Categories
Classic Series

Derren Nesbitt’s thong

Derren Nesbitt is, of course, a famous UK character actor who played Tegana in the 1964 serial Marco Polo. He was also in Spare Parts, and very good he was in them too.

Astonishingly, though, Nesbitt is also famous for being hauled up in court for spanking his wife with a leather thong some decades ago. Says Wikipedia on the subject:

He thrashed her on the bare buttocks with a leather strap after she told him that she was having an affair with another man.

Sadly I can’t locate it now, but I do remember an article reporting on the case that included an amusing footnote where the judge presiding over the case ordered the destruction of said thong. This prompted my brother to ponder what method of destruction the judge had in mind for Nesbitt’s thong, and what he thought its continued survival portended.

All of which is probably lost in the mists of time. Whatever the case, the strange case of Derren Nesbitt’s thong has always stuck with me.

More recently Nesbitt has been touting a book called The Hidden Bible, which could make him ‘a second Salman Rushdie’, apparently.

Categories
Merchandise

Time Out Lord

Knockout collector item or cynical cash-in? Make your own mind up about Time Out’s Doctor Who In London special, complete with ten different cover. Guess, if you can, what’s on them.

Yup, the whole damn lot of them in a number of Doctor+London image pictures of varying quality and relevance.

All the covers attempt to picture the various incarnations of the Ka Faraq Gatri in front of a London landmark that supposedly bear some relevance to one of their adventures, so for Hartnell it’s the Post Office Tower; Troughton Saint Pauls; and McGann, er, the Houses of Parliament.

The Grauniad has gamely attempted to match a bit of spiel about each Doctor to the various covers, referencing the fraction of a second parliament is glanced in the TV Movie.

In fairness DWM does the multiple cover routine on a fairly regular basis these days, and the London connection is an interesting one. Whether the associated articles are remains to be seen, but the dubious quality of a couple of the badly-Photoshopped cover doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

Still, there’s interviews with Tennant and Matt Smith, and no doubt another modest and self-deprecating piece with the admittedly-entertaining RTD, plus a map of Who locations and a FREE POSTER!

I wonder if there’s an advert for ERIC?

• You can buy the whole set here for £21, which could conceivably be a good investment if you stick them in your loft for 20 years.