THE HUMAN TOUCH

David Farrant during Kevin Crace interview 2007

Fairly quiet day today but its given me a chance to catch up with some written work I’ve fallen slightly behind with.  I started with some emails at lunchtime, and brought those mostly up to date.  Some were mainly just acknowledgements but some demanded more detailed response being in relation to on-going projects.  Anyway, I caught up with those in a couple of hours.  Had a short coffee break (well tea actually) then got down to trying to complete another Introduction on a forthcoming book on the supernatural which I’d agreed to write.  That’s finished now, but it took a good few hours to complete.  Then Della got in from work, so we just relaxed over some food and wine just talking about things in general.  She had had a fairly hectic day at work, and things didn’t improve when she found somebody had ‘nicked’ her parking space near the main building.  They (he or she) hadn’t realized that space had been assigned to her, even though her company owned those particular parking spaces.  She got it all sorted out, although not without a little difficulty.  It didn’t make a good start to the day; especially when she was a little tired anyway.

 She is asleep now anyway, so I’m just finishing off a few things in the early hours.  I thought a quick Blog might be in order, as people keep encouraging me to do more on it.  Easier said than done really, when you get a quiet day like today!

 OK.  There have been some very good responses to the new film “Robin Hood’s Grave Revisited”.  There has also been a minimal amount of criticism, but as this has only been forthcoming from a couple of very prejudiced people, I just tend to ignore it.  I have had quite a few queries about the DVD copy of the film which apparently some people want as collectors items.  These are now all being processed and should be available in two weeks. We will give details here when the first batch is ready for dispatch.

 For the sake of clarity (in view of an earlier Blog here), the new film has no connection whatsoever with an earlier Robin Hood film made (or rather partly made) in 2002.  I was given the rights to this film but decided against using any of it.  That whole film was made as a ‘spoof’ of the Robin Hood legend and I didn’t think it would be appropriate to mix any of that (by means of cuts or short clips) with the current film as it would have seriously distracted from the true facts as portrayed in the current film.  I think the late owner of the Kirklees estate (where Robin Hood supposedly lies buried) would have literally ‘turned in her grave’ had I done so.  (No disrespect intended, but I feel she is quite entitled to be left in peace after the lack of respect that was shown to her in her lifetime by certain people).

 Well, its getting late now (maybe I should say early), so better get some well-earned sleep.

 So until a little later everyone.

 David

There seems to have been a lot of controversy recently, arising from the release of our latest film, Robin Hood’s Grave Revisited. This film has apparently been widely viewed, and has attracted some attention from people interested in the facts of the Robin Hood case : some in the form of private questions; more from certain people who have apparently taken an instant dislike to the film. (It really gets more and more bizarre…)

One reply of the former persuasion (on this Blog yesterday) came from Dr. Amy Booth, who was questioning the intricacies of a Blessing Ceremony which Gareth J. Medway and myself performed at Robin Hood’s alleged gravesite in April 2005. Dr. Booth was asking about a couple of comments that she had read elsewhere from a particular individual – rather better described as an ‘antagonist’ – regarding the film. Dr. Booth’s original question, and my initial reply, can be read in the comments on the post on this Blog dated May 13^th.

It appears that her response was based on an article for the ‘Yorkshire Robin Hood Society’ newsletter back in 2005. The person in question is apparently trying to interpret this article to justify her own hair-splitting critical conclusions, and is ‘threatening’ to release my article next week as ‘proof’.

Well allow me to save her the trouble…

I am reproducing a copy of the article I wrote, as Patron of the YRHS so that people can make up their own minds about this.

I must apologise for the appalling quality and layout of the scanned pages of the newsletter; however there was very little I could do to improve the presentation and it is presented as published: loosely stapled, off centre, with no contents page or page numbers and with no apparent type or page setting – resorting instead to photocopying emails for inclusion as articles with no editing of sender info etc. This issue has a date on the cover at least unlike most issues. However they did give an ISSN number to each of their photocopied bundles, so this is all on public record as you have probably seen, Amy – indeed I am sure you are aware of the – I believe we call it ‘eccentric’ in England to be polite – content of a lot of their newsletters (not sure how many or which copies you have? I have them all).

I can only hope that the administrative skills of this ‘organisation’ have improved somewhat since then as they were evidently sorely lacking during my official patronage – although there was little I could do about this at the time except suggest that those producing the newsletter attend a course in administrative or secretarial studies should they wish to be taken seriously. . .Sadly even taking up this suggestion did little to improve the quality of their output, which is rather irrelevant now as it is hardly each of the two remaining members producing a newsletter to send to themselves.

I do of course have the article in its original electronic form; but wanted to post it here as it was first published, lest there be any doubt!

Anyway I digress. I am quite confident that the original article I submitted – and which has been published elsewhere – certainly does not elaborate upon the use of scientific equipment during the Blessing Ceremony.

Well that’s all for now folks, have fun!

David Farrant

And just for good measure, to pre-empt these striving  ‘revisionists’ saying that my article as reproduced above was not included in their newsletter as described, here is the following page which can be seen in shadow on the page above. Again, apologies for the poor quality, I have merely reproduced it as it was sent out to members in its original form. 

As promised, here is the link to the new film Robin Hood’s Grave Revisited.  Its an hour long if you want to watch it through in its entirity – so be prepared for that!  The whole thing is really self-explanatory and really covers the period after I was first invited to be Patron of The Yorkshire Robin Hood Society and the involvement of local people in the case up until the present day.

So, watch away and we hope you enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3IQbA9hUoc

For now everyone

David Farrant

The Yorkshire Robin Hood film is now finished . . . Yes, finito.  Its taken a lot of hard work but thanks to Della (yes, the REAL Della; not some  ‘astral projection’ as some old codger down on the south coast seems to think she is! – senile dementia mostly to blame!), it has been completed ahead of schedule.  The official release date as circulated in Press Releases (and elsewhere) is Tuesday May 8^th, but this could even be Wednesday as a couple of technicalities still have to be taken care of.  Anyway, I’ll be posting the details up here in the next day or two, so just keep watching this space.

I can’t really release advance information about the film, as other people were involved in its making and getting a full consensus at this stage might delay the release date.  Anyway, there would seem little point in doing so, when people will be able to see the film ‘all in one go’ without adding rather silly ‘teasers’ which would only prolong its actual showing.  I can tell you, however, the film is about an hour in length and illustrated by many photographs and documents which helps to portray comparatively modern findings and activities surrounding the Robin Hood legend.  It will also be released on DVD for the benefit of those who might want to retain a hard collectors copy.  Details of the latter will also be released very shortly.  

Well, that’s really enough for today everyone.  Still have a couple of things to take care of in the light of the new film. I hope you will enjoy that anyway. I will leave you, however, with one of the stills taken from the film. Robin Hood’s Grave seems to have exuded its mysteries since Victorian times, as evidenced by this 19^th engraving executed in a naïve mock-medieval style, photographed by historian David Hepworth in somewhat more modern times.  

For now everyone,

David.

Thanks so much for your response, everyone, about our new Robin Hood film, due for national release next week. I think I did say previously on here that I’m really not allowed to give too much away due to the fact that I am presently under two seperate contracts on the Highgate business which really forbid a conflict of interest without prior consultation. However as this new film on the legendary Robin Hood has been produced independently by a seperate film company in conjunction with DFTVX / BPOS, there is no ‘conflict’ arising between these three productions. 

However, I still do not want to give too much away in advance on the new Robin Hood production. But thanks to the interest of so many people, I think I can at least release the brief opening sequence. You’ll just have to wait for the rest! Only a week to go now, and I’m sure you will then agree the complete film has been worth waiting for! Me? Well, I seem to have been on a culinary trip round the world this week, as Della cooked a lovely Mexican meal when my son Jamie came to visit a couple of days ago with his girlfriend Jo, to help us celebrate a certain anniversary. They enjoyed it anyway, and Della certainly deserves the compliments on her adaptable repertoire of menus. In fact, she has just cooked me a lovely plate of steak and mushroom stroganoff, with fresh parsley and homemade garlic dough balls and asparagus, complete, of course, with two bottles of vintage red wine which Della bought especially for the occassion. So I am naturally a little bit tired after another hard day’s work and a good meal.

But I will be keeping everybody up to date now a little more, as things seem to be happening so quickly, so I do not really have any excuse for any long lapses in posting. But that’s really all for tonight. Hope you enjoy the film intro as much as we enjoyed making the film which has now been completed and is just awaiting your opinions once you have seen it in its entirety.

So adios for now everyone, Della and I just think we need a bit of relaxation now.

Click anywhere on video to view / be patient depending upon your internet connection and give it a little time to load.

For the moment,

David

The new Robin Hood film, ‘Robin Hood’s Grave Revisited’, is, I’m pleased to say, well ahead of schedule.  A little early to give details yet (at least about the actual content) but the release date is scheduled for next week.  I can tell you this however:  the film will reveal never before told facts concerning the legend of the infamous outlaw, who is supposed to have been buried at Kirklees in West Yorkshire. His secluded ‘grave’, situated in dense woodland in the grounds of a private estate, still, it seems, guards its secrets mercilessly against any unwanted intervention from the outside world.  The late Lady Armytage, sole owner of the expansive estate encountered many difficulties in her lifetime against some fanatical groups determined to make access to the grave an established an established ‘public right’; these groups stopped almost short of nothing in attempting to fulfil a quest to meet their own ends, whilst discarding the feelings – or physical health – of Lady Armytage herself in the process.

The film sets out to dispel much of the unwarranted propaganda tactics employed by certain local people determined to achieve their self-motivated aims; at the expense of disturbing the privacy and well-being of the Armytage family itself who were – perhaps ironically – only trying to preserve the sanctity of this ancient grave-site and its close associations with the legend of Robin Hood.

The film goes into all these aspects of the Robin Hood legend, and many more.  Presented by film producer Drew Hartley, and featuring a detailed interview with myself, and Gareth J Medway who performed a Blessing Ceremony at the grave-site in 2005,  further insight is provided on film about the activities of some people whose self-determined interests seem to have greatly outweighed any real interests in the dissemination of genuine facts surrounding the existence of the ‘outlaw’ Robin Hood.

Anyway the film will be on public release next week, and I will certainly keep you all informed of further details. Just keep watching this space because not long ‘til release day now!

I leave you with a sneak preview of a still from the finished film.

For now everyone,

David

(c) British Psychic and Occult Society

'Nice one David, there's less dickipoggy down South, that's for sure!'

Well now we’ve really got something to celebrate. My friend Drew was down in London for a few days, and wanted to put the finishing touches on an exclusive interview he was filming with myself and others, about the Robin Hood legend, whose remains supposedly lie buried in a secluded woodland grave at Kirklees, in West Yorkshire. There has been much controversy about Robin Hood’s last resting place : a common belief being that he died in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire where he is commonly reported to have carried out his outlaw activities, with his band of ‘merry men’, and not in Yorkshire, which some have pointed out would comprise a very long daily commute on the basis of the locales where Robin’s transgressions were actually recorded as having taken place.

But that aside, Drew turned up with a small camera crew to interview myself to perhaps discover the truth of the situation, and ended up staying in London for a couple of days.

Well, there was not a lot I could tell him about ‘the truth of the situation’, as no one really knows, or has the right to claim that they know. However I was able to convey certain facts gleaned whilst I held the title of Patron of the Yorkshire Robin Hood Society, pertaining more to the role that the grave has played as a focal point of local cultural significance, and also as a site which seems to be a focal point for paranormal phenomenon of some note.

Indeed I have never denied these significances; especially the latter. Whilst as a psychic investigator I have found the attempts of some people to manufacture alleged experiences of supernatural phenomenon at and in relation to the grave frustrating and distasteful, I have always maintained an interest in genuine and undistorted reports of activity in the vicinity, as well as the corresponding influence of possible ley lines in the area. But I have never given am opinion either way as to whether Robin Hood (if indeed he ever existed) dwelt in Sherwood Forest or is indeed buried underneath the Victorian folly at Kirklees.

Indeed, this is the main reason Drew and his film crew recently came to visit us in London to ascertain my own involvement in the matter. I should perhaps point out that as Patron of the YRHS I knew most of the ascertainable facts pertaining to the legend; which is the main reason Drew came to London with his crew to interview myself.

We spent a few hours filming over the last couple of nights, and feel that most of the true facts (at least as my own involvement was concerned) have been recorded in their entirety.

After a hard night’s filming on Saturday, the film crew seemed quite happy, and we all had a chance to relax for a while and enjoy a few well earned glasses of wine. Film will be released very soon, within a week or so, so please keep watching this space for details. Think you’ll really love it! At least, everyone else seemed to have enjoyed the making of it.

Be back very soon, all this filming can get to you, and just a little tired to give ny more developments at the moment.

For the moment,

David

The article below appeared in Richard Ingram’s magazine “The Oldie”, on March 8^th  this year, and was written and researched by journalist and author Duncan Campbell. Duncan is revisiting the infamous Highgate Vampire case that occurred in the 1960s/1970s, and reviews my own autobiographical book “David Farrant – Out of the Shadows” which was published last year. His article is really self-explanatory, and perhaps gives a greater insight into events as these actually occurred – rather than just relying on sensational newspaper reports from the time which alleged – or suggested – that a local ghost reported in and around London’s Highgate Cemetery could in fact be a blood-sucking vampire (this was certainly alleged by a few others trying to cash in on this paranormal case at the time).  

Personally speaking (really regarding other matters) both Della and myself have been kept a little busy of late, so not really much time now for other latest news or developments. But we’ll be back in touch soon in this respect, so please don’t worry!

For example, there will soon be a small addition to the Farrant family, and this has been requiring a lot of preparation in order to curtail the wandering potential of tiny feet on account of living at the top of a Victorian townhouse. All of this has to be worked out, so we have had to be rather immersed in ‘real life’ lately, in all its down to earth glory and have had little time for ‘cyber gossip mongering’ and all its tawdy, banal Emmerdale-esque predictable scripts.

Just as another quick example, I have very recently been given exclusive permission and copyright to republish a film made in 2002 about the legendary outlaw Robin Hood. Am not sure if I will republish it yet, however if I decided to it would certainly be the uncensored version and not the copy I was recently inspired out of the kindness of my heart to donate to charitable causes in the north of England, who need all the help they can get. Anyone working for a legitimate cause does have our immediate sympathy; even if such causes are limited to keeping the Greenbelt free from potential pollution! I am still deciding about this matter as I have far more important domestic matters to attend to at the moment.  

Hope you enjoy Duncan’s article,

For the moment,

David 

Official Statement by David and Della Farrant regarding libellous statements about the identities of Christine Moloney and Della Farrant.

In recent months a fabricated claim has been circulated on the Internet concerning the marriage in Normandy last November between Christine Moloney and Isaac Ben Jacob.

This claim has been made by a particular person posting under his usual aliases ‘Steatoda Nobilis’ and ‘Arminius Vambery’.

Whilst this was and remains a legitimate marriage, the person in question has been persistently maintaining that Christine herself is, in reality, my wife Della Farrant.  To this end, this claimant has also published a series of photographs of Christine and Isaac which he obtained in an underhand manner from the Internet. He has reproduced these without their permission and these pictures remain their copyright and personal intellectual property.

This individual has also reproduced photographs of the real Della and myself, without permission, which remain our copyright and personal intellectual property.  By the use of these photographs, including captioning pictures of Christine Moloney as Della Farrant and vice versa, which is erroneous and libellous, he has also attempted to convey that Della and Christine are the same person. They are not. May we also stress that at no time has Christine ever posed for photographs pretending to be Della.

I should like to state unequivocally that this highly defamatory allegation is unfounded, malicious and totally untrue. Neither Della nor myself have ever stated or implied that Christine Moloney is Della, either before or since her official marriage, and the person repeating this false allegation is perpetrating a serious libel against Christine and her husband Isaac, and against ourselves. We would both like to apologise sincerely to Christine and her husband for all distress and embarrassment this false statement has caused them.

We would request that the person posting these statements and photographs online remove them with immediate effect, and desist from further libellous remarks to avoid the need for further action to be taken.

This request is endorsed by both Christine Moloney and Isaac Ben Jacob.

Signed by David Farrant and Della Farrant, April 18, 2012, to be circulated to all appropriate parties and reproduced online including Facebook where appropriate with the full consent of all parties hereby given.

All's fair in love and war!

David has had a very tiring Easter, and he is asleep now.  There’s only so many Easter egg hunts a notorious occultist can take before he needs a few z z zssssssssss.  So I couldn’t resist reciprocating  his thoughtful gesture of publishing a photograph of myself asleep after a hard day at work by uploading the above.  I’m sure he won’t mind!

Guest Blog Author – Della Farrant

Well, Easter again, and everything seems fairly quiet . . . comparatively.  Fairly late night last night (sorry, morning), and then Della disappeared to Church earlier today, dressed appropriately in a dark dress and shoes for the occasion of good Friday.  I don’t know what they do there, but I do respect her right to go and worship.  As a Roman Catholic, she takes her faith very seriously, although not through any form of commitment or ‘show’ but because of a deep spiritual commitment and understanding towards the ideals of her religion.

That is fine as far as I am concerned.  I have the greatest respect for people (of any religious denomination world-wide) who are drawn to acknowledge that Infinite Principle – or God – that gave life to us all; from the proud to the humble,  to all the teeming life forms of Nature with whom we all share this material world.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Any desire to come closer to that spiritual Principle that created this Universe (or other Universe’s for that matter) can only be a good thing; there is no sin in trying in seek out our true source of origin.

The only ‘sin’, if anything, is denying that such a ‘source’ exists; although often that is done in ignorance by those who live in ignorance of their true spiritual vocation.

No.  There is no sin in that.  The only ‘sin’ is surely on the part of some who pray to a man-made conception of a Divine Creator, then use such a belief to justify their own potential motivations against their fellow human beings.  God then becomes subjected to the human will; and we’ve all seen examples of what can happen when human beings are left to their own personal beliefs or devices.  I don’t even have to give examples.  Life, death, violence and disease all seem to make up this material world: we only have to open our eyes and look.

But it doesn’t have to be that way in the higher scheme of things: the consciousness of Man (and Woman) is merely another aspect of that Infinite Principe from which we all came; but it is necessary first to ‘open our eyes’ and recognise this . . .

Anyway, having some time to myself earlier today, I took advantage of this to complete a couple of pressing written projects which happily have now met the deadline.  Then, having a little time on my hands, I decided to relax and play again a short film which a friend had given me.  It is really a spoof film about the time and legend of Robin Hood.  It was really quite entertaining, if not very funny!  The film extra’s were trying to play it seriously (even when one inadvertently lost control of her dog which ran into shot and proceeded to do naughty things in full view of the camera’s); but really, who can really believe that Robin’s supposed grave (the spot he was allegedly buried after he shot his last arrow) was really haunted by a ‘vampire’ in the 20^th century just because some ‘evil Prioress’ had supposedly ‘murdered’ him by the primitive medicinal act of blood letting; or draining him of blood!  But such are the amusements of the material world sometimes.  To me, it is not the glamorised fiction which is at fault (we all like a good fiction yarn!) but the apparent easiness with which some people actually believe it!  But more on the film later, when the edits are ready.  Little tired now at 5.10 am, but more on this soon . . .

David.

You Naughty Dog!

Sleepy Della (c) BPOS

Very busy yesterday, trying to do 101 things. Still, I won’t dwell on that as don’t want to bore anybody. Trying to relax a bit more today, and, my God, I’ve only just realised it is Good Friday tomorrow. So hopefully most people are taking the day off and the nine to five office workers won’t feel the need to have to phone me. Della is planning to go to St Joseph’s I think, she tends to go for the full, traditional mantilla type affair for Good Friday service so I fully expect to be bid farewell by a ghost from the nineteenth century tomorrow morning; not that I am judging – it does rather become her and she takes it all very seriously. Anyway Della came back tonight very tired from a hard day at work. She has been in a lot of American conference calls recently and its all very complicated, and she does need her rest at the moment. But she’s not the only one who has to deal with work obligations, I assure you.  She is asleep now, and I might just ‘sneak a candid photograph’ in a minute, then wait to tell her until she wakes up.

I did pour her a glass of wine out when she came in, but amazingly she just left it on the table and said she had to close her eyes for a little while. She told me a little about her day in the studio, and apparently it was really busy, with everybody seemingly making demands on her at once and wanting to get things done before the Easter Holiday.

There! You might not be able to tell from my writing, but I have just taken a snap of her sleeping on the bed. Actually, she must be really tired as she’s been asleep for about an hour and a half now, and did not even wake up when I had to get up to get the camera.  (I do hope I don’t get into trouble tomorrow, for this rare natural shot of Della not actually trying to avoid the camera for once) !  I did feel tempted to preserve her modesty a little more; but then I thought, what the hell, it IS Easter. I mean, she will be covered from head to toe tomorrow so she might as well have a night off tonight!

Anyway,  I see my friend Kev has just done another Blog, giving an update about his glamorous high life in Dubai, and all the contacts he’s making, in business and in the media.  It is now over 40 degrees out there, and quite literally sweltering, which doesn’t help when he is entering championships at running and cycling, to represent the UK. A far cry from our present London mists. But his blog really is self-explanatory, including his latest post. In case you want to read it for yourselves, it can be found here: http://kevchesham.blogspot.co.uk/

Another new Blog (at least a new entry on myself and the BPOS in an existing Blog) was also published yesterday. Two psychic mediums from the north visited Della and myself in London last week. They really wanted to discuss some of the controversy surrounding us on various internet sites, and to get behind some of the speculation. The main interviewer’s name was Shazz, and she drove to London with her friend Stevee. They arrived about 3pm, apparently quite nervous to meet myself after all the media hype which had been repeated (and is still being repeated) on some internet sites.  I hope I put their minds at rest anyway, by simply answering their questions as straightforwardly as I could. It was a pleasant change , that they were apparently not too interested in the Highgate ‘vampire’ case, which was a great relief to Della and myself as we didn’t really want to discuss it in detail.  Instead they seemed much more concerned with understanding the real me, and my life outside of that case which does tend to dwarf the many other investigations I have been involved with over the years.

But we spent a good few hours talking, and I was quite pleased to see that some people are capable of writing about the true facts as they see them, without merely playing on all the sensationalistic nonsense.

Again, I think her current Blog entry is really self-explanatory, and would like to share it with you, as they both seemed to be very dedicated people.  You can read it here: http://thatspacebetween.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/voila-naturally-david-farrant/

And please do post there if you want, as I am sure that any reaction to their detailed interview would be appreciated.

Well, do you know, my beautiful Della is STILL asleep. I think I’ll leave her to wake up naturally, but it does give me an opportunity to ‘filtch’ just a couple of glasses of that excellent bottle of white wine that she came home with (well she won’t miss a glass or two, surely!).

Personally I don’t mind the Easter period, as opposed to the dreaded commercialised Christmas. Mustn’t knock Christmas too much I suppose, as our last film, A Christmas Quarrel, was so much fun to make, and has had an overwhelming response from many people on Youtube.

But personally, I do prefer the traditional rites of this time of year. Anyway, Della will be back from Church by early evening tomorrow, so I suppose I get the best of both worlds. Might even get a nice lamb roast as well – that is if she’s not too tired to cook it!

Happy Easter, and happy reading everyone.

For now,

David

David Farrant in Black Dog Lane circa 1995

Well,  Spring seems to have arrived at last – at long last!  Still quite a few things on the agenda though, most of which I tried to arrange for the warmer weather.  A Talk in June up in Yorkshire when I will be discussing the Highgate ‘vampire’ thing yet again.  Why people always want me to discuss a ‘ghost case’ that happened 40 years ago, is always a little off-putting, but its what people seem to want, and if the opportunity is there to set the record straight for a younger generation (and some older one’s!) then I really feel obliged to take it.  Other ‘ghost cases’ inevitably come into it so its not all repetition.

But before that, we have another trip planned for Lyme Regis in Devon.  Not much difference in the distance so another long car ride coming up.

In fact, I am quite looking forward to returning there after several years; and hopefully we will get yet more information on the ‘phantom black dog’ that has been reported haunting a lonely country lane by night.  Several people have reported seeing it over the years, but I was sad to learn that a nearby pub – The Black Dog – has since closed so we have yet to find different accommodation for a couple of nights.  I remember they sold really good real ale there, but with a bit of luck there’ll be somewhere else nearby.  I have not looked into the reason for its closure now (just lack of sufficient trade I suppose), but it would be intriguing to see if it had any connection with the legend!  That’s hoping for a bit much, but some of these ghost locations have yielded stranger rumours in their time.  Della will be going as well, and is really looking forward to it.

Then I have to attend a book signing event in London in July.  Yes, for my new book! but I’ll give more information on that nearer the time.

I have found an old picture of the haunted lane from last time.  It may not look too sinister in daylight,  but at night it has a really strange atmosphere.  It is so quiet there being half a mile or so from the nearest small village.  The ‘dog’ has reputedly been spotted by lonely motorists, although when we were last there, only a couple of cars passed in over three hours.

Some people due here tonight, so better finish this off for now.  Della won’t be too pleased if she gets in from work and discovers I have forgotten to get the food (and the wine, of course!).

So that’s it for now everyone,

David

Yet more Takes

I am not a movie critic, nor have I ever professed to be, but I had the absolute misfortune to watch a film today about the legendary Robbing Hood that was filmed in 2002 AD in and around Brighouse, West Yorkshire.  The film was given to me by a friend who lived in Brighouse at the time, but who periodically visits London to help organise professional film events for television (the last major one being the BAFTA presentations in February), and when he does so, he frequently stays over at my flat in North London.  I enjoy his visits as we have several mutual friends in the Yorkshire area, and can ‘catch up’ on local gossip and activities, much of which centres around a local belief that Robin Hood himself was originally from Yorkshire, and is buried in a secluded woodland grave at Kirklees.  Such is the local belief, at any rate, and newspapers (local newspapers, that is) always seem ready to try and establish that Robin was a ‘born and bred’ Yorkshireman and that Nottingham Castle and Sherwood Forest (Robin’s reputed historical domain), are only ‘fairy Tale myths’ whose only true motivation was a ruse invented by the Nottingham Tourist industry.  Perhaps not surprisingly, the latter have argued that the entire situation is the other way round,  and that it is the ‘Yorkshireites’ who are trying to filch the historical tradition to attract tourists to their own impoverished area.

But I digress.  The fact remains that the current day dispute does exist; in fact, has done so since the early 1980’s when a local woman from Brighouse, known affectionately as ‘Babs the witch’, began a ruthless Press campaign to establish that the woodland grave at Kirklees (just 2 miles from her home, and in fact only a Victorian folly) was the exact place where Robin was buried after firing off his last arrow.

It is against this background that the film was made, and kept by my friend as a recorded account of ‘local history’ for his extensive archives.  Perhaps the fact that the film in question was made as a ‘spoof’ of the Yorkshire legend, was another reason my friend agreed to impart the film to myself and Della, wanting only serious research material to make up his library.

Anyway, Della and myself finally got around to watching it yesterday, and it has to be said that its content was truly hilarious!

The film is introduced and presented by one Mark Gibbons, and the only other participants – apart from surprised pedestrians having a microphone forced into their faces – were Mark Gibbons himself at a couple of locations near to Brighouse, and Babs herself who had agreed to be interviewed in the local Three Nuns pub.

But the film had some interesting moments near its beginning, before the ‘grand finale’ in the pub and the filming of the interview.

Perhaps most amusing was the sheer amount of ‘takes’ needed to perfect just one scene.  And maybe it didn’t help when Mark Gibbons was trying to give an introductory commentary about the famous outlaw, and Babs decided upon that very moment to walk her little dog in the background, right in camera view, when it was desperately pulling her towards some selected ‘doggy spot’ where it was trying to defecate!

The film crew’s luck did not seem to hold out when, later at the Three Nuns, and Babs was trying to describe some bonky person who had declared that the Kirklees grave was really the haunt of a blood-sucking ‘vampire’, that the portable pay-phone on the bar rang – not just once, but on three separate occasions!  If this was not enough,  people kept using the nearby loo, and as the toilet ‘flushings’ were clearly audible in the footage, those takes as well, had to be re-filmed.

But to be fair, the film itself made for great amusement.  Well, it certainly had its moments!  And perhaps little wonder that it had been filed away as a ‘spoof’!

Well, Della and myself were certainly entertained by it anyway.  Its not often you can turn in after a late night ‘film’, without ‘Hollywood violence’ giving cause for unwanted dreams.  The film scarcely did that much, but it did provide an opportunity for brief discussion about the potential importance of keeping our Green Belts clean!

For now everyone

David  (and Della who is now asleep!).

David Farrant - NOT so Oldie!

Has anyone seen the Eggmanne recently? Some say he is now a recluse, only rearing his head in Bournemouth to give after dinner speeches to a converted audience. Some even say that he is … DEAD!

But, I have digressed already … Yet another wide circulation magazine, The Oldie – well loved by readers of Private Eye – has just done a review of volume two of my autobiography, “David Farrant : Out of the Shadows.” It is written by Duncan Campbell,  who is quite familiar with the Highgate ‘vampire’ saga which he covered in such magazines as Time Out and City Limits in the 1970s and 80s. You really will have to go out and buy a copy of the magazine, as The Oldie’s piece is a bit too long for me to summarise here. Suffice to say that in addition to offering a good synopsis of it’s main subject, there are a couple of paragraphs which bring things up to date somewhat amusingly.  Duncan writes, for example: “I expect that the editor of The Oldie will shortly receive a letter from ‘Bishop’ Manchester or someone purporting to be an objective observer, who will declare Manchester as the true voice of occultism.”

Well it really is too funny for words, but until it is no longer on sale in the shops I am afraid that I can reproduce no more … yet!

Another interview at the weekend, this time with American journalists on the Highgate case and other matters. And then, hopefully, a quiet weekend with Della when I can do some quiet meditating (even levitating) on her Victorian bed. She does get a little bit annoyed with me sometimes, as when I am up in the air like that it is rather difficult to reach my absinthe and I have to leave her (but only temporarily) to drink alone, way beneath me.

Oh how I miss those green dales of Yorkshire sometimes, where at least the spooks are confined to Victorian follies and haunted answerphone machines and the like; and evil spirits don’t try to attack you at night  -  if you remember to shut your louvre windows, that is.  Don’t think I’ll be going back there though. Paid £20 for a couple of nights lodgings on the last occasion,  and believe it or not this was ‘spirited away’ by one of the little gremlins there. Although I’m sure it ended up on the church collection plate in the end! (Well – where else could it really go? Unless it was to pay for environmentally friendly pooperscoop bags, which are a very important issue up there apparently.) I don’t know. That’s still a bit of a mystery, although I think the landlady was fully aware why she never got her pin money.

Anyway, a little tired tonight,  and once Della has finished preparing my nightcap and given me my foot massage, must seriously start thinking about getting ready for bed. We are both very tired actually, and I must really make a serious effort not to levitate anymore tonight – there’s only so much levitation a girl can take after a hard day’s work!

So I shall sign off now,  and please don’t forget to go out and buy this month’s issue of The Oldie (see pic above).

David

That was a lovely Edwardian bed!

Late again for writing a Blog, but as I explained last time (I think, without checking back) SO much has been happening lately.  Filming and writing projects to be completed; loads of correspondence a little behind but still awaited, and on top of that, friends visiting and even staying the night.  Not that I mind the latter: sometimes it is nice to ‘have a break’, even though it can take up time from official working expectations.

But apart from this, a lot of other things have been happening, a couple of them  highly amusing! . . .As many of you may know, my friend Kev Chesham recently started his own Blog; mainly to make people aware of an autobiographical book he is writing (and which is now in its last stages of completion.  His long term friend and associate “Raggety” has been encouraging him in this project;  mainly because he was greatly impressed with the manuscript and because he thought Kev had a very interesting story to tell.  A lot of Kev’s manuscript deals with Kev’s life as a professional athlete, and how

he represented and won trophies for his country, the UK.  But he also writes about his more personal life, and his experiences and expectations that lay behind his sporting career.  To this end, his friend (and manager as well), “Raggety” has also released a few extracts on his (Kev’s) Blog, and some revelations are astounding, to say the least . . .

Kev tells, for example, of how he met a certain person in 1973 – in the young days of his sporting career –   whom he later fell out with; a person who recently learned about Kev’s Blog, and has since tried to slur him as a ‘nazi supporter’, when ironically it was Kev who later accidently found out about the extent of this person’s own involvement with far right Hitlerian politics. Well, it is only too apparent that Kev’s revelations have rung true with a great many people who have themselves been the victims of similar smear campaigns by the same person – obviously not least myself! There has been growing media interest in Kev’s first person account of what really goes on ‘behind the scenes’ of some people who profess or pose as ‘religious people’. This popular interest shows no sign of abating,  and no credible explanations from this person seem to be forthcoming – in fact, he seems to have ‘done a runner’ from any Internet forums which are (reasonably) seeking answers from this self-professed man of the cloth.  To make the matter all the more ironic, perhaps, Kev has been a practising Buddhist for circa 40 years now, and despises people who adopt a pseudo-religious life as a means to protecting their own dark political lifestyles – which inevitably breed hatred and violence.

But I do not wish to pre-empt the revelations Kev has made so far on his Blog;  much less to offer my own personal views which might inadvertently give away the revelations soon to be revealed in total in his own publication. I did say it was rather amusing – and I still stand by that – but I feel somewhat justified in saying this because by his own admissions Kev has told myself and other people that these false allegations about himself are just laughable, and to some extent, really funny.

Moving on from the bizarre Photoshopped attempts to malign Kev, another, true event which did happen recently, however – or should I say non-event – concerned not the ridiculous ‘nazi posturings’ of bonky people, submerged behind a camouflage of ‘holy cloth’ ; but an obsessive campaign on the part of two Yorkshire lasses who are trying to prevent dogs ‘pooing’ in their local park.  Yes, it all gets stranger, as seems to be the way in ‘Farrantland’ all the time  – but not through any fault of my own!

This secondary humourous tale concerns two rather obsessive fans of mine from Yorkshire. As regular readers will know, I am not the kind of writer who feels comfortable with the idea of ‘fans’ as such. But when one is well known, one sometimes has to deal with the extremities of professional ‘celebrity stalkers’. The fans in question have been ‘on the scene’ for some years, and seem to have developed a rather unhealthy fascination not only with myself, but also my wife. Well Della has tried to deal with this in good humour, but it seems that her sense of humour is not in sync with theirs – if in fact they have any, which seems unlikely. For a certain post on her blog seems to have sent them (as they say in Yorkshire) ‘doolally-pip [sic]’.

Della has been forced to write yet another Blog about this, in which she is trying to get behind the truth of these weird internet revelations habitually made public by these two people. Subjected to a daily onslaught of libellous abuse by people who have never even met her, saying for example that I only married her for her money, that she is (perversely) also complicit in some kind of benefit fraud, as well as obscene and childish references to our private life, she has concluded that the perpetrators are either extremely stupid, immensely frustrated in their own personal lives, or possibly just plain old fashioned MAD.  To this end, she did not (and does not) think it inappropriate to publish a scan of a flyer which was sent to her from the north of England, apparently depicting these odd individuals engaging in yet another obsessive campaign, this time some rambling affair involving dog mess being deposited in their local park which is in the Green Belt of the beautiful dales of Yorkshire, Robin Hood country no less! For example I have been reliably informed that they are the second people this year to try to get Della arrested for the evil crime of – wait for it – daring to ridicule people who spend their entire day writing malicious gossip about her on the internet. And to compound her ‘crime’ – she’s a lot wittier than any of them put together (talk about Coronation Street, Last of the Summer Wine and Emmerdale – they have got nothing on it!). However, as I said earlier I (and Della as well for that matter) have been extremely busy lately, and don’t really have time to dwell on such matters. In fact, the legal advice I have been given over the years – as well as the last few days -  regarding these people is to not feed their obsession by glorifying their time wasting actions.  But having said that I will give you a link here for Della’s Blog, for anyone interested, as I think it explains the matter quite sufficiently : http://dellafarrant.org/?p=312

Speaking of Della,  she has just brought me in a glass of wine, in a different glass from the usual. This made me cast my mind back to when she first invited me to her Knightsbridge flat, over a year ago now. I have already described this visit somewhere on an earlier Blog; but it just brought back pleasant memories. It wasn’t red wine on that occasion, but a beautiful meal cooked by herself, with appropriate reverse (!) aperitif to follow. This made me just start going through some old-ish photographs she sent me at the time, and thought maybe I should share one of these with you.   So I am posting at the top of this Blog for sentimental value.  That was a really comfortable Edwardian bed – must have cost her a small fortune. But then she does deal in antiques, so maybe no real loss there.

See you all soon, good people, and I’ll try to be quicker with my Blog next time,

For the moment,

David

A quiet day for a change.  Would you believe it.  Almost forgotten what it was like not to take phone calls!  Well, because its been so quiet, there’s not much news.  Although I believe Della has a little which has just gone up on her Blog.  Here is the link to that anyway . . .

 http://dellafarrant.org/

 Might cheer some people up at least as it really is like a real-life comedy drama!  And I mean REAL!  Its not meant to be funny in any way as the person  or people – posting these meanderings (and I don’t mean Della) have absolutely no sense of humour!  Anyway, enjoy her post folks.  Gives me a break for a change.  Sometimes there is really no need to write anything!

For the moment everyone,

David

Drew and Della working undercover! (c) BPOS

Such a busy weekend!  There just didn’t seem enough time to fit everything in.  But fit things  in  Della and myself did somehow, we always seem to manage somehow.  I should perhaps say, that Della is an immense help in this respect, and much better at accommodating visitors to the flat than I could ever be.  I tend to get a bit ‘lazy’ sometimes where visitors or appointments are concerned, even overlooking the odd appointment that may have been arranged a few weeks before.  Such arranged visits always get met: its just that I have a habit of forgetting schedules when things – even social things – get a little busy.

This Friday may be a good example.  A lady from Scarborough had arranged to visit at 3pm.  She lived in this seaside down, but was visiting friends in London for the weekend.  I remembered that much; but I had completely forgotten the date!  It was not until lunchtime that Della reminded me that the lady was coming.  Shaken ‘back to life’ with a cup of tea, she virtually pulled me from the bed, and then I realised I had not even shaved -   let alone still yet having to get dressed  properly, putting aside the pair of shabby jeans I had been wearing the day before.  It was only a preliminary meeting to arrange some radio interview; but I was still so tired from the day before – so very tired.  But that all went well.  She arrived promptly, and somehow I managed to look a little more presentable.  An interview was arranged to speak on BPOS investigations; although I had to disappoint her a little by saying I couldn’t travel to Scarborough for a studio interview, and that the interview would have to be recorded in London.  She had offered me expenses for the train, but still I declined, although managed to get these ‘transferred’ to cover my time at their Agents in London.  The interview has not yet taken place, but will be transmitted on a large Local Radio station when completed and will later be available on line for people to download.

Saturday was busy as well; about 8 people here, in a bid to get the new film finished off. Can’t say anymore about that really, but I’ll keep everybody informed when we have a release date. I shouldn’t say this (but being conceited I will) but I think people are really going to love this one! We have had so much positive response to A Christmas Quarrel that I’m only speaking factually and not from any sense of boastfulness. But just wait and see that’s all I can say. I think you’ll all be presently surprised.

Sunday was quieter, but we had a visit from our old friend Drew. He was in London due to some film business and stayed over. We had a pleasant evening just talking and reminiscing about old times; especially when we had visited him in Yorkshire back in 2006.  We spent many happy hours driving around West Yorkshire – oh mustn’t forget, North Yorkshire and Lancashire as well. In fact we ended up on Pendle Hill, but unfortunately due to my bad foot and a torrential downpour – not to mention the mud – nobody present really managed to reach the summit. Drew and myself gave up and went back to the pub. Gareth, and a couple of others (bless them) did attempt to walk on into the slippery misty depths of the hill, but they never made it, and returned to the pub about an hour later, soaked to the skin and in bad need of a hot drink.

Drew during his Volvo phase!

Anyway, I ramble …

Back to the purpose of Drew’s visit. I had been in contact with him the week before over issues arising from the Red Monkey film (shot in 2006) at Robin Hood’s ‘grave’. Anyway, there was some good news on that front. In fact there was even better news on another one. Drew had apparently found some long lost footage which he had taken at the ‘haunted grave’ some years before Red Monkey had filmed there. He had brought me a copy and I was very impressed with the content. All I had seen thus far was another film called “Gravewatch UK”, also shot at the ‘grave’ by Drew and his crew in the mid 1990s. This was recently released on Youtube (Dec 2010 to be exact). But the footage Drew brought with him to show me, was even more interesting. We all sat and watched it together, and when it was over Della and myself were surprised when Drew produced a document from his  coat pocket, which in effect signed the broadcast and distribution rights of the film over to the BPOS. As Drew put it “I’ve had enough of the whole Robin Hood nonsense, do what you like with it.”  Well we could understand how he felt, but in reality some of the footage of the film gives an excellent historical account of the ‘haunted grave’ itself, and indeed, provides a great insight into the roles of many people involved at the time. Well Della and I were greatly honoured, and naturally signed the relevant paperwork immediately!

Drew stayed on throughout Monday, but he had to be back in central London for 7pm as he had to attend a very important film meeting. But as this particular project is ongoing, he will be returning to London again very soon, and of course – as we told him – he will be more than welcome to stay again.

So with another busy weekend out of the way, I leave you for now, my friends. I still have a busy week ahead, as trying to get another book finished. But I shall be doing another Blog soon, with all the latest developments, so please don’t go away good people!

For the moment,

David

Jamie, Jo and DF at their visit on Sunday night

There’s been quite a bit of news this week; in fact, still trying to catch up on most of it – as well as some sleep! It has been a 24 hour party zone here over the last few days. Patsy and Rick, and another old friend (oh, and Gareth! – almost forgot him!)  were here, with Della and myself. So that resulted in getting to bed about 7am, although Patsy did give Gareth a lift back to West London at about 1.30 in the morning.  Showed Patsy and Rick some of the clips from the new film, and she’s very much looking forward to her part in it. Can’t say any more about that at the moment really, but will keep everyone here informed.

Saw Jamie and his girlfriend Jo on Saturday. Della was here as well, and she prepared a nice meal, and we all just sat around and talked, had some wine, took some photographs, and generally caught up on things – and somehow ended up going to bed at 7am AGAIN!

On top of that, our friend Kev had just completed (rather just started, there’s a lot more to complete yet) his new Blog which is based on his sporting achievements and events in his personal life, some of which might be seen (to say the least!) as being a little ‘controversial’. You can really judge this for yourselves, by following the enclosed link: http://kevchesham.blogspot.com/p/kevin-chesham-autobiography-first.html . Della and I were really trying to keep up with it all, when the next thing we knew was we had correspondence from two radio stations in the USA and Canada, who had taken an interest in Kev’s new Blog. Although it was short notice, the latter wanted us to appear live on the program to discuss some of its implications. Nocturnal Frequency Radio invited us to appear on the 2 hour program when it opened at 11pm on Sunday night. The only problem was that particular Canadian time zone was 5 hours behind GMT, which meant we had to be ready for the broadcast at 4am in the morning. Our host Steve Genier – and his co-host Alex Rondini – were very intrigued by some of the revelations Kev is making in his new autobiography, excerpts from which have been published on his new Blog.  And how did we fit into this? Well, quite simply, because we had met Kev some 2 years previously and had become acquainted with much of his past history dating back to the early 1970s. He was much younger then of course, but he still had some very interesting things to say about his real life experiences and connections with – shall we say – people whose motivations were dubious, if not incredulous! Steve Genier was very sympathetic to the forthright and truthful manner in which Kev had disclosed some of his past experiences. I understand the program is now available to watch in NFR’s archives. Well we must have done pretty well on the show ourselves, as we recently received congratulations from our friend Don Ecker who runs Dark Matters Radio, and when his head cold gets better, we may even be able to join up with him on his show as well.

Well, that’s about it for now. Sorry for another short delay, but as you may appreciate we have been kept really busy – which is nothing unusual! (I think poor Della has been pushed to her limits of exhaustion by her life with a ‘crazy white witch’! Only joking folks, she’s probably got more energy than I have.)

Just for the moment,

David

As Della has just pointed out in her latest Blog,  http://dellafarrant.org we have just heard – rather re-heard – from several old friends recently.  There was Kenny, my old friend from the sixties and whom I mentioned in the 2nd Volume of my autobiography, but who we have not seen since since last September.  He is due to visit here again in the next couple of weeks.

Then there was Rob Mile; commonly known as Le Comte, but in reality a mad sasassenach from  Scotland  (which was originally part of the UK, lest we forget)) who is threatening to invade our flat and get us all plastered on Scotch whiskey.

But equally importantly,  last week we had another welcome visitor; our old friend Kev Chesham who had just got a two week break in the UK from his triathlon coaching in Southern Spain and Dubai.  We had not seen him since last August when he visited and he kindly gave us a filmed interview about his new book, putting across the truth about such ‘scandals’ as  ‘Basildongate’,   damsels in distress at local swimming pools in his role as a lifeguard;  his infiltration of a secret 3rd Reich group in England and subsequent findings which have filled his new book; and much, much else, besides.

Kev has just been instrumental in launching  his own Blog in which he says he has yet to reveal more about some ‘bonky individuals’ who all fit into the story.  The link to his new Blog is below and should interest many who have followed the Highgate vampire case with which he came to be so inadvertently involved.

http://kevchesham.blogspot.com/

So please tune in everyone.  There is yet much more yet to come.  This is only the beginning!

David