Off-Topic

Fountains Abbey was featured on Channel 5 documentary 'Secrets Of The National Trust' this evening: http://www.my5.tv/secrets-of-the-national-trust-with-alan-titchmarsh/season-1/episode-6 You may recognise this location from various Knightmare scenes: http://interactive.knightmare.org.uk/lexicon/entry/Fountains%20Abbey

(Another) Dave and I agree that Bewilder Box was absolutely superb and well worth visiting. To put that in context, we had a 7-hour round trip (including congestion on the M25) from Coventry to Brighton. The puzzles were a nice mix of pen-and-paper (codes, hidden messages, etc.) and object interaction (push this, twist that, and so on). The game starts before you get into the room with the hosts getting into character and leading you in. The "Quantum Mechanic", I found out later, goes in and fixes problems with the room if something has been overlooked during the reset process, which is a nice way of handling problems in-character - not that anything went wrong on our visit. Extra clues are also handled smoothly via D.A.V.E. (ye gods, there's another one) the Artificial Intelligence, which is a much better system than simply having one of the hosts come in. Other places do the latter and it effectively disrupts the setting when the team have supposedly travelled somewhere (or somewhen) a long distance away. Bewilder Box has everything nicely integrated together. Thanks to this game, I plan on making more of an effort to visit other escape rooms, although I will be starting closer to home. Oh, and we finished with somewhere between 15 and 16 minutes left - the clock didn't get stopped immediately, so it's a little hazy. Ok, so one thing went wrong, then; what do you expect with that much Dave in one place? Dave

Music memorabilia auction, featuring a day in a London recording studio and items from British Sea Power, Coldplay, Craig David, Daniel Avery, Delays, Everything Everything, Franz Ferdinand, Frightened Rabbit, Gentlemen Of The Road, Kaiser Chiefs, Laura Marling, The Maccabees, Manic Street Preachers, Mark Radcliffe, Mumford & Sons, Oasis, Scouting For Girls, Tim Wheeler, The Vaccines: https://www.ewbankauctions.co.uk/Greg-Gilbert-The-Delays-Charity-Timed-Auction-of-Music-Memorabilia/2017-03-09

The twins kick like a football team........... Ironblade is beginning to get milk forming in her ducts........... She is letting me feel the babies kick...... They are getting big now.

I remembered today that there is a picture of Carrie Fisher on Knightmare.com: number 31 in my series of Knightmare Catchphrase puzzles.

Yes, this is a great series. Looking forward to the Leeds Castle episode which I have recorded!

Well that was a shock the branch pulled me up the long straight slippery trunk. The even bigger shock. There is an elf on the other end of the branch. Its not Pickle before anyone asks. This elf has long blond hair and blue eyes as well as a hooked nose. He is dressed in a tunic made of leaves. I don't know who this elf is. so I will talk to him in the nicest possible way. "Hello mr elf. What is your name?" Strange..... There's no answer from him...... He's just staring at me. A well known phrase about a frying pan and fire comes in mind. Do elves really....... no........ elves don't eat people right. Maybe he just doesn't speak English.

You can get to the chat room here! Thank you! Lucky it's Sunday night now so I can enter!

Slightly off topic, but does vaguely relate to Knightmare. On the Interactive Knightmare webpage, there is stated a common misconception. It refers to the character of Norm from the Twix Adverts. It claims that Norm was played by Simon Perry from What's Up Doc?, a show that often followed Knightmare. Simon Perry was a fictional character played by Steven Taylor Woodrow. This actor did not play Norm. The two characters look and sound the same, so the mistake in understandable. However, Norm was played by Kevin Eldon.

Well, I just watched the grand final and it was exhilarating, with a worthy winner. I seriously hope it gets picked up for another series: it's good, no-nonsense telly.

If you enjoyed the gamebook element of the Knightmare books then this one could be for you. The Dark Room is similar to a "choose your own adventure" and is the brainchild of Australian comedian John Robertson. It all began as a Interactive YouTube video adventure (click here to play that version) and has also since gone on to become a phenomenally hilarious live action stage show as well, which has been performed in the likes of Edinburgh and London. Again, having been to the live shows myself this is something I would definitely recommend. Click here to be kept up to date on all things related to The Dark Room.

Ed Welch was on 'The Sound of ITV: The Nation's Favourite Theme Tunes' this evening, talking about the Blockbusters theme. They mentioned a few others he had written, but sadly not Knightmare! Cool to see him though. It was disappointing not to hear Knightmare mentioned. Catchphrase, fair enough. But Crosswits? (Also difficult to understand was that they covered Ron Grainer without referring to Doctor Who - purely because it wasn't an ITV show?) Nevertheless, it was good to see Ed Welch getting the exposure and recognition, along with all the other composers and musicians.

It's always good to start 'em young...

If Atlantis had the potential to get better - and talk of an Argonauts-based third series does sound intriguing - then it's a shame it was axed the way it was. When all's said and done, people who had more to give were put out of work (work which, in some cases, they utterly adored). But that's television. Like Knightmare teams, not all can survive and not all is fair. There are some interesting views shared in this Guardian article. Personally, Atlantis lost me after Series 1 and I won't miss it. I took to calling it Craplantis, in fact. If they had taken more time over the preproduction, instead of rushing to fill the vacuum left by Merlin, they might have created something with more lasting appeal, especially to those in the audience who are particularly attuned to the richness of the original source material. Can film and programme makers take liberties with Greek mythology? Yes, but not too many. And there has to be adequate compensation: in characterisation, in humour, in special effects and/or in action. For me, there wasn't. I recommend a similar Fantasy/Mythology series called Olympus (Wednesday's 10pm on Spike). It's like a cross between "Game of Thrones" and the "300" movies, it's worth checking out! If you've been keeping an eye on Knightmare.com, you'll know that I wrote an article about Olympus a month ago.

None of these were as terrifying as Candle Cove.

Glad it went ok, rest up and enjoy the sunshine x

Our 'standard' record-from-home mics are usually a very cheap dynamic desktop model made by a company called Texet. It's something I'd recommend if you really want to manage the budget, as it gives a surprisingly clear sound for something so cheap. But in the end, the cheapness is its only selling point. If you want to be a bit more daring or pro, this model might be of use; - http://cpc.farnell.com/behringer/c-1u/microphone-studio-condenser-usb/dp/MP34403 But connecting it up can be a bit fiddly.

Glad you had a cracking time. My Brother and his team always put on a fantastic show, I believe this was the best one yet. And yes there will be another next year as far as I know. Yeah really enjoyed it and would like to do it again next year, wasn't happy with 2 things (just someone calling Me weird when asking a question (guy presenting it who handed Me the mic to ask that question) to the red dwarf crew and the female presenter on stage laughing at that now that I've seen someone who did a recording up close, being around crowds and people for someone like Me's always been difficult due to My aspergers) but aside from that really liked it.

To my knowledge, the chat is usually active on Sundays. It's been a while since I visited, but I recommend returning there at around 8pm BST on Sunday.

Whoops, I thought this might have been a topic on 'Hungry Hungry hippos' or other related food games.