For the past month or so Richard and I have been talking about setting up an online store to sell REG and Temple related merchandise. The profits from the sale of all items will go to the Waterford Fund and also to help with the costs of the Temple website.

A “test” Temple Store has been set up for the past couple of months now – though there are no actual items for sale as yet. While the goal is to promote Richard primarily, another aim is to promote the Temple Website itself. A kind of “corporate branding” as it were. Obviously the two are very much linked however.

The company that hosts the actual store and handles all of the manufacturing, postage and the payment of the merchandise offers up to 50 products at this stage – any of which we can add to the Temple Store at any time. Products include T-shirts & sweatshirts, cups, mugs and glasses, tote bags, postcards, mouse pads, stickers, calendars, posters and – of all things – “flying discs” (think Frisbee). From memory anyone wishing to buy anything from the store can pay by credit card or PayPal and the items can be shipped anywhere around the world.

The artwork for the products will be original (wherever possible) and Richard and I are pursuing a number of avenues here – one of which I’ll post in an update soon. So stay tuned!

Apparently the finance has fallen through on “Making Waves” so it will not be happening – at least in the foreseeable future. If the situation changes or we come across any other newsworthy items regarding the film then we’ll let you know.

In case no one has read the write up in the Radio Times for next week’s Posh Nosh, here is what Radio Times’ Jane Rackham said about the show:

“Simon and Minty Marchmont are an upper-class couple who are filmed preparing culinary delights in their gorgeous country kitchen (all decorative hops, Agas and specialist equipment). He’s a serious wine buff (most of his suggestions cost more than £100) and a dreadful snob who slaves over celebrity diners (and his tennis coach). She likes to sample her cooking rather too much and uses only the freshest, most obscene ingredients imaginable.

For a few minutes you may be fooled into thinking that this is a real cookery show, but gradually instructions such as “soak the currants in brandy for three months until they are completely exasperated” make you realise this is not entirely serious. In fact it’s very funny.

Richard E Grant and Arabella Weir (who also wrote it) are the stars, and if you detect shades of People Like Us about the show, it’s possibly because Chris Langham directed it. It’s a wonderful po-faced spoof of cookery shows, but be warned, you’ll never watch Nigella or Delia in the same way again”

Thanks to JR (Joan) for the Posh Nosh news (via Radio Times of course).

Richard E. Grant Appeals For Skillshare International

On Sunday 16th February 2003 and again on Wednesday 19th February 2003, Richard E Grant is appealing on BBC Lifeline for donations to Skillshare International. Sunday’s appeal is being transmitted on BBC1 at 5pm and on Wednesday the programme is repeated on BBC2 at 1pm. Please check TV schedules for up to date transmission times.

To make a donation to the Lifeline Appeal, please send a cheque made payable to Skillshare International to:

Skillshare International
Freepost MID 16922
Leicester
LE1 7ZU

To make a credit card donation, a freephone telephone service is available on 0800 093 93 94. The phonelines will be open after the transmission on Sunday 16th February until Saturday 23rd February.

For more information on Skillshare International please email info@skillshare.org

Swaziland Office
PO Box A129, Mbabane, Swaziland
Tel: +268 404 3476, Fax: +268 404 3128,
E-mail: swazilandinfo@skillshare.org

Tanzania Office
PO Box 6231, Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255 27 250 9984, Fax: +255 27 250 9985
E-mail: tanzaniainfo@skillshare.org

UK Office
126 New Walk, Leicester LE1 7JA, UK
Tel: +44 (0)116 254 1862, Fax: +44 (0)116 254 2614,
E-mail: info@skillshare.org

Botswana Office
PO Box 471, Gaborone, Botswana
Tel: +267 352 284, Fax: +267 357 784,
E-mail: botswanainfo@skillshare.org

India Office
N136, Greater Kailash Part 1, New Delhi 110 048, India
Tel: +91 11 622 8372/8358, Fax: +91 11 863 0926
E-mail: indiainfo@skillshare.org

Lesotho Office
PO Box 269, Maseru 100, Lesotho
Tel: +266 314 202, Fax: +266 310 156,
E-mail: lesothoinfo@skillshare.org

Mozambique Office
CP 2634, Maputo, Mozambique
Tel: +258 1 309 710, Fax: +258 1 303 602,
E-mail: mozambiqueinfo@skillshare.org

Namibia Office
PO Box 90206, Klein-Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: +264 61 255 966, Fax: +264 61 248 811,
E-mail: namibiainfo@skillshare.org

Regional Office
PO Box 57350, Arcadia 0007, South Africa
Tel: +27 12 341 1282/3, Fax: +27 12 341 1292
E-mail: regionalinfo@skillshare.org

Richard is to be on Sky Movies Premier at 11 pm on Wednesday 5th “helming” the proceedings as they put it. It is from the Dorchester Hotel. To find out more about the awards, click here. Apparently the television ad for the awards features the camera maneuvering around lots of tables and chairs and zooming in on place cards engraved with stars names, before ending with Richard’s name as he’s hosting the event.

Also I should add that if you wish to vote for your favourites films from 2002 then click here. I’m not sure if Hound Of The Baskervilles or A Case Of Evil are eligible, but it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?

According to SueW, the Now Magazine web site is giving cash for the best questions to celebrities and a selection of the questions will apperar in the magazine. Richard’s name is on the list as “coming up soon”, so if anyone has a good question to ask then surf your way to www.nowmagazine.co.uk and ask away!

Thanks to Joann, SueW and Denise for the updates.

TV & Satellite Week – 28th January, 2003

Arabella Weir puts her bum behind her to serve up a spoof cookery show with plenty of bite. By Katherine Hassell.

Obsessing about the size of her posterior brought Arabella Weir national acclaim, but it was being made to feel inadequate by TV chefs rather than reed-thin models that inspired her to write Posh Nosh. The actress who asked “Does my bum look big in this?” on The Fast Show admits she can’t stand the heat, so stays out of the Kitchens of Delia and co. yet, realising that she could still take revenge, she rolled up her sleeves, put on an apron and whipped up a series of 10-minute cookery programme parodies to strike back.

“All those shows make me feel insecure” she complains, “they don’t make me think ‘What a great thing to do with scallops and chives.’ Just, ‘Oh God! I’m a fat oaf with a horrible kitchen.’ My theory is that they’re only made by people who want you to envy them. They don’t want to teach you anything. They want you to think, ‘Look at the perfect life. I bet it’s great at their house because she knows what to do with creme triliche.’ ”

But the lifestyle of Monty and Simon Marchmont (Weir and Richard E. Grant) – proprietors of the Quill and Tassel restaurant – isn’t as perfect as it first appears. The matronly meal-maker and her effeminate, wine-quaffing spouse delight in preparing delicious delecasies on an Aga at their stately plc, yet their marriage is a sham.

As she stands at her stove “cautioning” egg yolks, “embarrassing” baby parsnips and “disabling a partridge in it’s own jus”, it becomes clear that it’s Simon’s position in society rather than passion that prompted Minty to marry the pretentious aristrcrat, who’s clearly gay and particularly fond of his tennis coach.

“Minty’s a desperate snob who never stops mentioning that Simon’s mother is a Lady and that they’ve got Bishop coming to supper.” explains the 45-year-old diplomat’s daughter. “That’s her trade-off. She married a posh bloke she’d have never ordinarilly got hold of. But they do share a committment to poncey food and a belief that it’s the only important thing in life.”

Weir admits, however, you can take her justice with a pinch of the Marchmont’s specialty “wind dried salt”. She means no offence. She’s only jealous.

“I have an enormous admiration for people who can cook” confesses Weir, who loves her microwave “because you can stick everything in it that’s six days old and nobody will have a clue.”

“I’d love to be able to go ‘Throw in this spaghetti and some coriander and there you have it!’ But it’s not me”, she sighs. “One of my closest friends is Italian and says ‘Oh, I’ll just see what I’ve got in the fridge.’ It’s always something you’d pay a fortune for in Soho.”

To see an actual scan of the article, click here.