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Great day out and you make friends every time you go.


Dannycarroll2007
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As usual, a long drive from Clacton-On-Sea and back but it was worth it. I met the Apollo astronauts and Nick Tate. All very nice. The atmosphere seemed more relaxed than last year, with fewer people around. I hope I am not detecting an unexpected lack of interest; I am sure many have chosen to go tomorrow: it will be busier.

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I thought Saturday morning was busier then normal, though that might have been because we looked to be in a smaller room, or was I imagining that? It did seem to slow down after 1pm.

 

All the Apollo guests were great to meet & looked busy throughout the day.

But Gene Cernan was the highlight for me. His lecture was interesting & funny, we sheared a joke during the photo shoot & he seemed to take a genuine interest in the photo I ask him to autograph for me. A true gentleman.

 

I excepted meeting Evander Holyfield to be short & sweet, but wasn't expecting the little disco he had going on.

Got to say a big well done to the crew at the Holyfield signing. Think we all knew Holyfield would be 'unique' but the crew looked to stay on top of things, keeping everyone informed about what we could do & the much longer list about what we couldn't do.

 

All in all another great day at Autographica. This has to be one of the friendliest shows going & I really enjoyed chatting in the queues with some very interesting people. Gutted I can't make today but I'm already looking forward to the next one.

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I'm going to borrow a line from Gene Cernan's lecture from yesterday, when he was asked what his favorite plane was he replied "Whichever one I am flying at that time". I tend to find thats how I often feel about each Autographica I go to.

 

In terms of numbers of guests for me to see this wasn't necessarily the highest number I have had at a show but the ones I did meet were all really good to see, very friendly and there just seemed to be an overall good feeling about the place.

 

I really liked the set-up of the show this time round, not that its caused me any great heartache in the past but it was quite good having all the dealers and guests in one large space, kind of made the whole thing a bit more connected somehow.

 

The other big pluses for me were Gene Cernan's talk yesterday which was really good to hear. There was also an improvement with the photosessions from last year, I think last time out a few of us ended up with some photos that perhaps didn't match the usual high quality, but this years were back to the standard that they were before (I do still miss phrases like "...and in you go sir" "just hold it there for me...once more, you were perfect I wasn't" though!) The other point which I did mention the other day, but want to highlight again was the signing fees that were arranged for this show. As long as one accepts that astronaut fees are always going to be well in excess of nearly all other guests, I thought the fees arranged for the show this time round were very reasonable, I might be wrong but I think generally speaking the prices look cheaper than what one might pay at a similar show in the US so I think the organisers deserve a lot of credit for arranging these on our behalf.

 

I made a decision this year that I was only going to go for one day rather than making a weekend of it like I usually do but I have to admit by the end of the day I was regretting that! Not more so than when I took a wrong step on my journey home and had to take a detour through Reading's red light area (albeit I did have the company of a rather attractive young lady I met on the train for part of the way so swings and roundabouts!)

 

Looking forward to the next show already, looks like it could be a bit of a belter!

Edited by Count Fooku
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First surprise was that the hotel car park was full before 9 on a Saturday ! so a quick diversion to the E1 car park was in order.

 

Then finding the main room was fun in a maze-like set of corridors

 

Sad to see John Woodvine and Jennifer Hill had cancelled but hope they are OK

 

The sales desk worked well as usual ( apart from a few intermittent problems with the card reader :angel: )

 

Glad to see the queue for Gene Cernan was long early on but for me the unexpected highlight was Bruce Glover who was courtesy itself and seemed to be listening carefully to everything being said and really tried to get a conversation going with each person. Also highlights were Janine Andrews who was really chatty and the two Shady Tree's Acorns ( Pat Gill and Jennifer Castle ) and yes Nick Tate with the Space 1999 kits perched on the corner of the desk.

 

Sadly there seemed to be less dealers this time

 

Thank you for a great Autographica once again

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This was my 2nd time at Autographica and I had a great time. The highlights for me were meeting Gene Cernan and Evander Holyfield.

 

Gene's autograph queue seemed to be long most of the day. I really enjoyed the lecture. He is a captivating speaker and did great job of explaining to us how awe inspiring it was to leave earth and land on the moon. My only complaint would be that his lecture clashed with Evanders shoot and the lecture hall was the other end of the hotel. I was pleasentley suprised that he spoke for an hour, rather than the half hour the apollo guests did last year though. He patted me on the back as he left the room too! So it's all good! Rusty and Walt were great to meet aswell.

 

Meeting Evander and having a photo with his championship belts was amazing! It was a great bonus! Barry Mcguigan was in great form too.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed myself and am now looking forward to March next year!

 

Thanks Showmasters!

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I too enjoyed Gene Cernan's talk very much- he painted an evocative picture of what it was like to look back at the Earth from the lunar surface that had us all enthralled. I noticed also that he was really good with the kids who came up to stare at him while he was signing!

 

Mary Stopes Roe was lovely and chatted away- when she heard my Scottish accent she told me about the bouncing bomb tests on Loch Striven which was fascinating!

 

It was a real honour to meet George "Johnny" Johnson; what a nice man and, as is the way with most real heroes, modest and dignified.

 

Many thanks Showmasters for allowing us the opportunity of meeting such interesting and talented people.

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Met two guests on Saturday and three on Sunday. The combination of cancellations and lack of big movie/TV guests made this a VERY quiet weekend for me. Probably spent only a couple of hours at the show over the entire weekend, but having said that, the guests were all extremely lovely.

 

Only criticism I have is one of the crew members calling me back after I had my lovely experience with Roy Dotrice and asking me to pay. I had to try to convince her that I had already paid, with three £5 notes, when the lady in front of me was getting her two-dozen things signed. As i walked away a second time, I got the impression the crew member still didn't believe I had paid. Embarrassing, especially in front of Roy himself, and after such a nice experience of meeting him. I know this was just a mistake by the crew member, but it resulted in a very embarrassing experience for me.

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So my feet are back down to Earth after my 4th Autographica. What a fantastic weekend, everything was as good as expected (and then some) and it won't be forgotten for some time to come.

 

I brought my girlfriend Demi over for her first show and she loved it (getting some male attention from a couple of astronauts too no less).

 

We flew over from Dublin (very) early on Saturday morning and looked around the hotel for a bit. I did the Cernan, Cunningham and Schweickart photo-shoots - couldn't afford the group astronaut shot unfortunately.

 

The hotel was as brilliant as ever and very easily accessible. We got our room key at midday on Saturday and threw some stuff up. There didn't seem to be quite as many dealers there as usual (or maybe it was just the different room which made it look that way).

 

Over the entire weekend, I only got autographs from Walt Cunningham (Apollo 7 staring at model litho), Rusty Schweickart (WSS litho) and Bond actor Bruce Glover. All personalized to me. I would've bought a Cernan autograph but decided to attend his Sunday lecture instead. What a treat that was - probably the best astronaut talk I have ever heard.

 

Myself and Demi chatted with Walt and his lovely wife Dot for a while in the bar on the Sunday evening after things had been wrapped up - what a lovely, down to Earth couple!

 

On Saturday evening I got an autograph and photo with Bruce Glover (Diamonds Are Forever). An eccentric man but so nice and easy to talk to.

 

Overall a fantastic weekend. Kudos to the Showmasters guys for making it happen - I hope myself and Demi get over to London in March.

As long as the Apollo guys are willing to come over, there will be huge interest in Autographica - here's to the next 19 shows!

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Had a great time.

 

Fave was Walt Cunningham, enjoyed the lectures too.

 

Can't believe people elsewhere are moaning about the astro's photo prices - how about some praise for the very low price of the autographs?!?! Blimey.

 

Always a pang of sadness on the sunday afternoon watching it all wrap up and people leaving....

 

Well done Dave and showmasters, see you in March

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(I have filed the following with some other groups)

 

There were several people I wanted to meet at this year’s Autographica and I was not disappointed. First up was Terry Pappas who flew Lockheed SR-71 ‘Blackbird’s’ perhaps the fastest air breathing aeroplane ever created. He signed me a photograph and was very charming. http://showmastersonline.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=80010

 

Next up where two people involved in the Dams Raid of 70 years ago. Mary Stopes Roe, Barnes Wallis’s daughter and George ‘Johnny’ Johnson who flew on the raid and bombed the Sorpe Dam. Mary was very nice and signed two books for me, she asked if I wanted a message and I said ‘Daddy, Wonderful Daddy’ she smiled and said ‘Why oh why do you want that?’ I replied it was brilliant what she did lending her father the marbles he used in his experiments and the letter she wrote to him the day after the raid. ‘I was only 14 when it all happened’ I said ‘ah but you are part of the story and you contributed’ a lovely lady, born in York (my home town) when Barnes was at Howden working on Vickers R100 airship. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_Wallis#Personal Like she said ‘that was the proper airship’ I said I agree and that I am an ex-Vickers employee. George ‘Johnny’ Johnson was so funny and alert at 97 years of age and I had a very good conversation with him telling him I visited RAF Scampton and Reculver earlier in the year. He laughed asking if I was following the Dambusters to which I said yes! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise he signed a couple of books for me including the Haynes Manual on the Dambusters.

 

Next up was Walter Cunningham http://www.waltercunningham.com/index.htm (If you don’t agree with the global warming scare stories read he’s Personal Viewpoint) veteran of the Apollo 7 flight in October 1967. While I was queuing to meet him, he quipped a joke to Terry Pappas about Terry ‘playing’ with simulators and when he’s finished with them he should try a real flying machine’ there was lots of raucous laughter! He signed my ‘big blue book’ and I recounted how I remember walking in to my class room at school thinking ‘there are men up there’ while he was on his flight. He smiled and I shewed him my Speedmaster watch, he took a big interest in it and told me his that he used on Apollo 7 is in a museum and that his Speedmaster watch that he bought was broken and he shewed me a very nice watch he was wearing. He said it cost $18, I smiled and told him the price of mine and he laughed out loud and shook my hand!

 

Finally I met Russell Schweickart http://www.well.com/~rs/ (if you love cats click on Recent Photos) who flew on Apollo 9. He too signed my ‘big blue book’. I said he should have had command of a later mission and he smiled ‘ah well, that’s NASA for you’ Here was the man who tested the spacesuit astronauts would wear on the surface of the moon, he conducted an EVA and stood on the Lunar Module porch. To think the next person who would wear such a suit and exit a lunar module would be Neil Armstrong…

 

To say I enjoyed the weekend is a understatement, well done gang, I could never meet this hero's with out your show, keep up the great work and see you in March...

 

von Dawson's Express

 

PS the girls on the tables where brillent, say a big thank you to them, must be hard work herding you lot, ha, ha, haa

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