Dufus decided to go home for the weekend, Enigma was lost in action (as usual) and Lupine was visiting his grandparents.

As it turned out, Dufus should really have come to signing due to an unfortunate attempted car theft incident but that's another story.

Chalky and Shirt, therefore, were left to fork out a ridiculous £16.99 for the privilege of meeting Maureen O'Brien.

As these events are forever to be remembered by the rest of the gang, Chalky was determined not to make a complete fool of himself this time. He was torn between trying to prove he could ask Miss O'Brien a non-offensive question (and therefore risk the wrath of the actress who's been working for 35 years!) or he could just say please, thank you and goodbye. The debate raged within him for the whole morning.

Meanwhile, Shirt was trying to justify purchasing her expensive novel just because he wanted her in his companions book and also so that he could start getting people to sign his Sherlock Holmes audio collection (he was pretty sure it was the same Maureen O'Brien).

Plans were also afoot to get along to the What Shop after the Maureen signing to meet Philip (Dr Solon) Madoc.

Having easily resisted the temptation to buy another of Maureen's crime novels for only a fiver, Chalky and Shirt were soon meeting the lovely woman herself.

Chalky chortled politely with Miss O'Brien as she discovered that his name requests for the items he had brought to be signed were not as simple as she might expect (being that one of them was for the absent Lupine).

It was then the debate was settled as Chalky decided to throw caution to the wind and ask a question.

"Do you prefer the writing or the acting?" he asked.

"Ooh, that's a difficult one. I like them both. You see writing gets me out of the house…"

As she continued, Chalky wondered whether to point out she had obviously meant 'acting' gets her out of the house, not writing, but he decided not to risk it - what with his past record.

Luckily, Sparrow was sitting beside her and questioned her slip.

"Do you mean acting gets you out of the house?" he asked.

"Yes - acting," she replied - a little icily.

"You said writing…" ventured Sparrow.

"Did I?" she asked turning to Chalky.

"You did actually," he humbly agreed.

"Oh!" and there was polite laughter.

Chalky had survived and moved on whilst Shirt got his stuff done, and then had a quick photo.

And then it was off to the What Shop. Once there, Chalky and Shirt were by no means surprised by the lack of queue. People were coming in and out of the shop and - not surprisingly - they were the same people who had just been with Maureen (as it were).

Wandering into the shop, they were greeted by Helen A and Joseph C. The sight of Dalek movie DVDs panicked Chalky with the prospect they may have to purchase one to meet Mr. Madoc. However, he was reassured when Joseph C informed them they only had to buy a photo, which were reasonably priced at £5.

Helen A quickly shuffled Chalky around to Mr. Madoc (passing 'My Friend in the BBC' on the way).

Chalky proffered his covers and asked Mr. Madoc something he rarely asked Who celebrities - coz it was a bit sad.

"Which is your favourite story?"
"Brain of Morbius," replied Philip, "I like the mix of drama and comedy."

Chalky had a photo whilst he tried to think of much comedy in Morbius (something Dufus would be quick to argue later from his 'Hinchcliffe was the god of Doctor Who' soapbox (yawn)).

Shirt was up next and managed to completely ignore Mr. Madoc as he frantically searched for Dufus's Brain of Morbius cover which he had lost in the depths of his bag.

With a non-existent queue, Chalky and Shirt decided to go round again which would mean Dufus could have some more covers signed and that Chalky could get all of his done.

This time round, Chalky asked Mr. Madoc whether he'd acted in the movie before doing his first TV role in The Krotons. He wasn't sure, but thought that it was probably the movie.

Shirt, this time, did not ignore Mr. Madoc, but still failed to ask him whether (as Dufus was adamant he was) one time husband of Ruth Madoc - star of Hi de Hi.