Happy ‘Otherside’ 80th birthday to David Farrant!

Greetings, friends and followers of David Farrant. Della Farrant here.

David didn’t like birthdays so much as tolerate them. Part of his explanation for this, as well as often refusing to reveal his age once he had hit 30, was that witches ‘don’t believe in linear time’ (growing old gracefully apparently … 😉). Anyhow, I suppose he exists fully outside of such a concept now, so it is left to those of us he left behind to mark its yardsticks.

Today marks David’s 80^th birthday, as it was on the 23^rd of January 1946 that he was born at the Forest Gate Maternity Hospital in Newham, East London. Shortly after this his parents Don and Barbara moved to Shepherds Hill in Highgate, and aside from the odd spell ‘inside’ David would call North London home for the rest of his life.

Although he always returned to N10, or N6, as a natural and seasoned traveller David visited hundreds of haunted locations throughout the British Isles in the course of his paranormal research. For want of an illustration depicting David having fun upon his natal, I thought to share this picture taken by his second wife Colette at Gisborough Priory, around 1983. I don’t think has been published before, and I hope you all like it.

Photographs form just a fraction of David’s vast archive, which I continue to catalogue with enthusiasm. There are also letters, travel documents, tape recordings, notebooks, diaries, vast amounts of cuttings and of course – letters. Readers who would like to contribute material are very welcome to get in touch with me via [email protected], I would love to hear from you. The ‘Land of Farrant’ lives on!

There are also several other related projects on the go, embargoed as yet, although I will say that a fledgling podcast is on the horizon and I have apparently been conscripted to help out by the producers … I’m quite looking forward to it actually; I’ve not done any radio work for a long time. Of course, the Highgate ‘vampire’ will get a mention. This may present a good opportunity to set the record straight upon a few ‘misremembered’ (to put it nicely) conclusions about that old ghoul which have been attributed to David post-mortem, and are lately doing the rounds on Fakebook.

Until I have an update for you all,

Della