Monday 5 September 2005

Well, we made it through to the final, which will be against the Privy Council Office. We filmed the semifinal and the final on the same day, 10 July, which happened to be the last day of the Romantic Novelists' Association Conference. Jenny and Catherine, despite being RNA Chairman and Vice-Chairman, made the sensible call of leaving the Conference the previous afternoon. Annie decided that the logistics meant that it was too much to try and combine the Conference and the filming. I was determined, however, not to miss the big Conference Dinner, not least because I had gone to some lengths to have something decent to wear to it - the Regency outfit that graces my profile photo over on the right, and which was displayed by Kate Allan on her blog a while back.

So I ate well, drank well, partied after dinner with some of the more committed partiers within the RNA, and then the next morning stuffed my Regency gear into my motorbike panniers and bombed up the motorway from Egham to Manchester in time for our call. Luckily it was one of those perfect biking days - calm, sunny, and, at 6:00am, not desperately hot.

I promised various people, including Dawn Wood, who made the clothes, and Sarah Juniper who made the shoes, that I would wear my Regency outfit in the final if we made it that far. Having hauled it out of its confinement I was rather worried that it would be so crushed and crumpled that it would be a poor advertisement for their work, but Granada's wardrobe people did a marvellous job of steaming, starching and ironing, so it was very presentable indeed.

Quite what it looks like on TV, even I will only find out next week.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good work, team.
Can't wait to see the Regency outfit get another airing.

Kate Allan said...

Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

I was impressed by your erudition and sangfroid. Excellent! Well done, team.

Alex Bordessa said...

You were definitely the team's 'starter for 10' chap! Looking forward to seeing the final next week. Fingers, toes, everything crossed in hope the RNA are triumphant :-)

Julie Cohen said...

Jolly good show, what?

(I'm practising my English)

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you through to the final, though I never doubted it. Well, maybe in the last few minutes when the Economist started to slog. Hope you held your nerve through the final overs against the Privy Council.

Stephen said...

Hey, Julie, that English is really good - have you ever thought of teaching it?

Julie Cohen said...

An American?? Teaching English????

I don't think they allow such a thing.

So in the privacy of this blog, will you tell us who won the final?

Stephen said...

So in the privacy of this blog, will you tell us who won the final?

I certainly will, Julie.

Next Monday, probably.

Anonymous said...

Woohoo! Congratulations for making it this far. Go forth and kick more ass.

Wish I could see these episodes. I love quiz shows. They make me feel so gloriously stupid, but I love picking up trivia.