Those of you brave enough to venture into the twilight zone of the BBC2 Friday night gardening slot (assuming you can view UK TV), will have the chance to see me make a fool of myself (again) in ‘A Year at Kew’. Not content with tailing me to St. Helena for 3 weeks, the BBC have followed me for the third series, this time carrying out some seed collecting in the UK.
I agreed to do it the first time because I was hoping to get some publicity for my writing (mercenary, I know). I contacted Prince Andrew School on the island of St. Helena and offered to do an author visit. Being about 1500 miles from the coast of anywhere, and a bit off the beaten author track, they jumped at the chance and organised a whole ‘fantasy fiction’ week, with me as the guest of honour. The BBC followed me as I gave a speech, donated copies of my books to the library and did a couple of classroom sessions.
And it all ended up on the cutting room floor. I suppose, really, they had to focus on the plant-hunting angle. Still - what a wasted opportunity!
Anyway, it’s all good publicity for the ‘day job’, so I agreed to do it again. Who knows – it may impress a publisher one day. A whiff of fleeting fame?
So, tune in around March/April time next year to see me fishing for berries off the edge of a cliff in the Brecon Beacons.
And if that’s any way for a grown man to make a living…
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment