I tend to be elusive, and reclusive, at the best of times (almost as much, in fact, as the cryptids that I investigate!). So it should come as no surprise to learn that anyone who knows me well will tell you that appearing on television is something that I loathe doing – as in loathe with an absolute, abiding passion. And here's why.
Firstly, as is also true with a surprising number of actors (surprising in the sense that because they do it as a profession, one might therefore expect them to be long since accustomed to this), I simply don't like seeing, or hearing, myself on the small screen – never have done, never will.
Secondly, I abhor the devious, dubious practices that TV interviewees are sometimes subjected to – such as (very) selective editing of recorded interviews prior to their actual screening, including slyly presenting the interviewee's words out of context; and unexpectedly assailing the interviewee in live programmes with deliberately provocative questions that are unrelated to the subject officially under discussion and are specifically designed to confuse and/or ridicule the interviewee.
Thirdly, there is the not insignificant matter of some TV companies doing their utmost to avoid offering the interviewee a fee for their appearance, for travel expenses, or for their time spent providing TV show researchers with masses of free information – information, moreover, that is then frequently used in those TV shows but without giving their unpaid source any onscreen credit or recognition either. And so on…
Consequently, once I had achieved a measure of ongoing success with my writing career, i.e. by the late 1990s, I made a conscious decision to bow out of TV appearances whenever possible and allow my books and articles do my talking for me instead – a decision that I've adhered to ever since (although I do not totally rule out future TV appearances if the subject to be discussed is sufficiently enticing and the TV company involved is one that I feel happy to work with).
Prior to my retirement from the small-screen showbiz world, however, I had taken part in quite a variety of high-profile TV shows, and had obtained recordings of a fair few of them, especially those that I'd actually enjoyed participating in, and which had not subjected me to any of the unpleasant practices outlined above. Moreover, because those latter interviews also contained information that I considered may be of interest to other cryptozoological enthusiasts, during the past few years I've uploaded them onto YouTube in order to make them readily available to viewers, and also, hopefully, to preserve them long after I'm no longer here to do so personally.
There may be other such recordings
lurking in my archives that I've overlooked (and there are also currently on YT
some TV programmes or videos uploaded by other YT users that feature me). In
addition, I know that I have a number of my many radio interviews preserved on audio
cassette tapes that I have yet to convert into MP3 files and upload onto YT. Meanwhile,
however, in order to enable easy access to what is already there, it has
occurred to me that a directly clickable list of those recordings would be
highly beneficial to potential viewers.
[NB – The following clickable list of interviews is not arranged in strict chronological order because I don't have precise recording dates for some of them, so I cannot be absolutely certain 30-odd years down the line which was produced first in certain cases, but they were all recorded during the 1990s unless stated otherwise. One clue to their correct chronological order, however, may be derived from taking note of how much, or how little, hair I still possess in each of them!]
And so, as they used to say in the classic UK children's TV show Blue Peter, here's one I made earlier (click the red description below for each video in order to go directly to that video on YT):
Interview in early 1990s with Anthea Turner on UK breakfast TV show GMTV re mystery cats.
Interview in early 1990s with Michael Wilson on UK breakfast TV show GMTV re mystery cats.
Interview in early 1990s with Lorraine Kelly on UK breakfast TV show GMTV re mystery cats.
[and here, uploaded by someone else, is the entire episode]
Live interview in mid-1990s on Sky News re the Bodmin Beast.
Sadly, my TV debut (and still among my favourite small-screen appearances) is not included in the above list, because so far it does not appear to have been uploaded onto YT by anyone – fyi, it was in a 1987 TSW (Television South West) documentary entitled The Beast of Exmoor. However, I do own an official VHS video recording of the entire programme, kindly gifted to me by TSW, so it is not lost (which is very fortunate, because TSW closed down at the end of 1992).
Moreover, as I mentioned earlier here, I may have in my archives some additional TV recordings featuring me, plus cassette recordings of various radio interviews with me that I definitely have, all of which I'll upload onto YT at some stage. Once I do, I'll insert clickable links to them in this present listing. So be sure to check back here from time to time if you'd like to access them for future viewings (and listenings – hey, did I just invent a new word??).
Finally, I can't go without mentioning one of the most popular ploys that TV companies have tried when attempting to solicit my services for free – namely, emphasizing all the publicity that I'll derive from appearing on or assisting their show. Every time I've received that spiel, I've had to exert severe self-control in order to prevent myself from answering back with the withering reply that British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood allegedly gave when responding to a similar statement in a similar situation: "Darling, I don't NEED the publicity!" Wonderful!
UPDATE: 30 April 2022 - I've also recorded a fair few radio interviews down through the decades, but here is the very latest one, recorded yesterday and uploaded today by Dark Waters onto YouTube. Namely, my appearance on the famous Dark Waters Radio show, in which he and I chat about all manner of mystery beasts, from bigfoot and dogman to water monsters, secret snakes, and much much more!
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Ah, as usual a few indistinct blurry images of the legendary cryptid. I remain skeptical! ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the collection Karl and Happy New Year to you!
LOL. Thanks Martin, and a Happy New Year to you too!
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