Steve Illing - the real James Bond 007

My next celebrity autograph blog is Steve Illing.

"Who?" you might ask?  Well, ever heard of Daniel Craig - the current actor to play suave super spy James Bond?  Remember how bad-ass Daniel is in the role?  Well, imagine that in real life, through the work of Steve Illing - body double extraordinaire!

You can read about Steve's work at the following website: http://www.bonddouble.com/


Now onto the autograph.  This was a simple email request, in which we chatted about a number of things (from the sound of it, Bond 24 could potentially have a red carpet event in Sydney, Australia), and his through the mail response (below) was pretty quick to arrive too!

Score!

Rachel Grant

My next celebrity autograph is Rachel Grant.

Rachel Grant is mostly known for her role as masseuse Peaceful Fountains of Desire in the 2002 James Bond movie, Die Another Day (starring Pierce Brosnan in his final outing as the secret agent).

However, Rachel has also appeared in TV shows such as Emmerdale, Casualty, and as Professor Myang Li in Brainiac: Science Abuse.

Rachel has also done numerous magazine shoots, and TV commercials (such as the Lynx advert - screenshot below):

In FHM:

A few years ago, Rachel was a guest at the Melbourne "Armageddon Expo" convention alongside another former James Bond, George Lazenby.  Whilst I didn't request her autograph on the day it was great to see her in person.

Now onto the autograph!  Shortly after Die Another Day had premiered I contacted Rachel via her website and requested an autographed photo.  Soon enough I received the following reply:

Nice!

Kevin Rudd

My next celebrity autograph blog once again delves into my catalogue of political figures, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

In 2006, Kevin Rudd successfully challenged Kim Beazley and was elected as leader of the federal Labor Party, which was (at the time) in opposition to the Liberal Party led by John Howard (please refer to one of my previous blogs, or Wikipedia, for further information - everyone does it).

The timing couldn't have been better for "K-Rudd" as he was dubbed by the media, for a shot as Prime Minister.  Building on a platform of change, the brand "Kevin 07" and for Kevin Rudd's willingness to use a more social form of media, including Facebook, Twitter, and an appearance on Channel Ten's "Rove", captured the attention of the younger generation of Australia.

In contrast, the Liberal Party was suffering from in-fighting, in particular the stagnated issue of the John Howard / Peter Costello leadership change-over, the Party's decision to restrict it's use of alternate forms of media, and their introduction of the WorkChoices legislation - left of lot of voters either unhappy or (at best) out of the loop.

So, when the Australian public cast their vote on 24 November 2007, the Kevin Rudd led Labor Party won the election, in a land-slide, and Kevin Rudd was sworn in on 3 December 2007.

Kevin Rudd then acted quickly to dismantle the WorkChoices legislation, signed the Kyoto Protocol, made a federal apology to the Stolen Generation of Indigenous Australians, and introduced the Australian 2020 Summit (which was meant to be forum for Australian's best and brightest - to discuss and shape the future of the nation).  He also picked Julia Gillard as his deputy.

After continued rumours of Kevin Rudd's leadership style, and his treatment of staff, on 23 June 2010 Julia Gillard challenged Kevin for the Labor Party leadership and the party caucus elected Julia Gillard to succeed Kevin Rudd, thereby making Julia Gillard Australia's first female Prime Minster.

Kevin Rudd was then given the position of Foreign Minister, but there were continued media rumours of a leadership challenge.

On 27 February 2012 Julia Gillard opened the leadership up for election - with Kevin Rudd running against her, but again the Labor caucus voted in her favour.  Then again on 21 March 2013, Julia Gillard responded to media rumours by opening up the leadership for election, this time Kevin Rudd did not run and Julia Gillard was re-elected unopposed.  Then, once again, as a response to media speculation and low approval rating, Julia Gillard opened up the leadership of the Labor Party on 26 June 2013, which Kevin Rudd won 57-43.

On 27 June 2013, Kevin Rudd was sworn in as Australian Prime Minister for the second time.  Using the ground-swell of support, Kevin Rudd decided to send Australia to the polls on 7 September 2013, facing off against the Tony Abbott-led Liberal Party, unfortunately for Kevin Rudd, the Liberals won.  After the result, Kevin Rudd resigned from leadership of the Labor Party, and on 22 November 2013 he formally ended his political career - resigning from politics altogether.

Now, onto the autograph!  During the honeymoon period from his 2007 election win, I sent an email to the Prime Minister congratulating him on his success and requesting an autograph.  Not long after I received this signed 3x5 photo in the mail:

Until next time!

Ray Park

My next celebrity autograph blog is Ray Park.

Ray is a British stunt man who has progressed his career as an actor, including such memorable performances as Darth Maul from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, one of the best characters from the whole movie, who was unfortunately killed near the end (sorry, spoilers):

From here, Ray appeared in the first X-Men movie as Toad.  The movie wanted to make the characters as realistic as possible, replacing coloured spandex costumes with leather uniforms, or in Toad's case, street gear.  I think it worked.

In 2009, Ray appeared as Snake Eyes in GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and again in the 2013 sequel GI Joe: Retaliation.  Here's a promo image from the first movie, Ray is on the left. The left. If you can stop staring at Rachel Nichols, Ray is on the left.

Anyway, onto the autograph.  Ray appeared at a pop culture convention here in Melbourne during mid-2013 and whilst I wasn't able to attend, a friend of my brother was able to pick up this inscribed 8x10 of Ray as Darth Maul.  Awesome!

Until next time.

Jo Guest - former Page 3 girl

My next celebrity autograph blog is the wonderful Jo Guest.

In the 1990's, Jo first came to attention as one of the world-famous Page 3 Girls, featuring all her beauty in page 3 of the UK newspaper The Sun, along with many other fine women.

From here, Jo went onto appear in many other publications, such as Loaded, FHM, then Escort, Mayfair, Men Only, etc, with each photo-shoot getting racier and racier.  Jo also extended her career into TV, hosting shows on the Men And Motors channel in the UK.  She also appeared in the music video for Blur's "Country Life".

In the late 2000's the number and frequency of Jo's photo-shoots started to decline, and in 2008 she announced she was suffering from fibromyalgia.  This is where the autographed photo comes into play... Knowing it would be difficult for me to meet Jo in person (since I live in Australia), I found a seller on eBay who is also Jo's sister - selling a wide collection of Jo's photos and magazines, as a way to raise funds for Jo.  So, here's the photo:

If you'd like a signed photo (or a magazine) I suggest you go on eBay.

Paul McGann

My next celebrity autograph blog is Paul McGann.

Born near Liverpool (UK) in the late 50's, Paul is probably best known for his extensive portrayal as the 8th Doctor, but he has also popped up in other well-known films.

Starting out on TV, Paul quickly moved into feature films, with 1987's Withnail & I alongside Richard E Grant as a particular cult favourite.  Then in 1992, he starred alongside Sigourney Weaver, Charles Dance and Lance Henrikson in Alien 3. Scarey stuff.

Then, in 1996, he starred as the 8th Doctor in the Doctor Who made for TV movie, otherwise known as The Enemy Within.  Used as a vehicle to relaunch the series which had ended in 1989, the movie also starred Sylvester McCoy's 7th Doctor and was a joint US-UK production which, although had a lot of things going for it, such as the fantastic TARDIS interior, failed to bring in the number of viewers required for a new series to be green-lit.

Paul then went onto star in many other productions, such as 2002's Queen of the Damned, however he continued to play the role of the 8th Doctor in countless audio productions (well I'm sure someone knows how many there have been...) and has even showed off the Doctor's new costume.  Great stuff.

In 2009, Paul starred as The Vicar in the comedy, Lesbian Vampire Killers.  If you're getting a bit sick and tired of the "serious" vampire movies (such as Underworld, and Twilight) then I suggest you pick up this DVD and experience a great vampire flick, which is also a great comedy too.

Now onto the autograph!  Paul visited Melbourne in 2010 alongside Dominic Keating as part of a cross Doctor Who/Star Trek convention, in which not only did I get the following (awesome) autographed photo, I was also allowed to conduct an interview with Paul for the club magazine of the Doctor Who Club of Victoria.  He discussed his role as the Doctor, his thoughts on the new series, including current Doctor Matt Smith, and his career to date.

Score!

Jo Hicks - (former) Page 3 Girl

My next celebrity autograph blog is the wonderful Jo Hicks.

Jo rose to fame as a Page 3 Girl during the late 90's early 2000's.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, in their week-day editions The Sun newspaper in the UK prints a nude photo on page 3, and they have a rotating roster of British lasses to choose from.  As a teenager / young adult during this time, and with the internet still finding it feet, stumbling on the Page 3 website was like finding gold!

Anyway, with her wonderful looks, Jo Hicks became one of my favourite Page 3 Girls.  During this time the website would also run a 'Lodge' edition on Saturday's, which was a multi-pic spread featuring the same roster of girls in various settings.

Apparently in the UK, Jo was also a fan favourite, and as such she went on to shoot for magazines, sometimes with her Page 3 counterparts (such as the pic below with Jakki Degg).

Anyway, during the mid 2000's I wrote to Jo care of her modelling firm in the UK, and a few weeks later I received this totally awesome reply!

Until next time.