"A Golfing We Will Go!"

WEIGH-IN WEDNESDAY

No change this week - I'm still the same as I was last week - but in a week where I ate out most 

evenings and celebrated my Birthday as well - not to have actually put any weight on is nothing short of a miracle - so I'm in no way dispirited and for all you who want to give me shit for not losing any weight this week - bring it on - you try eating crisp bread (19 Calories) everyday for your breakfast!!!

"THE EVIL ONE"
(Birthday Gifts)

My friend in Los Angeles, Christopher Monger,  surpassed himself this week with an 

array of delightful Golfing Accessories that arrived at my Flat in time for my 64th

Birthday (Yes! I've been playing that Beatles Song "When I'm 64" ever since!)

First there was the rather swanky Leather Score Card Wallet  - that not only

contained a place for your Score Card, but also a pencil, golf tees, a ball marker

and a device for repairing the greens when your ball lands on them and makes

a dent (a divot tool) also a handy clip to keep it secure attached to your golf bag.

Then there was a bag of 60 Golf Tees - Very useful

A box of 24 Brand Spanking New Golf Balls - Very Generous!

Some Nudie Tees - "Oh Behave!"

And finally the "Piece de Resistance" A gadget you attach to the handle of your putter

for picking balls up - extremely useful, if you are like me and have stiff knees that prevent

you from bending over. Un-be-known to Chris the previous week I had ordered one of these

from Amazon myself - but unlike Chris's - mine hasn't turned up yet. I checked the

estimated delivery date yesterday and Amazon said between the 3rd and 28th of

October - good job Amazon!!

Thank you very much Chris for some really useful Birthday Gifts!

My Golfing Themed Birthday continued with presents from Cindy - A Golfing Towel that attaches to your golf bag - for cleaning your balls when they're wet!

Some Novelty Golf Balls - Very Cute!

Some more Golf Tees - this time Short Ones  - very useful for the particular Pitch & Put Course I'm playing at the moment in Roehampton.

MY BIRTHDAY DINNER

Took place at the COTE RESTAURANT in Westbourne Grove.

A very nice Restaurant where I have eaten before - this time, with my eye carefully monitoring the

Calories (!!) I chose a fish dish - a Whole Plaice on the bone. By the time I got to eventually eat it I'd

been talking so much and filleting the fish bones - it was stone cold. Only myself to blame! We were joined for dinner by my dear friends Peter and Penny Mishcon (regular contributors to my Blog) Penny is known as "Penny the Prompter". A nickname she earnt on a visit to Port Isaac where one Sunday Evening I asked her if she would take me through my dialogue that I was trying to learn for the next days filming in the village for the ITV Series DOC MARTIN. . What followed is the stuff of legends and became a talking point for a long while after. She became so angry and cross every time 

I made a mistake or forgot a line that everybody was consumed with hilarity. It was very very funny

and "Penny the Prompter" was born. I had sent them both a joke request of a present list for my Birthday:

I have a Birthday Gift List at the Apple Store in Westfields:

GIFT SUGGESTIONS:

 iPhone 6 or 6 plus

New iPad or MacBook Pro

27inch Desk Top iMac - If you really love me
Granny Smiths Apple - If you don't....

Let me know what you think...

To my amazement they handed me a small boxed gift that when I opened had the Apple packaging  I know so well and the iPhone 6 Logo was on the side:

OMG how could they be so generous?? - how extremely kind and thoughtful - I knew the price of a new iPhone 6 and this was way over the top with generosity - surely they've gone out of their minds?

It wasn't until I looked inside that I found the real gift they had given me. Gleaming from the inside of the box was a second hand 1974 Nokia handset. To add insult to injury I wasn't even allowed to keep it - it had to be returned to it's present home - the Grand-Children's Dressing-up & Toy Box. Mind you, Peter and Penny did give me a present of a very lovely bottle of Red Wine - so all was no lost!

SPOTLIGHT

The Actor's Directory 

Every year - around about now - my Agents contact me to see if I want to change the photograph I have in the Actor's Casting Directory - Spotlight. For the past few years I've had the same photo - the one you see below:

I thought with my weight-loss this year it might be a good idea to have a new photo taken. I contacted the Stills Photographer who works on DOC MARTIN,  who took the photo above, Rod Ebdon. Rod and his wife turned up the other day from Southend and took a number of photos. I haven't exactly chosen the new one for Spotlight but here's a couple I like for you to take a look at.

I'm pleased with these photos, they may as I've said, not be the ones I choose to put into Spotlight but at least there is a marked difference in how I look and you can see a distinct loss of weight and some definition starting to peek through - hurray!!

"WE ARE TOURISTS"

On my birthday - totally out of the blue - I got offered a role on an Independent Movie "WE ARE TOURISTS" - just one day's filming in London playing the role of a Newspaper Editor called Harry - Here is a synopsis of the Film:

Synopsis. WE ARE TOURISTS IS A BLACK COMEDY

Cecile Gamble (O'ar Pali) is shipped off by her editor Harry to write a story on Monteprouve, a French village with the highest lingerie sales per capita in France. Hoping to spice up their relationship, Cecile drags her boyfriend Edward along for the ride. Monteprouve is everything Cecile expected - quaint, frisky and annoyingly French. But a high libido is not the only thing the town is hiding; Monteprouve also has a strangely high tourist suicide rate. It’s not long before Cecile suspects that these ‘suicides’ are actually murders. But with a town full of oddball characters, uncovering the murderer may prove harder than expected.   

O'AR PALI

The Movie was written by a beautiful young Italian/American called O'AR PALI who was 

also going to be playing the main role - as well as co-directing. My day of filming happened to be the Sunday 5th of October - 3 DAYS LATER!! Obviously someone had dropped out and sure enough my Agents told me that BILL NIGHY was meant to play the role originally (apparently his daughter was good friends with the producer of the film) but his present job had over-run and he was no longer available - shame! So it had fallen to me. I told my Agents, that if the producers wanted me, they would have to give me the Billing I wanted: Right at the front of the Movie when you see all the main Cast's names appear, mine would then appear ON A SINGLE CARD and would read "......AND IAN McNEICE AS HARRY" This would also appear on the Poster in a similar fashion.  Luckily they agreed to all my demands - so all was set for my day of filming on the Sunday. The car arrived at 7:00am and took me to The Little Brown Book Group, 100 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0DY

This was right across from Blackfriars Tube Station in a fantastic building - they must have kept the exterior facade of the exterior but completely gutted and designed a fabulous interior:

Here is the Board Room of the Little Brown Book Group that we used for HARRY (the Editor 

of the Newspaper's major scene.)

With the Co-Director: Remy Bazerque (A Frenchman)

With the Producer: Anna MacDonald.

The day went really well - I really enjoyed working with the young crew and cast who all seemed pleased to have me on board. The Sunday turned out to be their final day - the day before they had all returned from 23 days of filming in a small French Village - so they were all a bit shell-shocked. However O'ar Pali, herself turned out to be a real sweetheart.

They have plans to Premiere the film at Cannes next year - I wish them well

ANGUS STOKESAY McNEICE

It has been brought to my attention, that tomorrow, the 9th of October, is my Son Angus - the Wild Man of Wonga's BIRTHDAY. He will soon be departing these shores - once more -  to take up residence in Uruguay - of all places - "What's wrong with Brentford?" I cry - but to no avail. I'm afraid it is the lure of a dusky maiden that is making him forsake his family. Happy Birthday Big Boy - may you leave behind our winter for Uruguay's sunny summer and be mastering surfing by Christmas! Bon Voyage! We love you and will miss you greatly.....you bastard!..xxxxxx 

JOE ALLENS DINNER

Last night I had dinner with Barry Greenburg - from Portland, Oregon - the "Booker" of my last Australian Convention Trip (The one where I replaced Billy Piper).  He is on to his 4th wife who gave him triplet boys 4 years ago. He is mainly responsible for sorting out the contracts for Actors to 

appear at Conventions. He's been in the UK to oversee some of his clients attend a STAR TREK 

Convention at the Excell Centre. Hopefully he will be able to organise some Conventions Stateside for me in the future - we shall see!

With Barry in Joe Allens.

WATERLOO STATION

On my way home last night after my dinner at Joe Allens I had to catch my train to Brentford from

Waterloo Station. I had about 20 minutes to kill before my train left so I decided to take a look a the 

mezzanine level that had been constructed some time ago. It had always intrigued me looking up at it,

but I'd never sussed it out until last night. It really is quite lavish and affords excellent views of the busy station below. Here are some of the views, restaurants and shops on offer!:

MY FITBIT WEEK

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