The Naked Englishman

Working on the next Script

// November 8th, 2011 // Comments Off // Blog

I think I am finally on track with the script I have been working on for the next Bald Explorer video I am producing. After a few false starts, I am finally finding my feet with this series. With luck and good weather, when I come to film this episode, it will be more coherent than the previous ones. Famous last words of course.

I am slightly worried about the potential for snow. I don’t want that ruining my continuity. Snow is all very well, but if you are filming scenes with the stuff and you need to go back and take pick up shots and then its not there, that can be problematical.

Also, another thing I want to avoid is the Christmas decorations all over the place. That really dates a production, especially if it is not released during that season or relevant to the religious festival.

Today’s overcast and dark low cloud wet weather was grim and I am glad I wasn’t out filming in any of that!

Beer Show and Friends…

// November 6th, 2011 // Comments Off // Blog

My friend James Hastell, or Jimmy to his friends, popped over yesterday to the Beach Hut studio to record another of our crazy beer shows. Its always good to spend time with your friends. I enjoy the company of Jimmy and also Steve Pegram and we often have a laugh and a joke.

I am looking forward to working on new Bald Explorer projects and other filming/performing/podcasting related things this month. It would be nice if the weather brightens up, but that’s more than we can hope for this time of year I suppose.

My Sunday starts early with a little reading, housework and uploading of podcasts, then to see my father for a coffee. The afternoon is time to focus on the projects and also get a little study done too.

A Day of Fun!

// November 2nd, 2011 // Comments Off // Blog

I had a lovely day out with friends today, good old Paul Stoneman and James Hastell and together we managed to have a few beers, enjoy a coffee and munch a light lunch.

We used to do this a lot more than we have recently, which is a shame, but never the less it was great to catch up. I don’t get out with friends as often as I know I should. I am often reading researching or working on projects. If not that then I am working on the corporate videos that pay my bills. So it was great to abandon the work for once and take some time to relax and talk a complete load of nonsense.

Thanks chaps. We shall have to make another appointment in the not too distance future to try a few more beers and go for another lunch.

A walk along Worthing Seafront

// November 2nd, 2011 // Comments Off // Blog

Sometimes to get away from the four walls of the office and to find inspiration I take to the promenade along Worthing’s quiet seafront. The light today was rather lovely so I couldn’t resist taking a quick snap with the Blackberry phone and sending it up to Twitpic as well as here.

Its been another day of trying to find the way to go with the next Bald Explorer and falling short. As I wondered along the seafront I realised my problem is that I am trying too hard. An idea began to uncurl itself from the dark recesses of my mind and possible a glimmer of light has started to shine on the next episode of the curious bald one. I hope so. I cannot bare the frustration of it all.

Shopping Centre Distorys its Heritage

// July 26th, 2011 // Comments Off // Blog

The Shropshire Star carried a story about plans for a new development in the centre of Shrewsbury.

http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/07/15/video-view-of-shrewsbury-riverside-shopping-plans/

I am a traditionalist and I hate these new developments that do not pay attention to a towns heritage. So I made the following comments:

I am a visitor to the wonderful market town that is Shrewsbury. Further more I am planning to make a film about the place. In doing so I have started to read and research the history of this incredible and unique community.

It seems to me that the council made a terrible mistake when they knocked down the old market hall and rebuilt the 1960′s version. The modern way is to steamroller through the historic and beauty of the town, not just this one, but most of Britain, all in the supposed name of progress. Yet when asked, people aspire live older Georgian houses because they are spacious, gorgeous to look at, have character and likely to stand the test of time.

The modern out of town rabbit hutches look old, dated and ugly already and they are only up to 50 years old.

Improving the town is one thing, but destroying the character with cheaper building materials and naff futuristic designs is quite another. What looks sexy and exciting now with all its glass and curves will look dated and old hat in 20 years – just as the 60′s development did.

If you must rebuild, then make a real investment and keep the character and style of the town with a Tudor or Georgian look. Sweeping glass and ‘green’ building materials are not going to attract the tourists and their much needed revenue into the town.

Too many towns now look the same with their hideous ‘future’ look. Don’t loose your unique identity Shrewsbury. Its what makes you a fabulous place to visit.

Why not build more traditional timber framed houses/shops – that’s a very green material after all the ones you have left have lasted over 400 years. How many of the modern 60′s to present day constructions will last that long, eh?

Walking with an aching foot.

// July 10th, 2011 // Comments Off // Blog

There is a beautiful stretch of Shropshire Hills called The Lawley. It’s an unusual name and is a peculiar promontory jutting out of the ground alone approximately 1240 feet high. You certainly get a fabulous panoramic view when walking along its humped back with vistas across the flat plains of Shropshire’s fabulous countryside to the Long Mynd, the Wrekin and other surrounding hills in the deep distance. It’s particularly beautiful.

Harriet and I hiked along the full length of its base, which must be a couple of miles and then clambered up the slow assent starting from the north end, through the small glade of I think Beech trees and onwards towards the summit. The weather was very much on our side. While other parts of the country were drenched in down pours and surrounded in grey clouds, the lucky people of the North West Midlands we enjoying a near cloudless blue sky and delightfully warm sunshine.

I had driven up early on this Saturday morning, leaving as I usually do when I see my lady friend at 6am. It is of course a great time to be motoring along as the road is not hogged by commercial traffic racing at break neck speeds to make their deadlines, deliver their cargo or make the all important meetings. Although there was traffic and people were still traveling faster than they really needed to, there was much less of it and on patches of the M40, I simply had the motorway all to myself.

I spent a few hours in the delightful market town of Shrewsbury, doing what now has been a bit of a ritual that of purchasing freshly roasted coffee beans from Aroma. It’s very much the iconic independent shop complete with its many tantalising glass jars of mysterious coffee beans from different parts of the equator displayed in row upon row on its shelves behind the long counter at the front. All freshly roasted within the last week and expertly weighed, ground, if desired and packed by hand in front of your eyes by a lady in her middling years who has a cheery smile and welcoming demeanour.

More coffee was purchased in a newly opened cafe and the guests of a wedding studied as they paraded themselves in the street dressed to the nines in their best and probably brand newly bought outfits, kissing, laughing and joking in a pre-ceremonial drink feast before heading off to one of the nearby churches to watch the union of two of them as they tie their knots and make unreasonable vows to one another.

For lunch, Harriet and I decided to drive a little south of Shrewsbury to a pub we frequent fairly regularly just off the A49 just short of Church Stretten. It’s called the Horseshoe and obviously was very much an old pub in traditional style up until a few years ago when it was revamped and now has a much more modern feel about the place. The decor is not entirely to my liking, favouring as I do the old dusty low beamed flag stoned quiet country public house of ancient times, but the food is good, the owners are nice and Harriet loves it.

Fortified with ham, egg and chips and pint of summer ale from a Shropshire brewery I was very much ready for a walk and climb and the food was digesting and we basked in the sun that I suggested to my lady friend that The Lawley might be the answer to exercise plans.

Now what I haven’t mentioned is that my left ankle is causing me a lot of pain. It’s as if I have knocked it severely and bruised it, but I don’t remember banging hard and there is no outward sign of swelling or discolouring so I am not sure that is what giving me the jip. I wondered if I have in some way pulled a muscle because if I force myself to put the full weight of my body in it and ‘open’ it in the normal way as I walk and flex it the pain slowly eases. It never completely goes away, but does become progressively reduced.

The idea was that a medium length walk and mild climb might actually do the ankle a world of good. I have to confess this theory was right, although as I started off hobbling along the path way at the base of the Lawley there was slight trepidation on my part that Harriet would have to resort to having my legs around her waist as she dragged my useless body along the bumpy ground back to the car when the shear weight of my body was too much for me to stand let alone walk.

In the event, the trip to the top of this splendid volcanic mini mountain was more than successful with the pain dissipating and my ability to completely forget the unfortunate injured ankle and enjoy the fresh Shropshire area and stunning scenery.

Of course, I may well pay for it all in the hours and days to follow!

Rodney’s Pillar

// May 23rd, 2011 // Comments Off // Blog

Yesterday, Harriet and I had a lovely climb up to an interesting monument on the top of a very steep hill, just inside Wales and close to Shropshire. Seeing these sort of things on the horizon makes the clamber up to find them appealing, but it does make you marvel when you finally stagger adjacent to the man man structures just how the workmen ever got them completed. Rodney’s Pillar is one such edifice which tests the imagination, standing erect as it does on the top of Breidden Hill exposed to the elements .

The wind was howling as we set out and didn’t improve as Harriet’s little Polo headed to Powys in Wales, only 12 miles or so from Shrewsbury. The Welsh hills loomed up very quickly and you soon knew that you were heading to another country. I can see why the boundaries between England and Wales were set where they were. The mountainous region of steep hills being no practical use to farmers and landowners back in the Middle Ages and not an easy hunting ground for the Royalty, I should think the English nobility were quite happy to let the Welsh have the valleys and hills to do as they wished with. Now of course, they are national treasures and make for fabulous climbing adventures.

Breidden Hill is an extinct volcanic Hill and reaches a height of just under 1200 feet. The views front top are breath taking with its wonderful panoramic of 360 degrees taking in both the Welsh landscape and Shropshire countryside.

There is a permissive path that winds slowly in a circuitous route to the top, alternatively there are much more aggressively direct footpaths that take you on a steep climb to the summit. We took the former, which although a fairly gentle incline still takes about an hour to reach the Pillar through wonderful fir tree woodland. This was perfect for Harriet and I as it was out of the wind and actually when the sun broke through the clouds quite warm.

Rodney’s Pillar at the top was built by the gentlemen of Montgomeryshire who supplied oak wood from the area and shipped them down the River Severn to Bristol where Admiral Rodney’s naval fleet was built. It was erected in 1782 to commemorate the defeat of a French fleet in the West Indies and stands proudly there attracting visitors and climbers from all over the world. There were quite a few young people out and about with camping packs on their backs eager to reach the top to complete there weekend tasks I imagine.

It is a huge column presumably made from local stone and has the brain marvelling how the constructors managed to put it together up there back in the 18th Century. Harriet and I had an immense feeling of satisfaction when we reached the top and could enjoy the view, but were flabbergasted when a 60 year old runner, and I know his age because I asked him, dashed up and down the hill seemingly effortlessly not once but at least four times all the while we were there, putting our level of fitness to shame. He told me that we was training for a hundred mile run that was happening next week over similar terrain. My hat goes of to him and I wish him luck, although he didn’t appear to need any.

It was a lovely walk and after which we headed back to Shropshire and instead of hitting the pub, came back to Harriet’s abode and had a lovely lunch, followed by a lazy relaxing afternoon with our noses in books. Marvellous!

In the Myddle of a Mystery

// March 19th, 2011 // Comments Off // Blog

I have been back to the remains of the castle and spent a fabulous afternoon with Val and Dave from Castle Farm at Myddle. Val has lived on the farm most of her life and has consequently kept an archive of records, magazine cuttings, photos and illustrations of the castle ruins which she very kindly allowed me access to.

My plan is to rebuild the castle in computer graphics for a documentary about the ruffian who last resided there and in order to that I need as many references as possible to the look and size of the original building. My friend Stephen Smart, an experienced CG expert is going to do the main graphics construction as not only does he have a better understanding of architectural concepts, he is a hell of a lot more disciplined in this department than I. But what we both need is a ground plan, a few side views and a sense of dimensions.

My second visit to the site was to wade through the archive and see if anything there might lead us to either more information about its history or a better understanding of the size and shape of the building. Unfortunately, there seems to be little on the illustration front in the way of historic sketches. The main problem is that the castle was abandoned in the early reign of King Henry Viii and have been slowly tumbling to bits for the last 600 years.

One can imagine that once deserted by the owner, the locals would have started spiriting away the fallen masonry and timber to make use in their own buildings. The small village is awash with red sandstone blocks which either came from the old castle walls or possibly from the local quarry only half a mile away.

Down the lane from Myddle to the east is a hamlet called Myddlewood that Val informed me was at one time a very densely wooded area with a tiny community of poor, probably originally squatters living on the estate after and during the enclosure acts. It s not hard to imagine perhaps a wise old hag in a hovel mixing her herbs and medical compounds and coming down to the castle at night to invoke the spirits in the moonlight in and around the craggy remains.

Richard Gough, who wrote the earliest description extant of Myddle Castle in 1700, lived about a mile or two away and as a young man it is not hard to conjure up images of him and his friends sneaking into the ruins, which were much more substantial with a young lady or two for romantic liaisons.

There are many conundrums to solve from the surviving masonry. The surviving buildings suggest one being an exterior wall by the way they have been dressed and the position of windows, but earlier excavation plans suggest that this was internal, regardless of such anomalies as strangely positioned buttresses. One side of the remaining staircase tower has two many doorways leading into it for no good reason. Its all very confusing.

What is brilliant though has been Val and Dave’s enthusiasm for my project and the permission to march up and down the listed building’s site and try and get a feel for the place and put the clues that we have into some kind of order.

I am very much looking forward to piecing this jigsaw together and presenting a picture of what the castle might have looked like in situ within my documentary.

Let down by Cineworld, Chichester.

// February 23rd, 2011 // Comments Off // Blog

Its half term and the kids have been working hard towards their respect exams. Billy, my youngest, had his 16th birthday a few weeks ago and Georgie will be celebrating her legal rights as an 18th year old. I thought as a nice gesture of thanks I would reward their hard work with a trip to Cineworld in Chichester to see the new Simon Pegg film, Paul. Its rated 15, so that okay, the kids are older and besides, I am with them, whats to worry about?

Chichester is 20 miles away from Worthing and it takes about 30 minutes to get there. We thought we have a fabulous time. But we were wrong. I bought the tickets from the machine, £8 an adult and I think £6.50 for students. it was quicker than queueing and the three of us walked to be guided to the screen.

‘Excuse me’, asked one of the attendants, ‘Have you any ID?’ Well, no. I am their father and I am telling you that they are both over 15. Also, how is a 16 year old supposed to identify himself if he/she doesn’t have a passport or isn’t as yet in College? You get a student card when you go to college, and Billy will have that in September. His birthday is in early February. And sorry, I didn’t think to bring a birth certificate to a cinema!

So I now feel that Cineworld, Chichester has called me a liar and insult me by doing so, ruined our evening by not advising us that there were checking us before hand, especially when we went their a couple of weeks a go to see The Mechanic and wasn’t asked at all!

There are other places to go to watch films and I shall not be hurrying along to Cineworld anytime soon. Some one else can have my custom.

Bridgnorth Visitation

// February 19th, 2011 // Comments Off // Blog

Harriet and I took a trip last Sunday to Bridgnorth to have a look at this Shropshire town and upon discovering the Victorian Cliff Railway we gave up a pound sterling and ventured aboard. Have a look at the video of our mini adventure on the Video Page.

There are two parts to the town of Bridgnorth, the High Town and Low Town, and as the names suggest, one a sandstone promontory with a cliff face leading down to the other. The main town centre is perched up at the top complete with old gate house, timber framed town hall on stonepiers and the ramains of a Norman Castle. Below flows the River Severn under the North Bridge, north that is from Quatford, the original dwelling. There was a quay here where in time gone by wherries and barges would have delivered their supplies.

One of the fascinating things for me was remnants of hermits houses that were once built into the sandstone rock face of the cliff or the caves that had been inhabited until the beginning of the 20th Century. One such cave had the legend of having been dug out during the English Civil War by Colonel Lavington, a Parlementarian, in an attempt to tunnel under and up to the castle above where the Royalist were staking out. Its know locally as Lavington’s Hole.

I shall be going back again to do some proper video documentary work as part of my new Vobes Explorer project.