John Barrowman and Eridge Park

[fairyd123]

So cyberamanda and I went to see John Barrowman at the Eridge Park Summer Fair yesterday. Getting the train to Tunbridge Wells was surprisingly smooth (the last two times I have travelled by train someone has flung themselves under the train in front of me - guess they don't do that kind of thing in Tunbridge Wells) and cyberamanda then picked me up. We then discovered that Eridge Park is possibly the least sign posted place on the planet - I mean its a huge stately home - you'd think there would have been a sign post or two, but no. The AA route planner turned out to be a disgrace to its name and after about 15 minutes of back and forth we finally headed in the right direction after asking two bemused locals for help.

We arrived at the fair and joined the queue in the cold and the miserable drizzling rain (which didn't stop the entire time we were there). I think we both felt horribly urban - we seemed to be the only ones not wearing wellies, khaki, tweed or sporting a rather fetching hat - frankly I'm surprised they let us in! We finally got into the grounds (which have the most astonishing view - such a shame that the weather was terrible) and discovered, well - a very small village fete to be honest. I'd rather been expecting something a tad more grand but it pretty much just consisted of two tombolas, a jewellery stall, toy stall, books and trash and treasure. We instantly realised that there was nowhere set up for Barrowman to sign autographs - my inner organisational control freak promptly started wailing and didn't shut up for the rest of the afternoon.

We made our way to the front where the microphones were set up and waited for them to open the fete -we could see his manager Gavin and his partner Scott (who is incredibly handsome in person - he looks quite harsh and angular in some of the photos on John's site but is very good looking when you see him close up - he looks a lot younger too) peering through the windows at us. Amanda and I took a bet on what John would be wearing (I opted for the black polo shirt and lost!) They then opened the fete at 2:10. The compere guy introduced John who obviously felt he was going to get a little more build up as he ended up having to walk up to the microphone with a mouthful of cake. He looked very cute in his fitted black jacket and striped (naturally) shirt (in fact both he and Scott were wearing contrasting stripes!). John bigged up the various stalls before saying that he was going to sign autographs for a donation to the Hospice and he asked everyone to give generously.

The organisers then decide that it's a terribly good idea to have the main attraction signing autographs on the steps of the hall, under a huge pub umbrella with a tiny wooden desk to lean on. They then asked the ten foot wide throng of people to form an orderly queue - yeah cos that was really going to work. Honestly it never ceases to amaze me how little thought people put into these things. They've got a hugely popular actor giving his time to open the fete for them, the day after he's on television in a show watched by about 9 million viewers on a weekly basis and then seem surprised that people will actually want to queue and get his autograph! It was very poorly organised (we were a little surprised that Gavin hadn't worked out that it would be popular considering how widely advertised it was on John's site). Basically John's poor sister Carol ended up having to take control of the situation and she stood there for hours in the wind and rain in her red parka doing queue control - which wasn't at all fair on her.

Amanda and I joined the queue, which promptly didn't move at all for the best part of 90 minutes . I have absolutely no idea why it didn't move considering there can't have been much more than 60 people in front of us and John was about 40 feet away from us but it didn't. It was quite torturous actually stood there in the pouring rain, not able to put up an umbrella because everyone was so tightly packed together and just waiting while the compere guy desperately tried to get members of the queue to leave it and check out the stalls, the fashion show (which ended up being watched by about 5 people) etc. Funnily enough his entreaties fell on deaf ears.

I finally got up to the top of the steps and had a brief chat with John's sister Carol who was very frank and funny. I said that John ought to pay her for her crowd controlling efforts and she said he already did but he just didn't know about it! I told her how much everyone had liked the brief article she wrote about being John's sister and she revealed that she's going to be writing John's autobiography for him and that she was spending the summer hanging around with him getting stories for the book, and that she knew all his secrets!

Finally get to meet the man himself (having lost Amanda along the way - I seriously lose at these things!) and the meeting didn't exactly start out well. They wanted donations for his autograph and considering that it looked like most of the locals hadn't shown up because of the weather and as I was a little taken aback that everyone seemed to be depositing the loose change from their pockets into the donation bucket (I swear there were coppers in there - bloody cheap skates!) I decided to put in a couple of notes. I hadn't realised that you would have to donate the money right in front of John which flummoxed me a little, which only got worse when he promptly went "Wow" reached into the bucket, retrieved my donation and starts pointing out how much it is, that it's rather a lot (it wasn't - it was less than most con organisers would charge for his autograph which I pointed out to him- it was just I guess that most people hadn't put in very much) and did I really want to donate that much. So I'm now completely flustered and slightly embarrassed while he keeps "wowing" and thanking me profusely. I got him to sign my Torchwood book and the front cover of the Reflections cd and I managed in my flustered state to tell him how much I'd loved Utopia and the radiation scene in particular and his Reflections album. Of course every question that I had planned to ask him in advance went out the window but hey! I told him that Amanda and I were going to meet Gareth next month at the Bad Wolf Convention and we were really looking forward to meeting him. I decided against a photo (because half drowned kitten is not a good look for me). As I left he then said "Enjoy next week, enjoy Gareth" and just as I was walking away and thinking "I wish!" he calls after me "Oh and watch out for Gareth he's a womaniser!". Oh I am so telling him that when I see him in Birmingham!

Amanda did far better than I did at talking to John and managed to inform him how much the on-line fans love Jack/Ianto (her thread about it on torch_wood (96 comments and counting) is hugely entertaining as the comments seem to range wildly from "Jack/Ianto forever" to "Jack/Ianto makes the baby Jesus cry") and made one of her flist's year by showing John her artwork which he loved so much he wants to use it on his site and in his autobiography!

We then wandered around (gaping at the never ending queue) and bought some books before retreating to the cover of the tea stall for some tea and cake. We decided to stick around for the raffle later on - by this time they'd moved John indoors because he was cold and by the time he emerged for the raffle he'd changed into his "I'm getting quite tired and would like to go home clothes" of grey hoodie and puffy parka which he wears a lot. He then pulled the raffle which was entirely worth it purely for the entertainment value of him mispronouncing every single name (how the hell did he get "Morty" when the name was "Mandy?"), making bitchy comments "I think x needs a handwriting lesson!", and snarking on the prizes he didn't know anything about. Sadly Amanda didn't win and we then departed (leaving John to sign more autographs as he politely pointed out that the queue was now closed as he needed to go home before going back up to Cardiff!).

Finally got home a couple of hours later, freezing and very damp but pleased to have seen John again - even if he did manage to embarrass me! Roll on Pride on Saturday!

Comments

[tatiana-baa.livejournal.com]

Ah, queueing in the rain without an umbrella - how lovely for you ;-)
I'm surprised it was such a modest event, and especially surprised that the organisers didn't anticipate the number of fans who would turn up. Maybe all they watch on TV is the farming shows.
Still, it sounds like it was worth it.Even if he did manage to embarass the f*ck out of you!

Yep, you have to tell Gareth that John thinks he's a womaniser - you'll probably find that it's an in-joke and he'll go a pretty shade of pink!

Damn, I can't wait for John's autobiography...

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

Yup - delightful and I have the beginnings of a cold to show for it.

It was pretty modest actually - considering the grounds are massive it was the sort of fete that you normally see in the grounds of a small church.

And yes I'm astounded that they hadn't worked out he would be popular. I think they hadn't reckoned on people travelling to see him - they thought it would just be the locals. But its been advertised on his website for ages and his fanbase is such that people will travel the country to see him now. The person I was the most surprised at was his agent - its kinda Gavin's job to make sure things run smoothly and that his client doesn't catch his death signing autographs in the pouring rain.

His autobiography should be good - I'm quite pleased now that I know that his sister is writing it.

[tatiana-baa.livejournal.com]

I hope John didn't catch a cold, too!

Indeed - especially if, as she says, she knows all his secrets (and considering how open he is, the stuff he hasn't told us must be quite something!)