It's always a joy to catch up with Jared, and have multiple ribs broken when he hugs you - I'm never so happy to be maimed as when I meet our lovely Mr Padalecki!




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I treated myself to a fan meet with both Julian and Matt, and they didn't disappoint. They're both great character actors with massively long and diverse career histories, so I figured there would be lots of great anecdotes flying around, and I wasn't wrong. One in particular that springs to mind is when I asked Matt about 'Taken'. I enjoyed that show and he played a great character in it. I asked him if he had any good stories from his work on Taken. He said that the whole show was beset with problems throughout production, and Steven Spielberg who was the showrunner became increasingly frustrated as time went on.

The show was billed as 'Steven Spielberg presents Taken', and this strapline appeared on the title card for each episode, and the word from the set was that he should have changed it to 'Steven Spielberg 'resents' Taken. XD

Normally, it’s just something fairly mundane, like him reminding me to bring something when I come over, or him asking me to order something online for him, but this morning’s call was a classic...

 

My phone rings – Dad’s number flashing up on the screen.

Me: hiya, how’s things?

Dad: hello, are you at home, can you talk?

Me: yep, all good. Go ahead.

Dad: Good, I need you to look something up on the computer for me.

Me: (of course, now I’m visualising some mysterious medical symptoms that he’s worried about or some kind of official difficulties they might be facing) okay, of course, what do you need?

Dad: Right, can you tell me – who built Westminster Abbey?

Me: … what the actual f...?

So, my Dad has been a member of a little quizzing group at the place where they live, and it's fab, I'm thrilled about it.  It's given him an interest, and a new lease of life!  He's a very well-read man, and is very proud of his knowledge.  He takes it very seriously. 

Now, it turns out that he's had a (friendly - so I'm told) disagreement with another guy in the group who said William the Conqueror built Westminster Abbey.

Dad knew that was wrong, and so did I when he told me, because William the Conqueror was crowned at the Abbey so would have beeded to build it  before the coronation!  But Dad couldn't remember the right answer, and so couldn't back up his assertion that they guy was wrong because he didn't have the facts to hand.

He was delighted when I reeled off the details and dates.  I could almost hear him rubbing his hands together with glee! (I had to make him promise that he wasn't going to come to blows with this other bloke).

For the record, the original abbey was built in the 1050's by Edward the Confessor and the Abbey we know now dates from the mid-1200's and was built by King Henry III.

Honestly, my life is not normal...