Day One–London
(I know it’s already day two and a half but we’ve been on a frantic schedule and my web access has been a bit limited).
I thought I’d write this blog to share some of the highlights of the book tour with John, but there were so many highlights yesterday that I’m having a hard time deciding what to include . . . so here goes.
John’s PA, Rhys (pronounced Reese–he’s a Welsh boy from the Valley), brought us coffee at 8:30am on Monday and I decided that I could easily get used to having someone do that for me. We bundled into the car and headed to the TV studios for a live segment on a show called “This Morning,” the UK version of Regis and Kelly. I thought the plan was for me to be given a mic and stand at the side of the set and when they asked John about the book they’d turn the camera on me I’d wave and say “Hello.” Instead they decided to surprise John and bring me on for the entire segment. During our chat I mentioned that we ate lots of Percy Pigs, a kind of fruit snack/candy, while we worked on the book, and later at the signing lots of fans brought us packets of them. They whisked me to make-up (I guess I was a bit shiny in places–who knew) and then after a few words with John they intro’d me and on I went. I didn’t see the segment until later Monday night when John and I got home and it was a bit surreal. First of all, I didn’t think it looked like me, which, of course, John told me was a natural reaction when you see yourself on a wide screen for the first time. I’m thinking a body double next time.
After the taping we were whisked away to a radio interview for BBC Radio 2, and while we were in the green room, Liza-with a Z-Minnelli came in to prepare for an interview after John’s. She had a small entourage and she knew who John was (in fact Liza’s sister, Lorna Luft, actually stayed in John’s Cardiff flat over the holidays). After the interview, Jonathan Ross, the UK’s David Letterman/John Stewart, joined us in the studio. He and John are friends. The night before Jonathan had hosted the BAFTA’s, the UK Oscars, and he had some funny stories to share. We couldn’t talk for very long since we had to speed off to our first official book signing at Waterstones on Oxford street. This was also when we hit our first scheduling snag.
We decided to walk to the bookstore because we were close and traffic was bad, but when we left the interview, we took a wrong turn on Oxford street and we headed to the wrong Waterstones. Of course, everyone was calling trying to find out where we were and when we finally realized we were heading in the wrong direction we had to grab a cab and retrace our steps. Trying to move along Oxford Street around midday is no easy feat on foot, but it ended up being a nightmare in a cab. We were now running over fifteen minutes late and we knew the lines at the bookstore were long. When we got close enough, we abandoned the cab and trotted to the bookstore.
Waterstones had hired a couple of bouncers, very nice scary men, and they hussled us upstairs to leave our stuff and visit the loo. It was now after 1pm and none of us had eaten all day. Rhys trucked out to find sandwiches for us, which we actually had no time to eat until a couple of hours later on our way to The National Theater. I had chutney and cheese. Not really my fave, but I was starving.
Now I have to add here that despite the craziness of the schedule I was on a cloud, a very high one, through most of the day. I still can’t believe this many people want to read and talk about our book. It’s very humbling too. John, of course, is a trooper and is such a natural at all of this that he makes it seem easy and his love for every aspect of this business is so clear (not that I didn’t know that already). We’re having a blast.
Anyway, the book signing was awesome. In less than an hour we signed for everyone in the line, all 170 people! The publisher, O’Mara Books, handed out numbers in the line and guaranteed that 150 people would get their books signed, but John and I were efficient and we managed to get through the entire line. We still were able to chat and say hello to everyone who bought the book and I really enjoyed meeting everyone. It was such a thrill to talk to so many readers of something I’d written (even if it’s because of who I’d written for). I’m still a bit giddy. Waterstones were equally thrilled and the manager told us that we had set a record for signing the most books in 40 minutes. The past record was held by Michael Palin of Monty Python fame.
After Waterstones, John changed into leather (be still) and was whisked away on a motorcycle taxi to record another TV spot across town. I had to do a couple of phone interviews from the car, one with Women’s Own, a national magazine that my mom read all the time when we lived in Scotland.
We met up again at 5pm at The National Theater in the West End for what was billed as a Platform Event about Anything Goes, and it’s one for my memoirs.
Kaye Adams, who was a creator and presenter for Loose Women (the UK’s The View), interviewed John and I. She was terrific. She was also Scottish and so John and I kept switching in and out of our Scottish accents like demented Glaswegians. Despite talking in front of audiences as a consultant and with my students everyday, believe it or not, I was actually nervous when I heard the audience file into the theatre, all 1200 of them. Kay was great and her manner was down to earth and she had a pretty wicked sense of humor and that really helped too. My biggest concern, I have to admit, was walking across what felt like a rubber coated stage in very high heels, and those who know me know I love my shoes but I don’t wear stilettos very often. The stage manager told us we would all walk on together so I took John’s hand so I wouldn’t trip and in typical brother fashion he walked as if he was pulling me into a swing park. I had to jog a little to keep up.
It was a fabulous experience. The audience was welcoming and attentive and they obviously adore John and best of all, they laughed at all my funny lines ( I had a few). I relaxed immediately and the 45 minutes went by in a blink. After we stepped off stage, a number of crewmembers from The National came to say ‘hello’ to John, who spent many nights doing the musical, ‘Anything Goes’ at that theater. There's a big picture of him on the theater’s wall of fame as Billy Crocker. After a quick gulp of water, we were seated and given our Sharpie pens. We knew the line was long but what we didn’t know was that it was winding its way around the foyer and down three levels of stairs to the ground floor. The theater manager had never seen so many people. The other thing we learned later was that most of the audience got into the line with their books, but over a 100 fans came to the signing who hadn’t been in the theater. It was so amazing.
And then when I thought it couldn’t get any better this handsome white-haired older gentleman came over to John and said, “My God, John, I haven’t seen this many people in this theatre before.” He hugged John and kissed me and spoke to John for a few minutes. It was Ian McKellen, Sir Ian, star of Lord of the Rings, of Shakespeare, of Academy Award nominations. John had already sent him a copy of the book and he came over to congratulate us. Can you believe it? I was speechless (I know my students can’t believe it, but I was).
At the end of the evening we signed everyone’s books and had lots more packets of Percy Pigs to eat on the ride home.
Cheers,
Carole
Saturday, February 16, 2008 
I promise I’ll go back and fill in details from our tour (especially John’s antics with fresh fruit at the Borders in Brighton) in a later blog, but we just got back to London and we are so wired from the day that I have to jump ahead. 
John actually has a blister on his thumb (he’ll get over it :). I’m used to giving feedback to students so I think my fingers may be tougher.