BowlerCon
It was an excited group of Avengers fans who gathered in St. Thomas' Church Hall, Stepney last week for the most eagerly anticipated convention of the year, "BowlerCon."
The packed programme of events began with an exclusive screening of the recently discovered colour promotional film known as "The Strange Case Of The Missing Footage", in which Steed and Mrs Peel look for a rare colour promotional film that's been lost for over thirty years. The man who discovered the film, Arthur Cottleshed, told fans how he came across the footage in a can propping open an air-vent in a disused public toilet in Aberdeen. How it came to be there, no-one knows (or really cares.)
Next-up was the first of the guest star panels and it was a delighted audience that welcomed none other than Rhonda Parker, a big favourite from the Tara King years. Once the raptuous applause had died-down, the hall fell into a deathly hush as fans waited to hear Ms Parker speak for the first time in public.....and waited......and waited........for two and a half hours. It later transpired that owing to an awful mix-up, Ms Parker had attended the convention thinking she was expected to be "in character" throughout and didn't want to disappoint the fans. As Ms Parker left the equally silent hall, it was deemed to be a good time to call the lunch break.
The next guest was just as big a surprise - Fang the dog from the episode "Take Me To Your Leader." Fang emerged to a puzzled silence but soon received a warm welcome once the MC introduced him. Sadly, this sudden noise startled the elderly canine somewhat and he was last seen fleeing through the churchyard in pursuit of a Golden Retriever. The organisers agreed that this was probably just as well as they hadn't a clue how they were going to persuade Fang to sign autographs for his adoring public.
It was decided to follow this with the much-hyped charity auction and there was keen bidding for the items on offer. One attendee parted with £200 for a cobweb from the episode "Thingumajig" and for £80 you could become the proud owner of a bag of fog from the classic Emma Peel episode "The Joker." Some items failed to reach their reserve price, including a button from one of Dr Keel's raincoats and some cheese from Mrs Gale's flat. Star item though was without doubt the much sought-after Dr Martin King and there was frenzied bidding before mutterings around the hall caused some doubt over the authenticity of this item. Apparantly there were a number of counterfeit Dr King's produced in Japan in the 1970's and no-one could be sure this wasn't one of them. To avoid disappointment, the organisers decided to withdraw the item.
The final guest of the day was the most eagerly anticipated of all - there was an excited buzz around the hall as the MC took to the stage to introduce the long-awaited appearance of a guest who had been billed as "One of the original Avengers girls." As the fans excitedly speculated who it could be, the doors at the rear of the hall were flung open to reveal........Gladys Smith - the original tea lady from the black and white Diana Rigg season. Despite her amusing anecdotes regarding the stirring of Patrick Macnee's tea and the amount of sugar Brian Clemens liked in his coffee, it was a disappointed audience that filed out of the hall at the end of the days events.
The organisers of "BowlerCon" have promised a bigger and better event
next year but the jury is most certainly still out over the success of this
event........