Saturday 23 April 2011

Prisoner Conventions I Have Known

    Last time I promised to provide pictures from past Prisoner Conventions which have been held on an annual basis at Portmeirion. The images you are about to see come from a number of different Conventions from the early to late 1990's.
    I have to say that there is a marked contrast between these pictures, and those which I posted last time. But to be fair, these pictures do come from Prisoner Conventions which used to be held in the summer months, rather than in early spring, or late autumn, as is the case these days.
   The pictures are of the Human chess match, in which No.6 was played by David Stimpson, and No.8 by his wife Morag, with Dave Barrie as the chess champion-No.14. You will observe the number of spectators, many of whom are day visitors to Portmeirion over the Convention weekend,
 

   And now a shot of the Boxing match, a re-enactment of Barney's Boxing Booth from  The Girl Who Was Death, with David Stimpson as Mister X, and Simon Morris as the Polish giant "Killer" Kaminski, and Rick Booth as Master of Ceremonies.
Next, the fencing match from the Schizoid Man, with David as No.6, and Steve Ward as, well No.6!
    And finally Mister X, just to demonstrate just how much David Stimpson went into detail for the character he played in re-enactments, which some at Prisoner Conventions don't seem to bother! Here's Dave as Mister X.                                                                                                             
 As for me, well I don't miss the good old days of what was the' hay day' of Prisoner Conventions. But I do retain some very happy memories from those times.
I'm Johnny Prisoner

Tuesday 19 April 2011

The Prisoner Convention

   Hello Folks. I suppose I may have mislead you with my most recent piece of written blog about the Prisoner Convention, when readers might have been expecting to read about what took place there. Well I might not have made it there, but I have been able to gain a few pictures from the 'Con.' But believe me, 'Cons' are not what they once were. For instance they are no longer held in the summer months, but in April and even March, as in the case of next years Prisoner Convention. The number of people, members of Six of One: The Prisoner Appreciation Society is well down to what they once were. I recall how in 1994, when David Stimpson played the role of No.6 in the Election Parade, how on the Sunday there were in excess of 200 people taking part in that election parade, and that included day visiotrs to Portmeirion over the Convention weekend. Visitors actually believed that David was Patrick McGoohan, I heard them saying so, Look, there's Patrick McGoohan they said gleefully. This years election parade was lucky to have forty people taking part! Anyway here are some pictures taken at the Prisoner Convention 2011.
These are of the election parade and the human chessmatch. Below is the re-enactment of Barney's Boxing Booth from the episode The Girl Who Was Death.
This is the second time that this re-enactment has been performed at a Convention, well that's not quite true, because it's the fourth time. The first two times were back in the late 1990's, when David Stimpson played the role of Mister X, and he looked like Mister X, mind you he was a look-a-like for Patrick McGoohan, but that's another story. David wore the clothes so alike to those worn by Patrick McGoohan in the role of Mister X, even to the point of false whiskers, moustache and sideburns. It would seem that they don't bother much these days, and use boards marked 'Biff' 'Bop' 'splatt.' In former times the crowd cheered and booed Knock his block of Killer! Go on Killer, hit him! And watching the boxing match, people would be four deep, hundreds of them, not so watching this boxing match!
    No, I am not having a go, not at all. Just seeing how things used to be, and how they are today. I'll have to dig out my pictures of past Conventions. They will prove to be quite contrasting.
I'm Johnny Prisoner

Monday 11 April 2011

The Prisoner Convention

    I had expected to enjoy myself at the Prisoner Convention this passed weekend, in fact I should have still been there this morning. The idea was to arrive at the Convention in Portmeirion sealed in a crate as like the way Nadia and No.6 arrived in the Colonel's office during The Chimes of Big Ben. Well I thought it a novel way to arrive at the 'Con.' But something went wrong, I never arrived! The crate was wrongly delivered, and I arrived at Aintree for the Grand National instead!!!!!!!!!!! It appears that my crate was put on the wrong lorry, mistook for a horse box. I dread to think what happened when the horse box arrived and was unpacked at Portmeirion!!
    Disappointed was I? No not really, because while I was at the Aintree race course, I put 45 work units on the Grand National winner Ballabriggs at 20-1. I was going to try and reach Portmeirion from Aintree, which is not so far away, but got caught up in the hysteria and excitement of the celebrations at Aintree. I did manage to borrow one chaps lap top, and logged onto Portmeirion's web cams to view what was happening at the 'Con,' which didn't appear to be a great deal. So in the end I think I had the better weekend, save for having to thumb my way back home along the motorway yesterday, but even that was Prisoneresque in it's own way!
I'm Johnny Prisoner

Saturday 2 April 2011

Appreciation For The Prisoner

     Next weekend sees the Prisoner Convention at Portmeirion. I'm all packed and ready to go. What's more my mode of transport is booked, with  the Eddie Stobart haulage company. I've a crate here, complete with a label addressed to the The Town Hall, The Village, Portmeirion, NorthWales. The idea is to arrive at the Convention in the most original, and Prisoner-like way, and I can think of no other original way than sealed in a crate, as in The Chimes of Big Ben. Think of the look on the Conventioneers faces as the crate is hauled into the Town Hall/Hercules Hall, the crate then forced open, and I pop out, won't they be surprised?
    I had thought of arriving by helicopter, but that's a bit out of my price range, and really not that original. I could have chosen to arrive at the 'Con' in a coffin, that idea is highly original. But having thought about it, there are those who might have carried out a re-enactment of their own, Cobb's funeral, and I'd have ended up being buried on the beach below the lighthouse!
    So with any luck I'll be arriving in Portmeirion at around 3pm on Friday, to be taken into the Hercules Hall at about 6 pm, having set off on my journey at 7am, having arranged for the crate being picked up at that time. That makes the journey time of 8 hours, if my calculations are correct. I'll have my watch so as to time the journey, and I'll be arriving in a room I know very well in Portmeirion, where there should be no one hours difference!
    At last years convention, fans watched the first episode of THEPRISONER, and didn't take to it at all! Now one year of from it's premier here in the United Kingdom, I'll be seeing if any of my fellow fans have changed their attitude to the 2009 series. But I'm not holding my breath. I think it would be a good idea of the organisers of the Prisoner Convention to hold a screening of the 2009 series, but I've a feeling that idea would fall  on deaf ears! But it shouldn't, after all Six of One is supposed to be an appreciation society for the Prisoner, no matter which series!
   I'm keen to see how Justine Lord, the girl who was death, looks these days. She dropped out of acting soon after her role in the Prisoner, to take up a career as a school teacher. And of course it will be good to be back in the village, even though the weekend will be over almost as quickly as it began, and I haven't even got there yet. Nor will I, if I don't get this crate nailed down..........
I'm Johnny Prisoner