I was Robin Hood-ing at Trent Bridge cricket ground again yesterday for another Twenty20 Cup match, this time the Nottingham Outlaws vs. Yorkshire Carnegie. 

As it was my second appearance I had slightly more idea what I was doing thankfully and the crowd was great, good fun and very friendly - I was even given a nice sun hat by a friendly fan (not that it was overly sunny, mind you)!

The match was being covered by Sky Sports 2 so I was featured during the match (the commentators wondering how I managed to get in to the ground armed to the teeth, apparently) and taking part in the presentation and autograph signings at the end!

Even stranger though, after the game when I was driving home I was repeatedly hooted at by another driver - and I had no idea why - I was pretty sure my car was OK, and when we stopped at lights I wound down my window to see what he wanted - and he  told me he’d just seen me on the TV and wanted to say ‘hello’ !

I gave up firebreathing a few years ago, appropriately enough at the final show ever of The Sheriff’s Lodge, the Nottingham medieval banqueting centre I worked at for for fifteen-odd years. 

I gave it up for health reasons, frankly filling your mouth full of a foul-tasting carcinogen (paraffin) isn’t good for you at all, even before you set fire to it!

Weirdly though ’setting fire to my head’ wasn’t one of the reasons, but as you can see here in a short series of photos taken at Warwick Castle a few years ago it can happen!

It was quite a windy day and exactly as I blew the fire a strong gust brought the flame straight back onto my face, burning hair and eyebrows and even welding my eyelashes together - luckily I didn’t need the extinguisher I had with me but it was still quite scary - although as soon as I turned back to the shocked audience most of the children began to scream "Do it again, do it again!"  The little darlings…

Wow, now this is good news indeed!

This coming Tuesday there’s a special charity ‘Can’t Stop the Serenity’ screening of Joss Whedon’s excellent sci-fi movie SERENITY in Nottingham, in aid of ‘Equality Now’ .

I love Serenity (and Firefly, the short-lived TV series it was based on)  and watching a great movie and supporting a good cause at the same time has to be a winner!

The Nottingham screening will be held in room A48 of the Sir Clive Granger Building on the University of Nottingham’s University Park Campus, on Tuesday June 16th, starting at 6.30pm (doors open at 6pm). SERENITY will be follow by Joss Whedon’s hit web series ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’ with a short break in between. Tickets cost £5, all profits go straight to Equality Now! More details HERE!

I’ve been sorting through my old photo archives and thought I should start to post a few from ‘back in the day’ - in this case it’s a photo of me firebreathing at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire.

Even before I started Robin Hood-ing I used to travel (and for a brief while even live) at the castle, for several years it was the home of ‘Treasure Trap’ a live-roleplaying company which allowed thousands of like-minded folks to dress up and live out medieval/fantasy adventures and combat. I had (and still have) a suit of japanese samurai armour I used to wear there. It’s also where I got my Blue Peter badge!

This photo was taken quite a few years after that, as I carried on working at Peckforton for many years performing at medieval banquets, weddings and (in this case) fun days!

What a fabulously fun morning! Yesterday the lovely Sal Chappell and I were at Waterstones bookshop in Nottingham with the extremely talented (and equally lovely) photographer and author Sarah Davis who was launching her excellent book ‘Nottingham - City Beautiful’, a wonderful photo-guide to the famous and not-so well known parts of the city, all taken in the past year (including photos of myself and Sal at last year’s Robin Hood Pageant, which is why we were there).

We were also joined by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Councillor Jeannie Packer (who used to be the city’s Sheriff) and her husband along with loads of people buying copies of the book to have signed by Sarah. 

Here’s hoping the book does as well as it deserves and many thanks to Sarah and her friends and family for making it such a memorable and enjoyable time! 

Last week’s theme (if there was one) was video and film-related but this week strangely it’s all about books…

On Sunday I was contacted by the excellent Cameron Taylor, an author who’s rewritten some of the stories and themes of the Robin Hood legend, but from the point of view of Friar Tuck. He’s already got some great reviews and you can even read the first three chapter online yourself at his brilliant website www.friartuckbook.com.

Then yesterday I was asked to appear at the official launch and signing of Nottingham - City Beautiful by Sarah Davis, a pictoral appreciation of the city which also features photos of me and the lovely Sal Chappell as Robin and Marian too -  what better selling point could a book have?

The signing takes place at the Waterstones bookshop on Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham on 6 June 2009 at 11.00am, with the author, Robin and Marian , the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and many others.

And it would be fearfully remiss of me not to mention another Robin Hood-themed book presently being written by another friend of mine, although the outlaw doesn’t appear in person - the focus of this book is Guy of Gisbourne (specifically the Guy played by Richard Armitage in the new BBC version) who for some unaccountable reason makes all the ladies swoon. Can’t see it myself, of course…  

Back to posting naked videos of my employers online - I’ve just uploaded another YouTube clip of What A Palaver!! (aka Rob and Ian of The Digital Paparazzi), this time from last night’s Britain’s Got More Talent - The Best and the Worst. I’m thinking they probably fall into the former category, mind you. Click HERE (or on the BGT logo to the left) to see them in all their glory (and a bit more of their actual act too)!

And is it just me, or does Rob really say a Very Rude Word right at the end of the clip? Ian tells me it was because the presenter accidentally grabbed an allegedly sensitive part of Rob’s anatomy a little too forcefully!  

How cool is this: I have a Star Wars action figure named after me!

Back in the late 80’s I was working at Games Workshop’s Design Studio along with a lot of very talented writers, artists and game designers. One of them was World Famous Game Designer ™ ’Cuddly’ Ken Rolston, who was heading back to the US to write Star Wars roleplaying material for West End Games, so I jokingly asked him to include me in the Star Wars universe and pretty much thought nothing more of it for ages…

But in 1988 Ken’s adventure module Strikeforce: Shantipole appeared and in it was a character called ‘Lt. Pollard’ - a hero of the rebellion, tough and dangerous looking (obviously modelled on me, then.. ). I was very happy and still have my copy.

But even more surprisingly (and wonderfully), the character has reappeared recently in some of Dark Horse’s new Star Wars Rebellion comic series (where he’s now a famous B-Wing fighter pilot and leader of Dagger Squadron) - and Hasbro have made an action figure of him and his B-Wing!   Thanks, Ken!

After being behind the camera on Tuesday I was in front of one yesterday, taking part in a film shoot in London with Rob and Ian at the Inner London Crown Court .

The Digital Paparazzi had been hired to play… er… some paparazzi (so no typecasting there, thankfully) and we spent the evening on location with a large crowd of extras snapping away at the very pleasant young leading lady portraying a successful actress arriving at a premiere.

Perhaps even more excitingly we’ve been asked back to appear in their next film too - a zombie movie! (Although… as undead paparazzi? Hopefully not!)