Shirt…

…And a Catharsis of Spurious Morality

Seventh Galaxy announced that they were going to have a signing for the “Trial of a Time Lord” DVD boxset.

“I’ve spent too much on ‘Doctor Who’ stuff recently, so I think I’ll just buy the DVD online”, Shirt told Chalky, “..unless they got someone like ‘Dibber’ !”

“Or Pip & Jane Baker”, added Chalky.

Two weeks later, Seventh Galaxy announced their first guest, Glen ‘Dibber’ Murphy. Next to be announced were Tony ‘Glitz’ Selby and Season 24 composer, Dominic Glynn. And then, to finally put the lid on it, Pip & Jane Baker.

“I’ve got to go now”, he told Chalky, “Pip & Jane are the quintessence of excellentitude !”

Chalky just mumbled something about Shirt being predictable.

The announcement of a signing for the “Doctor Who Storybook 2009” - featuring Series 4 authors, Gareth Roberts, James Moran & Keith Temple – at Naughty Asteroid, at 1pm on the same day, really decided the matter.

Prior to leaving for the signing, Shirt looked at the Seventh Galaxy website, and found that Tony Selby was now unable to attend. However, in his place was Malcolm ‘Doland’ Tierney.

Arriving a few minutes after the scheduled start time, Shirt found that the door to the venue for the signing was locked. Pressing the buzzer, he was admitted and joined the short queue to buy the boxset.

Having purchased this, he joined the queue, which snaked round the room and had just started moving. Whilst waiting, Shirt opened up the boxset, reading the covers for the extras, and stowing his free Davros ‘Top Trumps’ card (40 years set) away safely. Removing the sleeves for “The Mysterious Planet” and “Terror of the Vervoids”, Shirt got his items ready for signing.

Reading the newsletter that he had picked up at the merchandise stall, Shirt realised that the one item rule mentioned, included the boxset, ie. there was no free personal item, only one signature per guest was included.

Therefore as he passed the merchandise table, Shirt bought four autograph vouchers.

After about an hour, Shirt reached the signing table. First up was Dominic Glynn, who signed the “Mysterious Planet” cover. Moving on, Shirt noticed the fan behind him getting Dominic to sign covers for all stories that he did music for, dealing out autograph vouchers from a pile in his hand. Next up was Glen Murphy, who also signed “The Mysterious Planet”, as well as Shirt’s “The Eighties”. Handing over two autograph vouchers to the steward between Glen and Malcolm Tierney, Shirt moved along to Malcolm. “Terror of the Vervoids” and “The Eighties” signed, with Malcolm adding his character name and Shirt was before his favourites 1980’s WHO writers.

First up was Jane Baker, who happily signed “Terror of the Vervoids”, “The Eighties” and “The Mark of the Rani”, before passing them along to Pip, who simply made a squiggle underneath her signature.

“Do you write together, or separately and then edit each others’ work”, the fan in front of Shirt was asking Pip.

This had been the question that Shirt had been intending to ask, and so listened carefully to the answer.

“No, we both have writing boards and sit opposite each other, writing it together”, Pip said, with Jane agreeing.

Having mumbled about how much he enjoys their writing, Shirt moved off, stowing his book and covers in his bag, before rushing back to Barking station.

Changing to the Central Line at Mile End, Shirt found himself arriving at Naughty Asteroid, fifteen minutes before the signing was due to begin.

Joining a small queue, Shirt waited for the signing to start.

At 1pm, the signing started. After ten minutes, Shirt was at the front of the queue. Picking up a copy of the Storybook, he crossed to the first guest, Gareth Roberts.

“To Shirt”, he asked the author.

Storybook signed, Shirt proffered his Series 4 poster, followed by the 2008 Storybook.

Moving along, next was Clayton Hickman, who added his signature to the Storybook.

Next up was Gary Russell, who having signed the Storybook, also signed Shirt’s Series 4 Poster and “The Encyclopedia”.

The penultimate guest was Jonathan Morris. Ignoring a shop assistant’s dirty looks, Shirt got him to sign not only the Storybook and the 2008 Storybook, but two recent Large Endings’ audio covers.

“Large Endings ?”, commented Gary, “they haven’t been the same since I left !”

Shirt took it that Mr. Russell was joking and laughed politely.

Finally, James Moran signed the Storybook, Shirt’s Series 4 poster and a “Fires of Pompeii” first-day cover.

Making his way upstairs, having had a quick look round, Shirt paid for the Storybook, before leaving the store.

As he was walking back to the Underground station, Shirt realised that someone had been missing.

‘Where was Keith Temple ?’, he mused.

Catching a tube to London Victoria, Shirt then caught a train to Wallington, to meet up with Chalky, Tigger and Maple, and more importantly Chalky and Tigger’s two-week old son.

Chalky was shocked at the new ‘no free personal items’ rule, and stated that this made it even less likely that he would be able to attend future Seventh Galaxy events.

The afternoon was spent with Shirt getting to know the gang’s latest member. With Chalky as a father and Shirt as an ‘Uncle’, there was no way that little Mavic Chen wouldn’t grow up to be a fan.

[PL]