Obsessive......Me?!

    What is it about the Prisoner that has turned me, and fans like me, into an obsessive? Well perhaps watching the series three or four times a year, while watching my favourite episodes in between might just about do it. But if that's not enough, there is not a day goes by when I don't think about the Prisoner, or write something about it, either here, for the Tally Ho, or adding to the pile of notes on the series, simply for my own gratification. I've asked questions, debated with other like-minded fans. I've been a member of Six of One: The Prisoner Appreciation Society, but have not for ten years now. I've gone on pilgrimages to Portmeirion, attended the Prisoner conventions there, and walked in the footsteps of McGoohan, but drew the line at sleeping one night on the beach!
    I have a mass of files, I used to collect all manner of newspaper cuttings, magazine articles, and anything remotely connected with the series, Prisoneresque as it became to be known. I've collected many of the newsletters and journals created in appreciation for the prisoner, many of which no longer exist today. All the information one could ever want, is but a click of the mouse away. Or you could read a fellow fans blog, that of David Stimpson, he's far more the obsessive than even I about the Prisoner. My god the stuff he churns out each and everyday......... most prolific of him in my book.
    Fans have talked about so called 'hidden meanings' within the Prisoner series, and do you know, I've spent years and decades watching the Prisoner, but I have yet to discover one single hidden meaning, perhaps because there are none!
    I always go about in deck shoes, piped blazer and scarf. Occasionally I carry either a black and white umbrella or a shooting stick umbrella. I do have a colourful striped cape, as worn by Villagers, but in the outside world there are certain limitations........ even for me!
    I've always managed to keep the Prisoner in mind, I've never forgot him, even in the barren years between 1968 and 1976 when the Prisoner was not shown on television. I, and many like me, had to rely on the memories of the first screening of the series here in Great Britain. But these days, I can watch my favourite television series whenever I like, be it via video or DVD.
   There are a few fans of the series with whom I keep in touch, either by email, or letter. And when I do write, I always use a Prisoner pen or pencil, of which I have a substantial supply. And of course there is the Local Prisoner Gorup which I help organise, with Tommy Moke. There used to be such local groups the length and bredth of the country, but those days have long gone. Only three such groups still survive today, as I understand it.
   I've got posters and framed pictures from the Prisoner on the walls of my flat, the best of which is the Channel 5 video poster from 1986, that is my pride and joy, framed of course. One friend and fellow fan came to my flat, and looking about the walls, commented that it looked like a shrine to the Prisoner! And of course my flat is full of memorabilia for the series. In fact it;'s more an archive really. And quite often I'll sit in my globe chair, going through old Prisoner based newsletters and magazines, going back to the very beginnings of Prisoner appreciation, with the soundtrack to the series playing in the background.
   The hot and cold taps of the shower I have put on the wrong way round, and the door to the bathroom slides to the left!  I drink my tea out of a Prisoner mug, and pancakes are my favourite dish. yes I know in the series No.6 says that flapjacks are his favourite dish, but it's pancakes he eats in The Schizoid Man episode!  In otherwords, I live and breath the Prisoner.
I'm Johnny Prisoner