As always Only Fools and Horses fans were treated to another huge convention and it was very special as this year is it’s the 30th anniversary of Only Fools
Can you beleive the first episode Big Brother graced our screen back in 1981. The year was also very sad as all had the sad loss of John Sullivan in mind
The 14th Only Fools Convention was surely the biggest one yet with more stars than ever before along with the original sets and costumes.
Since 1994 Perry has put together a team of talent to provide Only Fools and Horses fans an Appreciation Society they can be proud of.
The conventions have been moving around the country over the years. From Milton Keynes, Bristol, Maidstone to this years huge event at Portsmouth. The idea is to pick places with an Only Fools and Horses demographic. Portsmouth would be just the place this year with tickets selling out fast. It was thought there would be a lot of fans there.
So here are some video interviews and some of your pictures from the great event.
Roy Heather (SID)
Philip Pope (TONY ANGELINO)
Perry Aghajanoff (OFAHAS CHAIRMAN)
Sue Holderness (MARLENE)
John Challis (BOYCIE)
Nabil Elouahabi (GARRRY)
ROGER LLOYD-PACK (TRIGGER)
Paul Barber (DENZIL)
GWYNETH STRONG (CASSANDRA)
TESSA PEAKE-JONES (RAQUEL)
Tony Angelino AKA Philip Pope giving a brief Crwying session
VAS BLACKWOOD (LENNOX GILBEY)
More Lennox Gilbey AKA Vas Blackwood – The shadow doing his famous – they seek him there – speak
Fans comments included:
“What a wonderful day! I have been wanting to go for years but bad health kept me away. The staff were great and I would not have made it with out them. The express queue for the wheelchair access was a godsend for me. I also had help from a woman security staff who helped me by providing a chair as I waited for each star to sign.
Who was the woman sitting by John’s books? she spoke to me for ages while I waited for the people in front to have theirs signed.
Then it was my turn, I was not cool at all. Starstruck to say the least, I told each and every one how wonderful it was to meet them, while grinning like a Cheshire cat.
John was talking to me and then he transformed into Boycie saying ‘here is trouble, oh yes I can see that now, security!!’ lol he was so funny putting me at ease. Sue was kind and thoughtful.
Not only did Paul Barber say take a seat take your time, he got up and posed for a photo for me!!!!! OMG I have a photo of me and Denzel yippee
Trigger sat in front of me, was laid back and charming asking if I was ok (I must have looked bad, or mad lol) ans all the while this security woman was helping me with a fold up seat moving it from star to star as I wasnt feeling my best. They were all truly stars. The staff helping them, those on the stalls were even kind and helpful.
I waited a long time to go to a convention, with disabilities it was a hard day for me, but worth every moment.
I will remember the day forever, not forgetting how great it was for me to see John transform into Boycie lol all just for me” – Donna
“Me and my wife traveled down by coach from just outside of Leeds, this wasnt a direct route so it took us over 8hours to get there. Then over 9hours to get home and we’ll do it all over again next year! Personally for £5 i thought the ticket in was well worth the money, as this was our first convention we didnt know what to expect, ok so there were only stalls selling stuff thats on the website but if you’re like me and like to ‘see’ what you buy then this was perfect. I thought the guy who was selling things to the crowd was a fantastic idea as most people were stuck in the queue and unable to browse the stalls. i thought the fact that there was always ‘the last one..’ added delboy style humour. Hats off to Perry for organising these events, like someone else has said the BBC don’t get involved even though its their show and they make more money than anyone. Shame on them. I thought the actors/actresess were wonderfully patient, you could tell how exhausted they were and yet each of them were still smiling at 7pm as we were leaving. we queue’d for 7 and a half hours and were extremely grateful to meet, chat with, get signatures and photographs of each the stars. a huge thank you them all and to Garry for staying on later, hope he didnt miss his train! Without Perry there wouldnt be any conventions or chances to meet the stars of the shows. THANK YOU PERRY, you deserve a round of applause and alot more recognition for the time and effort you put in. See you next year.” – Steve
Well done all involved FAB CONVENTION!! Can we have a dvd made available to buy of all these interviews Perry? Also Roy Heather mentioned hilarious out takes? come on BBC wake up another potential mass seller Only fools the out takes!!!! you know it makes sense.Perry has proved to you the following fools has!lets get on with it.and while we are at it more green green grass too.You owe it to the great John Sullivan.
This years 2011 convention was brilliant + i especially loved the flat it felt like we were in there for real.
it was the first time for my son sam to come to a convention and garry really liked him + said that sam woz a miniture del-boy.
I bought the picture of del falling through the bar with trigger in it and lots of other items.I love only fools it was the best comedy ever made and what a special talent john sullivan had r.i.p john you were a legend.I was so excited to meet cassandra + raquel thats more photos to put to my collection.I would love to meet david jason and nicholas lyndhurst i wonder if they will ever turn up to a convention.
Although we queued for 5 hrs it was worth it to see the other actors that i had not met before.
many thanks for a great day perry x
Hi, thank you very much for uploading my photo. I am very pleased. It’s on the beginning of GARRRRRY’s interview too. Wicked. Very pleased.
A truley fantastic day! one that will stay with me forever. It was our first time going and we loved it. Such a great atmosphere, we had to que for nearly 7hrs to see the actors which was so worth it, they were all so very friendly and took the time to speak to us. Such an honour to meet them all. A once in a lifetime experience, thank you so much! xxxxxxxxx
What a fab day me and my husband travelled from south wales it was our first convention so we didn’t know what to expect we was shocked when we arrived at the que to go in which fair play moved very quickly and thank god it was a nice dry day I couldn’t get over the fact that its been around 30 years and I would say about 70% of the people there wasn’t even born or was very young when it was first shown we waited in the que for just over 7 hrs but it was worth it and would do it all again it was great that the man on the mike was selling items as we moved around the que it broke the time up and it was great they played episodes on the tv while we waited they even played my favorite epsiode friday 14th so I was chuffed when we got to the stars it was amazing how frendly they were and I had a nice conversation with leniox gilby they kept on say they were sorry we had to wait so long they were sorry I was honored to be given the chance to see and speak to them this was the best day ever
RIP John Sullavan without you none of this would have been possable you are a ledgend x
What can I say?
Experiences don’t come better than this. We travelled from Trondheim in Norway (Yes, we were the only two to come from the utter cold…) and had a ball of a day. We met loads of fellow OFAH-fans, we spent time with our favourite actors, and indeed met a lot of nice people who we will consider to be nameless friends hereafter.
Highpoint of the day? The moment when Marlene (Sue Holderness, as if you didn’t know) told me she was concerned I had my wife with me when I admitted to be in love with her. Time only knows what could have happened… :-D
To all of you, be it fans, actors, staff, management or props curators: Thank you very very much for an experience of a lifetime!
All the best from
Alf & Gøril,
Bjugn, Norway.
Does anyone know if there will be an Only Fools Convention dvd….I seem to remember years ago they used to do them, but now I cant see any on the site or eBay.
Roger Lloyd Pack was fantastic, has an intellectual/intensity about him, Denzil was knackered, and actually held me and my girlfriend arriving in a taxi up in the car park, becuase he couldnt decide were to park, which led to our taxi driver asking him, how do u possible drive a lorry in the show, lol…brilliant…
marlene was lovely, and very pretty, boycies wife was selling his books, i didnt see many people buy the book, i wanted to but cash was running low as i bought 2 of the £15 prints…I asked Lennox about his appearance in sickness and in health, and he smiled, remember he was Pele, and Gary was such a nice guy. Felt alittle sorry for tony angelino, the idiot infront of me didnt want he’s autograph, and he just sat there all ackwardly, i jumped at the chance,this is a man who mad my nan laugh so much with CWWWWYING… plus i never forget that scene were he has that down his trousers and passes it to del who passes it to rodney…brilliant…
both cassandra and raquel were classy and lovely, and seemed to be alittle overwhelemed with it.
had picture taking with perry, just an amazing day…. was alittle suprised to see no mickey pearce, and thought jim broadbant might have been tere…
fair play to you guys from norway, they did annonce it on the mic at one point didnt they…
FANTASTIC DAY….
Thank-you for a great day. I’m still buzzing over it and keep showing my friends the photos from the day.
I will keep an eye out next year for details of the 15th convention as would be devastated if I missed out. No wonder the tickets all sold out, the event was pure amazing and mind blowing :)
Been going to the conventions since they started in 1998 i was pregnant at first one and got book signed to me and baby. I think it was second convention when i won signed buster merryfield book and we bought a script too. Portsmouth was quite a way to go again as nearest to us is maidstone and essex where they have been held before. Didnt queue this time as dont like queing but if id known raquel and cassandra were there then i wud have but they have never been before so didnt expect it.It was great day though and will carry on going till they stop doing them which i hope they dont.
It was the first convention I have been to and I enjoyed it. I work in Events in London and have had some contact with the BBC and Perry about Only Fools in the past. In reply to Dave’s on 15 November the set is real but much worn, as are the costumes and all the props. If it were not for Perry and his team attending the recording of the original series, as John Sullivan said, they would all have been lost in a skip. In fact, incredibly, the BBC themselves hired the real props back off Perry earlier this year as you can see from this link when they recreated the flat on the 8th floor of Peckham tower block http://uktv.co.uk/gold/video/aid/646521/videolistid/168/sr/1
There were also several original props on display at the convention from Rock and Chips etc
When I went to Bressingham during the Summer this year in the hope of seeing the Only Fools and Horses Museum that Perry and Ian Knowles put together, the staff there told me the fact that some of the original props were stolen from the Museum was the main reason that they decided to close the museum down and only exhibit the items once a year. A great shame but I guess it was too risky! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/7063712.stm
There are very few items surviving at all from other classic BBC series such as Dads Army or The Good Life mainly because to keep the production staff and set handlers (Of which John Sullivan was one) in work, as soon as a series was finished every thing was junked. It was rebuilt from new if needed for a new series. Costumes were altered and used again and again in other shows. The BBC also has no where to store anything long term. I work in Media and corporate events and whenever I speak to BBC World Wide about an event linked to a BBC show they really are not that interested. With regard to Only Fools, after being told several times they do not want to get involved and can’t help they eventually told me to talk to Perry! The actors do of course charge for their services. You only have to look in Spotlight to get their Agent details. For example when we wanted to hire a couple of stars from TOWIE (yeah I know!) for a night club event their Agents were asking between £5,000 to £10,000 per night. I am not kidding. I once wanted Roger Lloyd Peck for an event and his agent was going to charge about £2000 plus hotel and travel expenses. So these conventions must worry the life out of the organisers that they are going to make enough money. For a £5.00 entry fee I guess you can’t expect to spend that much time with the stars but if you managed to get a photo and I saw that several people did on the day, then well done. The conventions in London charge £30 plus per photo with a star. I was at a Sci-Fi event where they want nearly £100 for a picture with William Shatner and Shatners agent was there forbidding him to even talk to anyone. Sad but true, its documented else where on the net. So in fact when I think about it £5.00 for 3 autographs per star at the Only Fools convention when you consider there were 9 stars who signed was not that bad a deal. If you sell one set of autographs on eBay for the going rate at only £10-15 each that’s not bad is it? It was a very long and busy day but I enjoyed posing on the set with the’ Del Boy and Uncle Albert ‘look a like’ actors and meeting and talking to the real stars. The BBC could not care less about the show in fact the local ITV station came down for the day to do some filming for there news show! http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/mange-tout-mange-tout92285/ And at least Perry and his team are fans of the show, which is more than you can say about the staff at the BBC’s Dr Who exhibition in London that look down their noses at fans as if they are something the cat dragged in. Strange world isn’t it?
Brilliant day came all the way down from Liverpool.Took me 5 and half hours getting there and getting back but it was worth it especially when the ticket was only £5 can’t go wrong with that.It was great meeting the cast it was an honour.Going again next time.It was set out brilliant.The 30th anniversary in Portsmouth has got to be dedicated to John Sullivan.R.I.P John.
many thanx 2 perry and all staff at convention it was gr8 surprise 2 c raquel and cassandra this was my 4th convention and was best yet a big thankyou again 2 perry its shame david didnt go 2 honour john sullivan maybe nxt time
Thank you for a great day. Very. Much enjoyed the day thank you.
Brilliant day! Drove down from Leeds and made a weekend of it! Great to meet all the stars of the show, even after a 6hour wait, worth every minute waited though. Perry deserves a special mention of course as it was such an amazing atmosphere all day long. Will definately be going again year after year!
Me and Girlfriend had an amazing day…It was long, and tiring, but you forget all about that as soon as you are face to face with the stars. Marlene was especially lovely, super friendly, and GARY was such a down to earth guy, lovely…. FANTASTIC DAY and a very special/sad one with the memory of John Sullivan…
well done Perry…
Great effort. Ofah is still going strong which is great news.. also it’s great the actors thank the fans by turning up.. perry and the team to make these days happen.thank you