazeldene Lower School in Bedford. A week after that I have two days at Holly Trees Primary in Brentwood in Essex, a school I haven't visited for a long time. I've been invited back to be host for the National Trust South Somerset Area Pub Quiz Evening again, my finest hour! This will be followed very shortly by visits to old friends at Ruishton near Taunton and Blean in Kent. New ground will be covered with Good King Hal's first ever visits to Yate in Gloucestershire, Papworth Everard in Cambridgeshire and even a visit to Swansea in Wales to look forward to! I can't wait. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

BBC Radio Wales

I had to drive into Yeovil this morning to appear on BBC Radio Wales. How can this be possible, I hear you cry, well it goes something like this. After being phoned the other day by a nice chap called Gareth, and asked to appear on the Roy Noble morning show on BBC Radio Wales, I had visions of me having to drive all the way over to Cardiff, but these wonderful BBC bods booked me into BBC Somerset Sound's Yeovil studio for a "live" link-up. I got to the studio smack on 9.30am, the time I was expected.

If I had thought the BBC Somerset studio in Park Street Taunton was small, this was nothing compared to Yeovil. The studio bore more of a relation to a school classroom from about 1982 than a 21st century local radio station. However, the very nice engineer plugged me in, I chatted over the ether to the production team in Cardiff and then I was on. The chat went very well, mainly about how the hell I came to be Henry VIIIth - the usual stuff, and Roy Noble was a nice very affable chatter and easy to get on with - even if I spent the entire interview calling him Rob. How embarrassing was that! You can listen to it on line now at the BBC Radio Wales website and using their "listen again" feature.

My little boy starts school next week - ARGH! And I am starting back at school with the Henry days, kicking off, as ever at Manor Court in Chard.

BBC Somerset Sound

It was back to me being a radio star again today! Two weeks after my previous appearance on the BBC Somerset Sound news panel, I was invited back for another bash! As I had been a little late in arriving last time, I endeavoured to leave a little earlier so as not to make the same mistake twice. I should have known better with Taunton's appalling early morning traffic. I was about 10 minutes late this time, but at least I wasn't the last panellist to arrive!

I shared the panel this day with two charming ladies, one who was a "dog listener" and the other who was a fund raiser for a cancer charity based at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. We had some good chat and lots of laughter and I have again been invited back for another appearance sometime in the not too distant future.

This afternoon I got a phone call from BBC Wales. I was hugely excited as I had sent a few letters to Russel T Davies, urging him to write Henry VIII into the latest Doctor Who plots. Alas it was not to be. Instead I got chatting to a lovely bloke called Gareth who wants me to appear on the Bob Noble Show on BBC Radio Wales on this Friday morning. Luckily for me I don't have to drive all the way to Cardiff for this appearance as they will link me in from one of BBC Somerset's studios in Yeovil. I should be on from about 9.30am! So if you are in Wales and you know about me, have a listen!

Norton-sub-Hamdon - the Royal Progress Finale

The final day of the Royal Progress got off to a less than auspicious start. I went over to Norton-sub-Hamdon early and dished out some posters at the Lord Nelson Pub, the little local shop and popped a couple up next to the main bus stop in the village. I then drove round to pick up Jim Flanagan, my roadie, only to discover he had forgotten about today and had gone to London! Ho-hum!

I got to Norton-sub-Hamdon and was met by the key holder for the village hall. He seemed fairly confident that I wouldn't get anyone at all. After yesterday I kind of agreed with him. I need not have worried. A grand total of 17 hardy souls appeared, the majority of them children and a really good time was had by all! This was more like it! OK it was a smallish crowd, but it was better than the hermit reunion party of yesterday. Lots of nice comments afterwards and one of the ladies who had brought her son took my details to pass on to the school in Norton. Very nice.

The final irony with Jim not being there is that the chairs at this village hall were not the easy to stack lightweight plastic models of previous days, but heavy old wooden flap down seats that you had to put out and get back one at a time. it took ages! Never mind. I am now home with a nice bottle of wine, full of cold and exhausted but happy. Next Henry won't be until 7th September at Manor Court School again.

East Coker - Royal Progress...

Left: Monday in East Coker.

It would appear there is always something better to do in East Coker. A grand total of no people turned up for the show today. I should know as I counted them. Twice. It's a shame really as East Coker have a really nice village hall and it would have been great fun to put on a fabulous show for the people of this charming village. So I set up all the chairs, got my props in, got dressed up as Henry and then sat and watched the clock tick round to 3pm, and then got changed back into my civvies, put all the chairs away, stuffed all the props back in the car and went home. It was great! I can't wait to do it all again tomorrow at Norton-sub-Hamdon!

On the plus side, the BBC have come back to me and want me to appear on the morning panel again next Tuesday. More good exposure. Thank you BBC Somerset!

Barrington Court - Day Two

Day two dawned at Barrington Court with a far better looking morning. OK, it was still blowing a hoolie, but the skies were mostly clear and the sun was threatening to shine. It was dry, the billowing rain and wind from the previous day had gone.

It was much busier at the Court house today. A lot of people were coming in, yes enticed by the good weather and a chance to meet Henry VIII, but also because a lot of local shows and events had been postponed and cancelled because of the limits on moving livestock with the foot and mouth outbreak.

I met one lovely couple from Billericay in Essex, where I used to live! There was also a couple from Detling in Kent, literally about a mile from where my sister lives. Best of all, who should be here today, but dear little Isis and her beautiful Mother, Holly, late of Weston-super-Mare and Sudeley Castle (see this blog passim). Isis did me a lovely picture which I am going to scan and send to Steve French so he can upload it onto the website. It shows Henry VIII dreaming about his six wives. It was so nice to see them again. My favourite fans! Bless them both.

Towards the end of the afternoon it started to quieten down and I showed what a marvellously benevolent King I am by giving Holly and Isis a lift to Taunton Station so they could get home safe and sound. It was so lovely to see them.

Today I am back on the Royal Progress Trail at East Coker near Yeovil, but I am not holding my breath about numbers. I have pushed all the other shows and no one turned up, where as today's show I haven't had a chance to do much publicity at all, so it will be interesting to see if anyone turns up at all. Watch this space...

Barrington Court - Day One

For this Tudor Day at Barrington Court, a sou'wester or even an aqua-lung would have been more appropriate than the Tudor robes I was wearing! This was possibly the worst weather I have ever encountered when doing an outdoor "Henry", and that includes the dreadful downpours that afflicted this year at Sudeley Castle (see this blog passim). The rain came hammering in horizontally, you could see it billowing through the howling winds.

Normally a Saturday in August at Barrington Court would see the car park full to bursting with the chance of the overflow car parks being used a real possibility. Today the main car park was barely half full and the overflows stayed resolutely locked all day. The few hardy souls who dared to brave this weather were lovely and it was great to see them all.

Matthew Applegate is away on holiday at the moment, so I was left in the tender mercies of his new assistant (Helen Appleyard having moved on to pastures new). The new assistant is called Simon and is a really nice, though quite horrifyingly young, gent! He looks like some of the children I see at the schools I visit. But I know Matthew rates him very highly and he certainly seemed to know his job. He took some photos of me posed in different parts of the main Court House which I shall hopefully get some copies of to post on here.

Anyway, today is another day at Barrington Court and the weather, dare I say it and not wishing to tempt fate, looks far better than yesterday. The wind is still blowing but it's dry and the sun is shining.

Clapton & Wayford - More Royal Progress...

Now this is about as local a gig as you can get! Clapton and Wayford Village Hall is about 300 yards from my front door - fantastic. The Royal Progress Show today was attended by 9 hardy souls, but give them their due they listened very well, laughed in all the right places and even asked for an encore at the end, so I had to come on and do a few more gags after I had finished.

No children again today, mostly OAP's funnily enough, but they were a good crowd and enjoyed themselves.

Later today, through the pouring wind and rain, I shall be wandering around Barrington Court meeting and greeting people as I go. If you are there, come and say hello. I shall be at Barrington Court again on Sunday as well.

Stoke-sub-Hamdon - The Royal Progress continues...

Another day and another not exactly brilliant turn out. Stoke-sub-Hamdon is probably the largest town I will be visiting on the tour and I had high hopes of a good turn out. But sadly only 5 people decided to venture out. We had some fun with them, but it would have been so nice to see more people there. It was equally galling that there was a big church youth/social/outreach event going on right next door and I went and told them about the day and invited them to come over and see the show as the price for anyone under 14 was only 50p. But this didn't sway them. Anyway, the lady I booked the hall through, the very nice landlady of the Half Moon Inn on Ham Hill Road, was very compassionate and waived the fee, which I appreciated enormously.

It has been a tough week, with the tour and what have you. We have also had the news this week of the death of my dear great Aunt Joan from Sherborne in Dorset. She is like a last link to my grandparent's generation and I have to say I have felt the loss quite heavily.

Today, Friday, I am on the tour again, this time at Clapton and Wayford Village Hall, and here's hoping we get some punters in today.

Compton Dundon - The Royal Progress pt 2

And so the second day of the Royal Progress tour dawned - all wet and windy! After being roused by my son James at 5.30am (that's him out of the will), my wife and I dropped him over at his nursery and then headed to Taunton for my appearance on BBC Somerset's morning discussion panel. We arrived at the studio slightly late, but had to choose a news story from a pile of papers. I plumped for a story from The Times about Great Western Railways attempts to appease disgruntled passengers complaining about their appalling punctuality by employing a pink haired poet to travel the network reading poems to the annoyed customers. Yes, that's what I thought as well... The other panel members were Ian, a Tae Kwon Do instructor from Bridgwater, and Jill, an Alexander technique practitioner from Wiveliscombe. It went very well and Jess, the presenter I spoke to the other night on the Drive programme, was very pleased with our contributions. I was told afterwards that if ever I wanted to be back on the show, just ask! Very nice...

The afternoon show at Compton Dundon wasn't quite so successful. Absolutely no children turned up, but luckily 11 adults braved the elements, and really enjoyed the show! Laughs aplenty and loads of questions afterwards. They even had a go at the hobby horse jousting at the end, which very predictably the women won!

Next stage of the tour is at Stoke-sub-Hamdon Memorial Hall on Thursday afternoon.

Seavington Millennium Hall - The Royal Progress!

And so the Royal Progress begins... I drove over to Jo and Pete's place at Haselbury Plucknet to pick up Jim, my little roadie (as opposed to my little pony) for the week. We got over to Seavington St Michael (where the hall is) but first had to go to Seavington St Mary (where the key was) - are you all taking notes about this? I met the nice lady with the key and her lovely cocker spaniel, Scooby, before heading back to the hall. Jim and I put out the seats, with enough for about 50-60 people. We then had the hanging around and waiting until anything happened.

My biggest fear about this whole tour has been the "what if no one comes?" thoughts. As it was, some people came - 9 in all. 10 if you count the Western Gazette photographer who turned up halfway through. But they were a good hardy little bunch. Four adults and five children. They all laughed and seemed to enjoy themselves with the talk, and the jousting was a rip roaring affair. They went off happy, and Jim cleared away the chairs while I got changed. A good day I suppose. Would have been nice to see more people.

Tomorrow I have the radio show to do in the morning at BBC Somerset, then Jim and I are off to Compton Dundon for more Henry shennanigans! See you there... (please)

2 and now 1 Day to Go....

And suddenly there is no time left to worry about it any more! On the Saturday, James and I went and did our usual bit of shopping in Chard. In such nice weather we had some fun in the garden, then this afternoon I took myself and James over to Stoke-sub-Hamdon and the Half Moon Pub to deliver some of the tour posters to the friendly landlady there who had taken my booking for the village hall. We also put some posters in a couple of local shops.

Today, on the Sunday, James and I have had a day at leisure really. After lunch we headed over to Barrington Court and enjoyed a nice walk round the beautiful grounds in some lovely warm sunshine. Next time I will be at Barrington will be next weekend... I hope it goes well.

And tomorrow - the tour begins at Seavington Millennium Hall near Ilminster at 3pm. Please come along and support the show!

3 Days to Go...

Three days? ARGH! After all the plugging that got done yesterday with the Western Gazette, the Chard and Ilminster News and the BBC Somerset interview and I am so hoping there will be a turn out at Seavington for the first gig on Monday. It has now got to the point in the day when there is nothing more I can do.

I am going up to Stoke-sub-Hamdon tomorrow to see the lady who books the Memorial Hall as she is going to take some more posters for me.

I was also phoned again last night by the wonderful Blackwolf the Dragonmaster. What a lovely Wizard he is!

5 and 4 Days to Go...

OK OK, I know I didn't blog yesterday - I just didn't seem to find the time. I popped up to Compton Dundon again yesterday to put some more posters up for the upcoming shows.

I forgot to add that I got another phone call the other night from Blackwolf the Dragonmaster again! He does phone quite late at night which is a real pity as that as we have a young child in the house, my wife and I are usually so exhausted we go to bed at some criminally early hour! Sorry about that, oh Grand Wizard!

I was on BBC Somerset in the end, they came along and I was on air and interviewed at the end of the "Drive" programme, at nearly 7pm. It went well though and I got to plug the tour.

Today I have picked up copies of the Western Gazette (the tour is in the "What's On" section), the "View From Crewkerne" (not a mention!) and The Chard and Ilminster News (again a good feature on the tour). It is all grist to the mill.