MOON SHOT

It's forty six years since Apollo 11 landed men on the Moon,  Since then things haven't moved on as quickly as I expected.

The recent New Horizons mission to Pluto has been  an incredible achievement, even it was unmanned and not quite where I thought space exploration would be, nearly half a century from that historic Moon landing.

When I was a youngster in 1969 I knew all about the space race and the astronauts that were part of it.

One of my main sources of data was TV21 which mixed sci - fi fiction with facts, and when the moon landing was imminent TV21 made sure it's readers were up to speed.

12 men have so far walked on the Moon. I wonder when we'll return to Earth's  nearest  neighbour?

A VISIT TO DEVIL'S END

On the way home from taking a few days away in Wiltshire I thought I'd take a short detour and visit the picturesque village of Aldbourne.

Fans of the classic Doctor Who serial, The Daemons might recognize this quiet English backwater by another name - Devil's End!

In  April 1971, the Doctor Who production team descended on Aldbourne to begin filming a story of ancient aliens mixed with witchcraft and superstition.

One of the village pubs, The Blue Boar had a starring role, although for the story it's name was changed to The Cloven Hoof.

The local church, St Michael's was also quite prominent in the story, to a point were it is actually blown up - not really of course, but some viewers were convinced the BBC had destroyed a church during filming and wrote in to complain.

Throughout the shoot, cast members and crew happily chatted, signed autographs and even used locals for the crowd scenes.

The Doctor is about to be burnt at the stake on the village green which hasn't changed much over the years.

The village green does feature quite a lot.

The view from The Blue Boar now, and below as it was in 1971.

Here's another photo showing filming in 1971.

And as it is today.

The sinister Morris Dancers led by Bert the landlord of The Blue Boar pub skip down the lane.

The same lane today.

Benton takes the path up to the church vestry door

Benton's view if he walked up there today.

The animated gargoyle, Bok staggers by the church steps.

As they look today.

Sergeant Benton takes aim at  the church weather cock to convince the locals that the Doctor is a powerful wizard.

The weather cock in 1971

St. Michael's still has that weather cock.

Oddly enough, one of the first 'Target' paperbacks I read was 'Doctor Who and The Daemons', way back in 1976 (although the paperback was published in 1974). By coincidence, I was touring Wiltshire at the the time, and bought the book at the shop on the camp site where we were staying.

At that time I had no knowledge where the Daemons was actually filmed, although Wiltshire is mentioned in the book, so I did identify with my rural surroundings which did enhance my holiday read.

Doctor Who is strangely concerned about Professor Horner's plan to cut open an ancient barrow near the peaceful village of Devil's End.

Equally worried is Miss Hawthorne, the local white witch, who foretells a terrible disaster if it goes ahead.

The only person who wants the Professor to open the barrow is the new vicar (in truth THE MASTER) whose secret ceremonies are designed to conjure up from out of the barrow a horribly powerful being...

The foreword in the paperback.

I can certainly understand how the Doctor Who crew really enjoyed their time in Aldbourne. Unsurprisingly its still a lovely, peaceful place, although it's connection with Doctor Who is hardly noticeable these days.

Aldbourne  in1971, and the last scene in The Daemons

Aldbourne in 2015. Apart from ancient aliens and devil worship it's hardly changed a bit.

AUBREY MORRIS 1926 - 2015

I was saddened to hear that prolific British actor Aubrey Morris has died at the age of 89.  Aubrey has appeared in many films like cult favourite Lifeforce, TV action dramas like The Avengers and Man in a Suitcase, as well light hearted stuff like Catweazle and On The Buses.

I loved his creepy performances in those early sixties action/adventure TV series, like the Saint and Dangerman. His wide smile and vaguely camp demeanour coupled with his  sinister undertones were always entertaining.

Here he is with Patrick McGoohan, as John Drake in the Dangerman episode, The Paper Chase. He had previously appeared with Patrick McGoohan in the 1962 movie, The Quare Fellow. Later in his career he would meet up with Patrick again in the Columbo TV movie, Ashes to Ashes. (1998)

Another Patrick McGoohan connection, this time in the surreal 1967 spy drama, The Prisoner during the episode, Dance of The Dead.

Although he's probably best known  for his film appearance as Mr Deltoid in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, I'm always reminded of his performance as the sleazy bookshop owner, Thorburn, in the low budget 1965 British Sci-fi flick, The Night Caller (aka The Night Caller from Outer Space)

Another cult film in which Aubrey appeared was The Wicker Man were he played the Gravedigger.

He appeared in the cult sci-fi TV space epic Babylon 5, as Duncan, an old man given a new lease of life in the episode, Exogenesis.

Of course some of you might recall that Aubrey did appear previously in another cult sci-fi TV series.

In the Space 1999 , he appeared as Pertros the High Priest, in charge of Level 7 in the 1975 episode, Mission of The Darians.

Aubrey was still working right up to his passing. His last credit was as Albert Zimmerman in an episode of the  American sitcom called It's always Sunny in Philadelphia. I'll admit I'm not at all familiar with this series, but I'm told its still running and stars Charlie Day who I might have seen in the film,  Pacific Rim

Aubrey Morris was a true stalwart of film and TV, and as a guest star in all these and many other productions, for me he made his brief appearances memorable.