Derek Acorah... That reminds me.
A good few years ago now, I had a small office based in a Museum complex here on the North Norfolk Coast. Having known the owner for several years, we struck a deal for me renting space to use as an office in return for the odd little bit of admin. help when he needed it (I used to work for the Museum as a teenager, and knew how to run the place backwards).

The owner was based in London, leaving a rather 'skittish' manageress in charge of the day to day running of the Museum. At this point, it's probably worth mentioning that it's a large private collection of military vehicles and memorabilia.

The Manageress was very much 'into' the realm of the 'unknown'. Psychic hot lines, mediums, all that kinds of stuff, and in the course of her job, she had organised plenty of filming jobs on the Museum land, or using Museum pieces. (Band of Brothers, Allo, Allo and loads more.)

The phone call came from the 'Most Haunted' TV show... "We'd like to do a show based at your museum, if you'll let us"?

This is where the trouble began. The Manageress immediately said "Yes"! without consulting the owner.

They duly arrive a few months later. The whole production crew, Yvette fielding, Derek Acorah and all the rest.

A bigger bunch of complete f*ckwits you will never meet, Ladies and Gentlemen.

They paraded around as if they owned the place throughout the day, regularly taking the piss out of the day to day running of the Museum while they were setting up, and using their status as 'celebrities' to schmooze and coerce others to do what they wanted.

Not officially employed by the Museum at the time, my working pattern was getting seriously disrupted by all this, and the final straw came when I was waiting for a call to come in, and Acorah wanted the room immediately.

"I have a job to do, don't you know who I am"? He bellowed.

Through gritted teeth, I calmly replied.

"You're the psychic, you tell me".

Eventually, they got on and did their filming in the evening and throughout the night.

Interesting revelations came to light when I finally saw the finished episode. Derek Acorah had somehow managed to contact the spirit of the current owner's father who had initially set up the museum. I can only assume it was a mere coincidence that they rifled through the entire office during the day, producing old photograph albums and documents that belonged to the owner, and had no right to be disturbed.

Also of interest was the presence of Douglas Bader in the Museum. That's right, THE Douglas Bader. There was lots of gushing from Acorah that the original owner had flown with Bader in Hurricanes during the war, and he went on describing their great friendship and range of missions that they flew.

The fact that the original owner (Who I had known for 10 years before his death) had never flown any active missions in WWII (although he was a trained Hurricane pilot) because he was promoted to help plan the D-Day landings as a land based officer only (due to showing 'initiative' early on) obviously had nothing to do with it either.

The final straw in the programme came when they were describing Douglas Bader for the viewer.

As Derek Acorah spoke, a title comes up on screen, with description, to aid the viewer identify who Derek has 'contacted'.

Was it a glowing tribute to Douglas Bader's keen skills in the air, and his subsequent status as a wartime hero, and national hero as well? Maybe it would be a tribute to his daring exploits and the many dangerous missions he flew during the war?

No.

The caption simply read:

'Douglas Bader - Famous for his tin legs'.
( The Great Architect is still waiting for his account to be deleted on, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 16:30, 3 replies)

hahahaha
clicks.

derek should have stuck with playing football.

Reads again..Famous for his tin legs..*cracks up*! Stunner.
(TheRiddler Hmmmmm... I concur., Fri 4 Jul 2008, 16:55, closed)

That... Is... Brilliant!
I read somewhere that he got sacked from Most Haunted because the production team 'suspected he was a fake'.

From the story you've just told, maybe that should be 'was a fake'.

I think I've seen that episode too. Dis he not get 'possessed' by Bader? Except he had a distinctive Liverpudlian accent?

Anyway, *click*
( Devil_In_Tights the *real* DiT!, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 17:14, closed)

For DiT - yup, that's the episode alright :)

( The Great Architect is still waiting for his account to be deleted on, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 18:24, closed)