#Peter Vaughan-Clarke

[iconuk01]

I've just seen it announced that Peter Vaughan-Clarke has died, at the age of 66.

Those of you who don't know who that is, who i suspect will be 99.78% of the people reading this, he was an actor best known for being Stephen in The Tomorrow People, not the US reimagining, but the original British early 70's version aimed squarely at kids.

The show was a contemporary show about the spontaneous appearance of the next step of human evolution, with powers emerging at puberty. They were gifted with powers of telepathy (only for communicating with each other, they couldn't read other minds), telekinesis, and teleportation (or "jaunting" as they refer to it), which for anything other than line of sight, required the use of a technological addition, the jaunting belt, a quintessentially 70's design.

There were only a handful of them (Less than a dozen across all the various seasons) and they operated out of a converted disused London Tube station.

At the behest of the Galactic Federation (Earth was not a member, but Tomorrow People appearing suggested it might be, one day) who loaned them some tech (including TIM, their self aware computer) they sought to help protect Earth from external threats, and more importantly, help other Tomorrow People as they emerged because the "Breaking Out" process was potentially very dangerous, as their mind had to cope with adjusting to telepathy (it was implied you might go insane if it didn't progress properly and develop mental shields) and teleportation (some people simply vanished and were lost forever in hyperspace). Tomorrow People were also genetically hardwired to be non-violent.

It had a budget that made Doctor Who look generous, and some of the performances were… not good (producer Roger Price deliberately cast untested actors for most parts, which worked in some cases, but not others). He was also committed to having non-white actors in lead rolds (Which for the early 70's wasn't remotely guaranteed). There's a fun article about some of that here. and another here

Stephen was the audience identification character in the first season. He was the average, everyday kid who "broke out" and was introduced to the weird world of the Tomorrow People.

He's a case where they got VERY lucky with casting. PVC (as he was affectionately known) ensured Steven was a delightful character.

He was funny, snarky, brave, eager, but not foolishly so, and still getting used to his new world. He still had to go to school because he was an otherwise ordinary kid, but would still jaunt to go swimming in the Carribean after school, because who wouldn't? He was the sort of guy you'd WANT to be friends with at school, even if he wasn't a Tomorrow Person.

And even very little icon-uk (I wasn't even upper case in those days) could see that he was a good looking kid, even if I was more interested in how cool telekinesis was as a power, and more importantly, how I could get hold of a jaunting belt)

That last one is a space suit... the 70s were weird for fashions, but not THAT weird.

David Bowie met him when the show was filming and mentioned later that he was "a pretty little thing", and I know from talking to people that he was the catalyst for more than one young lad realising that they might be more interested in other lads than girls.

After the show, his TV career petered out, bur he still did various stage work, acting, lighting tech and the like. He remained in touch with the fandom, appearing at conventions, and when the DVD's came out, he and co-star Nicholas Young did a series of outrageously good commentary tracks, simultaneously fond reminiscing, utter piss-take, giggling at the props and effects and pondering why a couple of the directors insisted on dressing some of the attractive young male actors in as little as possible. (Nothing untoward or disturbing appears to have happened to the cast, I hasten to add, but that director's predelictions do raise an eyebrow)

[kwebtv]

Peter Vaughan-Clarke as Stephen Jameson, Sammie Winmill as Carol and Nicholas Young as John in "The Tomorrow People"

[spryfilm]

DVD review: “The Tomorrow People” (1973 - 1979) 

“The Tomorrow People” (1973 – 1979)  Television / Science Fiction Sixty Eight Episodes Created by: Roger Price Featuring: Nicholas Young, Elizabeth Adare, Peter Vaughan-Clarke, Philip Gilbert, Stephen Salmon, Sammie Winmill, Dean Lawrence, Mike Holoway, Misako Koba and Nigel Rhodes John: “I wonder if all those people who are desperate to have a close encounter of some kind have ever really…

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

A Warning to the Curious (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1972)

[mariocki]

A Ghost Story for Christmas: A Warning to the Curious (BBC, 1972)

"An Anglo-Saxon crown. No one's ever discovered one before. And I found it."

"Well, you are to be congratulated, Mr. Paxton. And may I ask what you intend to do with it next?"

"I'm going to put it back."

[bht-of-tardis]

RIP! Godspeed Stephen.

[marypickfords]

A Warning to the Curious (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1972)

“Gordon Clark followed up “The Stalls of Barchester” with “A Warning to the Curious” (1972). Coming straight off Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, British character actor Peter Vaughan stars as an amateur archaeologist who is followed by a malevolent force after he uncovers one of the mythical three crowns that protect the Suffolk coastline (although it was actually filmed in Norfolk). “A Warning to the Curious” is perhaps the closest Gordon Clark came to the brooding stillness of Jonathan Miller’s “Whistle and I’ll Come to You”, with its emphasis on coastal exteriors, the obsessive intensity of the central character and the dark spectre that dogs him at every step.” — Kier-La Janisse, from Yuletide Terror: Christmas Horror on Film and Television (2017).

[dannyreviews]

Rolling Stone Magazine Top 200 Singers - The Omissions List

Once in awhile, I’ll do a music themed blog post and boy do I have a post for you. Rolling Stone Magazine opens 2023 with a list that no one asked for. Their 200 Singers list is an all time low for the once flourishing magazine. When you include auto-tuned singers like Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Lana Del Ray and dull as dishwater singers (again, my opinion) like Morrissey, Courtney Love, Michael Stipe, Bono, Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder, you lose credibility in my book. Here are the singers of different backgrounds, genres, and vocalizations (in alphabetical order) that Rolling Stone failed to include on their inept list:

Jon Anderson

Julie Andrews

Paul Anka

Tina Arena

Charles Aznavour

Michael Ball

Jimmy Barnes

The Bee Gees (Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb)

Pat Benatar

Tony Bennett

Andrea Bocelli

Jay Black

Colin Blunstone

Michael Bolton

Gary Brooker

Jack Bruce

Eric Burdon

Maria Callas

Eric Carmen

Paul Carrack

Enrico Caruso

Shirley Cesar

Peter Cetera

Eric Clapton

Petula Clark

Joe Cocker

Nat King Cole

Phil Collins

Perry Como

Burton Cummings

Bobby Darin

Sammy Davis Jr. 

Neil Diamond

Judith Durham

The Everly Brothers (Don and Phil)

John Farnham

Dan Fogelberg

Marie Fredriksson

Art Garfunkel

Judy Garland

Vince Gill

Ian Gillan

Lou Gramm

Daryl Hall

Johnny Hallyday

Morten Harket

George Harrison

Russell Hitchcock

Noddy Holder

Mick Hucknall

Billy Joel

Brian Johnson

Tom Jones

Eddie Kendricks

Carole King

Johnny Maestro

Steve Marriott

Dean Martin

Michael McDonald

Meat Loaf

Ethel Merman

Klaus Meine

Liza Minnelli

Jim Morrison

Anthony Newley

Harry Nilsson

Luciano Pavarotti

Gene Pitney

Leontyne Price

Maddy Prior

The Righteous Brothers (Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley)

Paul Rodgers

Sam and Dave (Sam Moore and Dave Prater)

Neil Sedaka

Bon Scott

Beverly Sills

Carly Simon

Paul Simon

Levi Stubbs

James Taylor

Frankie Valli

Sarah Vaughan 

Anthony Warlow

Dionne Warwick

Ann Wilson

Carl Wilson

Steve Winwood

Robin Zander

[siena-sevenwits]

Books I have on my list to investigate/try/complete in 2023. Some I'm not sure about but want to check out. I am certain I won't make my way through this whole list, but everything on it I'm keen for.

The Idiot by Dostoevsky (classic novel)

"Othello" and "Cymbeline" by Shakespeare (classic plays)

In Search of the Castaways by Jules Verne (classic novel)

Kristin Lavransdatter, Book One: The Bridal Wreath by Sigrid Undset (classic novel)

The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (classic mystery)

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (classic novella)

The Overneath by Peter S. Beagle (short stories)

The Heart of London by H. V. Morton (essays)

Howl's Moving Castle (YA fantasy)

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason (science fiction/fantasy)

The Father's Tale by Michael O'Brien (modern literary fiction)

The Saga of Didrik of Bern (Medieval German/Scandinavian legendarium)

The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (YA fantasy)

The Garden of the Gods by Gerald Durrell (fictionalized memoir)

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (classic humour)

The Letters of JRR Tolkien (correspondence)

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis (fairytale-inspired novel)

Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis (historical graphic novel)

The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien (classic fantasy)

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft (fantasy)

Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle (nonfiction/creativity/spirituality)

The Intellectual Life by Antonin Sertillanges (nonfiction/academia/spirituality)

The epistles of Paul (Scripture)

Jesus of Nazareth, Book One by Benedict XVI (scriptural reflections/ commentary)

Collected Poems by Karol Wojtyla

Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers (classic mystery)

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson (children's fantasy)

The Ghosts of Sherwood by Carrie Vaughan (YA historical novella)

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos (YA fantasy)

Hood by Stephen Lawhead (historical fiction)

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark (fantasy)

Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings by Diana Pavlac Glyer (non-fiction)

Troy by Stephen Fry (mythology retelling)

Brandon Sanderson's secret novels (I didn't back the kickstarter, but I hear they'll be hitting the bookstore shelves too)

Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks (memoir, science)

The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope (children's historical fantasy)

[sarkos]

I’d worked with David Bowie a couple of times while directing a music show for Granada and discussed my ideas with him. Bowie was with me the day I had lunch with Peter Vaughan-Clarke, who we cast as Stephen, who breaks out in the first episode. As Peter left, Bowie said: “Oh, he’s a pretty thing.” He was alluding to a song of his which includes the line “You’ve got to make way for the Homo superior” – the name I’d given the Tomorrow People. I had them refer to Homo sapiens, ie “normal” people, as “saps”. Right from the start, I said: “I’m not prepared to make a series about superbeings without black people being represented.” One comment I got from an executive was: “Oh, the advertisers won’t like that.” The advertisers loved it. I was encouraged to include props which could be sold to children, but at the time, the idea offended my leftwing mentality. Jaunting belts were easy to recreate at home.

‘It’s hard to keep a straight face opposite a Dalek on Viagra’: how we made The Tomorrow People | Television | The Guardian

[earhartsease]

Jon Pertwee (aka the Third Doctor) with the main cast from the S1 of The Tomorrow People (the original UK series) from 1973

I was 11 when this hit the screens and I had such a fierce ace crush on Stephen (left, Peter Vaughan-Clark) but adult him turned out to be an appalling luvvie bigot (I should never have listened to the dvd commentaries)

[kwebtv]

The Tomorrow People - ITV - April 30, 1973 - February 19, 1979

Science Fiction (68 Episodes)

Running Time: 30 minutes

Stars:

Nicholas Young as John

Elizabeth Adare as Elizabeth M'Bondo

Peter Vaughan-Clarke as Stephen Jameson

Philip Gilbert as Timus / Voice of the computer TIM

Stephen Salmon as Kenny

Sammie Winmill as Carol

Dean Lawrence as Tyso Boswell

Mike Holoway as Mike Bell

Misako Koba as Hsui Tai

Nigel Rhodes as Andrew Forbes

Francis de Wolff as Jedikiah

Anne Curthoys as Patricia Conway

Anulka Dziubinska as Pavla Vlasova

Richard Speight as Peter

Stephen Jack as Zenon

Michael Standing as Ginger 'Ginge' Harding

Derek Crewe as Lefty

Chris Chittell as Chris Harding

Bryan Stanyon as Professor Cawston 

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

A Warning to the Curious (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1972)

[oldschoolsciencefiction]

When the Doctor met The Tomorrow People. Third Doctor actor John Pertwee hanging out with actors Peter Vaughan-Clarke, Sammie Winmill, Stephen Salmon, and Nicholas Young.

[rhettakins]

Winchester (2018)

The most haunted house in the world sits on an isolated stretch of land that's 50 miles outside of San Francisco. Built by Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester fortune, it stands seven stories tall and contains hundreds of rooms. To an outsider, it looks like a monstrous monument to a disturbed woman's madness. But Sarah's actually building a prison, an asylum for hundreds of vengeful ghosts -- and the most terrifying among them have a score to settle with the Winchesters.