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

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. 

So, watch away and we hope you enjoy it!

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

For now everyone

David Farrant

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.

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 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

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 

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