The Avengers - A 50th Anniversary Celebration

MLP* · Post by MLP* » Sun Jun 26, 2011 8:19 pm

Back home again, only slightly frazzled after being stuck in a traffic jam for an hour on the M3.

At least I had a new "Tara King" music CD to listen to in the car !

Wonderful event. If I had to sum it up in a word it would be "hot".

A few highlights as they come to me :

Opened with a wonderfully amusing and enthusiastic video from Patrick Macnee. "Enthusiasm" was the tone of the whole weekend really. The guests all spoke very proudly and affectionately of their work on the show.

Half way through the first Honor Blackman / Julie Stevens panel, the fire alarm went off ! At least as we stood outside for 45 minutes we could see Paul O'Grady and Linda Thorson's helicopter arrive !

Raymond Austin was great in all his talks. Full of wonderful anecdotes. And flew in from the US just to do the conference !

Paul O'Grady was highly entertaining in his various appearances and seemed thrilled to be there with so many like minded fans. He and Linda Thorson were hilarious at the charity auction in the "Hellfire Club" party on Saturday night. "Hellfire Club ? Looks more like a ****ing Saga holiday to me."

I've never been the biggest fan of Tara King but Linda Thorson has certainly gone way up in my estimation after this weekend. I didn't bother with autographs but she certainly spent a lot of time on the main stage and generally gave a lot of her time and energy to ensuring everyone was having a good time.

Sadly this was not true of Diana Rigg. Apparently her agent rebuffed any attempts to approach her for the conference. Brian Clemens wrote to her to ask if she would do something for the conference as a personal favour to him, even if it was just to record a message. Suffice to say, she would not.

There was a chance to see 20 minutes of footage from The Journey Back documentary. Not sure why this show was never completed, as based on the footage we saw it looks like it would have been very good, with Patrick Macnee on fine form.

The event closed with a message from Joanna Lumley. Like Macnee she was classy and full of affection for and fond memories of the show.

A few nitpicks. Well it did get very hot in the main stage and some of the function rooms were a little tucked away to the extent that I think some people didn't manage to find them. (Felt sorry for poor Carol Cleveland sat there in an empty Dealers Room.)

Otherwise a fantastic weekend. Big thanks to everyone at the University of Chichester who worked so hard to make the conference a success. And Paul O'Grady and Linda Thorson - you are both absolute stars !

Mona · Post by **Mona** » Sun Jun 26, 2011 9:41 pm

Thanks so much for sharing, MLP. I really appreciated it. I'm sorry I couldn't fly from Mesa, AZ to the celebration, but I was there in spirit. It's nice hearing about the highs and lows of the event, and it's especially great to hear it the highs clearly won out!

I wonder if Patrick Macnee's intro might show up somewhere, such as YouTube? I'd love to see it.

Mona

mariocki · Post by **mariocki** » Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:27 pm

A fantastic event - Ray Austin could've filled 2 days on his own. Well done to all concerned.

Cariheart · Post by **Cariheart** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 1:42 am

MLP* wrote:Back home again, only slightly frazzled after being stuck in a traffic jam for an hour on the M3. At least I had a new "Tara King" music CD to listen to in the car !

Wonderful event. If I had to sum it up in a word it would be "hot".

A few highlights as they come to me :

Opened with a wonderfully amusing and enthusiastic video from Patrick Macnee. "Enthusiasm" was the tone of the whole weekend really. The guests all spoke very proudly and affectionately of their work on the show.

Half way through the first Honor Blackman / Julie Stevens panel, the fire alarm went off ! At least as we stood outside for 45 minutes we could see Paul O'Grady and Linda Thorson's helicopter arrive !

Raymond Austin was great in all his talks. Full of wonderful anecdotes. And flew in from the US just to do the conference !

Paul O'Grady was highly entertaining in his various appearances and seemed thrilled to be there with so many like minded fans. He and Linda Thorson were hilarious at the charity auction in the "Hellfire Club" party on Saturday night. "Hellfire Club ? Looks more like a ****ing Saga holiday to me."

I've never been the biggest fan of Tara King but Linda Thorson has certainly gone way up in my estimation after this weekend. I didn't bother with autographs but she certainly spent a lot of time on the main stage and generally gave a lot of her time and energy to ensuring everyone was having a good time.

Sadly this was not true of Diana Rigg. Apparently her agent rebuffed any attempts to approach her for the conference. Brian Clemens wrote to her to ask if she would do something for the conference as a personal favour to him, even if it was just to record a message. Suffice to say, she would not.

There was a chance to see 20 minutes of footage from The Journey Back documentary. Not sure why this show was never completed, as based on the footage we saw it looks like it would have been very good, with Patrick Macnee on fine form.

The event closed with a message from Joanna Lumley. Like Macnee she was classy and full of affection for and fond memories of the show.

A few nitpicks. Well it did get very hot in the main stage and some of the function rooms were a little tucked away to the extent that I think some people didn't manage to find them. (Felt sorry for poor Carol Cleveland sat there in an empty Dealers Room.)

Otherwise a fantastic weekend. Big thanks to everyone at the University of Chichester who worked so hard to make the conference a success. And Paul O'Grady and Linda Thorson - you are both absolute stars !

Did you hear the reading of Diana Rigg's letter by Clemens? I heard he read it to the audience. Does anyone here remember what it said?

Andrew Pixley · Post by **Andrew Pixley** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 7:24 am

Okay ... caught up on sleep now, and so able to assemble my thoughts.

This was a truly astounding event assembled by Adam Locks and his team. Certainly in my almost thirty years of attending such assemblies, I cannot recall many which have been so superbly staged and managed. Everyone we spoke to seemed very happy with the whole proceedings indeed.

The pitch of the event was superb. I'd been curious about the approach to be taken (standard convention or academic conference?) and thought that this was spot on; it functioned as a conventional “convention” for attendees, but also acted as something far more important – a record of the thoughts and feelings of those involved with the crafting of a television show with vast cultural importance. The best of both worlds.

I cannot praise the team behind this highly enough. Helen Aspell was also utterly superb! The way she kept everything moving, managed everything, supervised the teams ... her skill of dealing with people was a joy to behold. Everything seemed to slick! There were ample signs and banners, clear, updated schedules readily to hand and just common sense professionalism in dealing with attendees. The students were brilliant. Kind, thoughtful and generous without exception. I don't think I've ever encountered such a fine team, and I have attended some truly amazing fan conventions with exceptional teams in the past. Several of them were really, truly, amazingly kind to me and my wife which we deeply appreciate. The AV was spot on as well, with brilliant work from Darren Mapletoft that set a very high calibre indeed.

Highlights for me were Joanna Lumley's video message and the talks by Leonard White (who never fails to impress me) and Ray Austin. However, all the presentations were first class. Jaz Wiseman, Dick Fiddy, Henry Holland and my old friend Marcus Hearn were really a dream line-up for this, and their skill with interviews and commentaries was a joy to behold for the weekend. The video interview presentations were also most engaging, and I very much enjoyed those for Roger Marshall and Laurie Johnson. The mix of guests was therefore a real triumph – with Brian Tesler being a particular bonus to the line-up. Paul O'Grady's comments warmed my heart immensely, and I applaud his outspoken honesty on several issues, not least of which was ITV1's deplorable attitude towards its own heritage.

Lovely to meet author Alwyn Turner and John Buss' wonderland of treasure was an amazing delight; all credit to him for sharing it over the weekend. The Friday night concert was a joy. The sax solos were particularly amazing, and I think the reorchestration of the Johnny Dankworth theme for a full orchestra as opposed to a small band was highly effectively. I really admired the hard work and talent from the team and wish there were more live events celebrating the music of these shows, offering the sheer immediacy and vibrancy of this brilliant scores. “The Journey Back” footage was particularly fascinating to view at long last and I'm so glad that this could be brought to a wider audience. Big shout too for the brochure, which was so skilfully assembled – and particularly the very clever illustration on the cover; striking and effectively. Indeed, the image and branding of the entire weekend was a particular joy to behold; a tremendous piece of co-ordination.

And so lovely to catch up with old friends. Two of my dearest friends – Annette Hill and Michael Richardson – were both in attendance and it was a joy to chat and laugh with them again in the way that we did so often when we all worked together in the 1980s. So many old friends to say hello to and catch up with, and so many kind and nice people who came over for a chat, such as the very kind Jon Meville who shares such as passion for “The Third Man” with me.

Thank you to all those involved in assembling such a terrific event. My wife and I seldom get out to weekend conventions these days, but I am so glad that we made the effort to get down to the beautiful venue of Chichester as this one was really something very special!

All the best

Andrew

jaz · Post by **jaz** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 9:41 am

Thank you MLP, mariocki, Andrew and everyone who has given us such high praise. Although I seem to be getting lots of credit I really should say this was a huge team effort. So many people helped behind the scenes - they are the unsung heroes.

Personally it was very heart warming to be able to reunite so many people who had worked on the series, some of whom had not seen each other for forty years.

So pleased to read and hear from both the guests and delegates that a good time was had by all.

I have to admit that on Saturday I really wasn't very well at all but managed to get through largely due Adam's wife supplying me copious amounts of paracetamol (at least that managed to convince most people I was only feeling a little off colour).

Thanks again

MLP* · Post by MLP* » Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:07 am

I've e-mailed Paul O'Grady's Radio 2 show to nominate the team behind the event for his "Thank You" slot.
No idea if if he will read it out or not but I daresay the conference will get another mention, if only to (as promised) plug the new soundtrack CD.

Mona · Post by **Mona** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 2:33 pm

How many attendees were there at the convention? Any knowledge or estimates? I'd love to know if there was a good turn-out.

Mona

kim · Post by **kim** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 2:44 pm

From the pics I've seen so far, it looks like the turn out was wonderful. If I'm not mistaken, it was a sell out.

pauljwyatt · Post by **pauljwyatt** » Mon Jun 27, 2011 3:19 pm

The Avengers weekend was a triumph. Fun, charming at times poignant and sad. It was a wonderful gathering of cast, crew and fans of the show and a marvellous affection shown for the show.

Thanks for the kind messages on Twitter with regards my branding animations and Patrick Macnee film. I have to point out that Patrick's film was not produced by me in isolation but with considerable help from Rupert Macnee and Arthur Coleman who photographed it – and
ofcourse Jaz who got the ball rolling in the first place. We very much wanted it to be a brief history of the show with comments about the leading ladies, the stunts and the appeal of the series. Patrick is wonderful in it and the laugh at the end
is terrific!

A big thanks from me to Uwe Seibert who supplied me with restored clean versions of the themes and tag music which were used in the reels shown during the event.

The obit reel i only animated – Jaz came up with that wonderful music used in it. Even though i’d watched it many times in production i found it very sad to watch at the event. Incredibly talented people who are much missed.

We made lots of friends this weekend and had great fun. Adam, Michael, Darren, Mike, Jo and Mr Avengers himself Jaz did a sterling job (not to forget the amazing students who are absolute Avenger fans!)

Superb.