Merry Men
The Merry Men are the group of outlaws who follow Robin Hood in English literature and folklore. The band remains popular in modern adaptations; the early ballads give specific names to only three companions: Little John, Much the Miller's Son, William Scarlock or Scathelock, the Will Scarlet of traditions. Joining them are between 20 and "seven score" outlawed yeomen; the most prominent of the Merry Men is Little John. He appears in the earliest ballads, is mentioned in earlier sources, such as Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Chronicle of around 1420 and Walter Bower's expansion of the Scotichronicon, completed around 1440. Ballads name additional Merry Men, some of whom appear in only one or two ballads, while others, like the minstrel Alan-a-Dale and the jovial Friar Tuck, became attached to the legend. Several of the Robin Hood ballads tell the story; the phrase "merry man" was a generic term for any follower or companion of an outlaw, knight, or similar leader. Robin's band are called "mery men" in the oldest known Robin Hood ballad, "Robin Hood and the Monk", which survives in a manuscript completed after 1450.
Little John – Robin's lieutenant. Stories depict him as a huge man who joins the band after fighting Robin with quarterstaves over a river. Much, the Miller's Son – A grown man and a seasoned fighter in the early ballads. Stories depict him as one of the youngest of the Merry Men. Will Scarlet – Another early companion, appearing in ballads like "A Gest of Robyn Hode". In "Robin Hood Newly Revived" he is Robin's nephew. Arthur a Bland – He appears in only one ballad, "Robin Hood and the Tanner", he is an accused poacher who joins the band. James of North Shields – James Wardropper appears in the woods with his love for wardrobes. Styling the Merry Men with their now famous green tights. David of Doncaster – He appears only in "Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow", he warns Robin against going to the Sheriff of Nottingham's archery contest. In his novel The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Howard Pyle identifies David with the anonymous wrestler of "A Gest of Robyn Hode". Will Stutely – He appears in two ballads, "Robin Hood and Little John" and "Robin Hood Rescuing Will Stutly".
In the former, he gives Little John his outlaw name. He is confused with Will Scarlet. Friar Tuck – The resident clergyman of the band. Tuck developed separately from the Robin Hood tradition. A fighting friar appears in the ballad "the Curtal Friar", though he is not named. Robin and the friar engage in a battle of wits, which at one point involves the holy man carrying the outlaw across a river, only to toss him in. In the end, the friar joins the Merry Men. Stories portray Tuck as more ale-loving and jovial than belligerent. Alan-a-Dale – A roving minstrel, he appears in the ballad "Robin Hood and Allan-a-Dale", in which Robin helps him rescue his sweetheart, being forced into marriage with another man. Despite his late appearance, he became a popular character in versions. Gilbert Whitehand – Portrayed in "A Gest of Robyn Hode" as a skilled archer nearly equal to Robin, he appears along with other Merry Men during the shooting match for the gold and silver arrow, again in Barnsdale Forest during a visit by the disguised king.
Reynold Greenleaf – Although this name was used as an alias by Little John in "A Gest of Robyn Hode" when he tricked his way into the Sheriff's service, there is another Reynold presented in the ballad as a separate member of the Merry Men who competed in the archery match for the gold and silver arrow alongside Robin, Little John and others of the band. Maid Marian – Robin Hood's romantic interest. Marian developed separately from the Robin Hood tradition; the medieval archetype of Marian became associated with English and Scottish May Day festivities, was associated with Robin Hood. She is the protagonist of the ballad "Robin Hood and Maid Marian" and is mentioned in "Robin Hood and Queen Katherine" and "Robin Hood's Golden Prize". In "Maid Marian" she joins the Merry Men by fighting Robin to a draw. In some Victorian literature she takes a more passive role as a noblewoman and Robin's desired, but this all but ended in the 20th century as Marian resumed her role as a cross-dressing tomboy and a capable fighter.
She is depicted as such in the 1952 film The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, the television series Robin of Sherwood, the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The children's comedy television series Maid Marian and her Merry Men takes this a step further by placing Marian in charge of the group. In the 2006 series Robin Hood, Marian works as a double agent, feeding Robin critical information about the Sheriff; the Tinker – A tinker who tried to capture Robin for the reward money, but became one of his Merry Men. Though he is not named in the original ballad "Robin Hood and the Tinker" he is given various names in adaptations. Howard Pyle calls him Wat o' the Crabstaff, while in Bold Robin Hood and His Outlaw Band by Louis Rhead he is named Dick
St Mary's Abbey, York
The Abbey of St Mary is a ruined Benedictine abbey in York, England and a Grade I listed building. Once the richest abbey in the north of England, it lies in what are now the York Museum Gardens, on a steeply-sloping site to the west of York Minster; the original church on the site was dedicated to Saint Olaf II of Norway. After the Norman Conquest the church came into the possession of the Anglo-Breton magnate Alan Rufus who granted the lands to Abbot Stephen and a group of monks from Whitby; the abbey church was refounded in 1088 when the King, William Rufus, visited York in January or February of that year and gave the monks additional lands. The following year he laid the foundation stone of the new Norman church and the site was rededicated to the Virgin Mary; the foundation ceremony was attended by Archbishop Thomas of Bayeux. The monks moved to York from a site at Lastingham in Ryedale in the 1080s and are recorded there in Domesday. Following a dispute and riot in 1132, a party of reform-minded monks left to establish the Cistercian monastery of Fountains Abbey.
In 1137 the abbey was badly damaged by a great fire. The surviving ruins date from a rebuilding programme begun in 1271 and finished by 1294; the abbey occupied an extensive precinct site outside the city walls, between Bootham and the River Ouse. The original boundary included a ditch and a narrow strip of ground, but the walled circuit was constructed above this in the 1260s in the Abbacy of Simon de Warwick. In 1318 the abbot received royal permission to crenelate it; the gatehouse in Marygate and its lodge formed part of a range of buildings that linked to the older church of St Olave by a chapel dedicated to Mary. Though work on the chapel and gatehouse was under way 1314 and completed in 1320, the surviving structures are of fifteenth-century origin; the abbey church is aligned northeast-southwest, due to restrictions of the site. The original Norman church had an apsidal liturgical east end, its side aisles ended in apses, though they were square on the exterior. Rebuilding began in 1270, under the direction of Abbot Simon de Warwick, was swiftly completed during a single twenty-four year building campaign, such was the financial strength of the abbey.
The completed abbey church was 350 feet in length, consisted of a nave with aisles and south trancepts with chapels in an eastern aisle, a presbytery with aisles. To the east of the cloister and on the line of the transepts were a vestibule leading to the chapter house, the scriptorium and library. Beyond the church lay the kitchen, novices' building and infirmary; the Abbey chronicle names the project officers as Simon de Warwick, a monk administrator and the master stonemason Master Simon, all of whom were still alive upon the completion of the project in 1294. The abbot's house, built of brick in 1483, survives as the King's Manor because it became the seat of the Council of the North in 1539. In August 1513 the Abbot supplied four chests for the use of Philip Tilney, treasurer of the English army before the Battle of Flodden; the Abbey seems to have become the accounting office for the army in the north, involving Thomas Magnus, Archdeacon of the East Riding, two monks of the abbey, Richard Wode and Richard Rypon.
St Mary's, the largest and richest Benedictine establishment in the north of England and one of the largest landholders in Yorkshire, was worth over £2,000 a year, when it was valued in 1539, during the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII. On 26 November 1539 the Abbey surrendered £ 50 monks to the crown; the Anonimalle Chronicle is an important chronicle whose scope extends from the legendary Brutus to 1381. It was composed in Anglo-Norman by an anonymous monk of St Mary's Abbey towards the end of the 14th century, it includes the most detailed surviving description of a medieval parliament and a well-informed account of the Peasants' Revolt. The body of the chronicle from Brutus to the year 1307 has been described as a variant of the prose Brut but there are considerable differences. From 1307 to 1333 it follows the main Brut tradition more though it demonstrates a marked London interest. After 1333 the chronicle is an individual account drawing on sources originating in London.
The manuscript was known to the 16th-century antiquaries Stow. It afterwards passed through the hands of various owners until it was found in the possession of the Ingilby family of Ripley Castle in 1920; the section from 1333 to 1381 was edited by V. H. Galbraith and published in 1927. In 1982 it was acquired at the University of Leeds. Another partial edition appeared in 1991 in the form of an edition and translation of the chronicle from 1307 to 1334 by Wendy Childs and John Taylor; the Yorkshire Museum, built for the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, stands in part of the abbey cloister. The relationship between the Museum and abbey is quite intimate as part of the rich
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, England, 128 miles north of London, 45 miles northeast of Birmingham and 56 miles southeast of Manchester, in the East Midlands. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin Hood and to the lace-making and tobacco industries, it was granted its city charter in 1897 as part of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Nottingham is a tourist destination. In 2017, Nottingham had an estimated population of 329,200; the population of the city proper, compared to its regional counterparts, has been attributed to its historical and tightly-drawn city boundaries. The wider conurbation, which includes many of the city's suburbs, has a population of 768,638, it is the second-largest in The Midlands. Its Functional Urban Area the largest in the East Midlands, has a population of 912,482; the population of the Nottingham/Derby metropolitan area is estimated to be 1,610,000. Its metropolitan economy is the seventh largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $50.9bn.
The city was the first in the East Midlands to be ranked as a sufficiency-level world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Nottingham has an award-winning public transport system, including the largest publicly owned bus network in England and is served by Nottingham railway station and the modern Nottingham Express Transit tram system, it is a major sporting centre, in October 2015 was named'Home of English Sport'. The National Ice Centre, Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre, Trent Bridge international cricket ground are all based in or around the city, the home of two professional league football teams; the city has professional rugby, ice hockey and cricket teams, the Aegon Nottingham Open, an international tennis tournament on the ATP and WTA tours. This accolade came just over a year. On 11 December 2015, Nottingham was named a "City of Literature" by UNESCO, joining Dublin, Edinburgh and Prague as one of only a handful in the world; the title reflects Nottingham's literary heritage, with Lord Byron, D. H. Lawrence and Alan Sillitoe having links to the city, as well as a contemporary literary community, a publishing industry and a poetry scene.
The city has two universities—Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham—both of which are spread over several campuses in the city, with a total university student population of over 61,000. The city predates Anglo-Saxon times and was known in Brythonic as Tigguo Cobauc, meaning Place of Caves. In modern Welsh it is known poetically as Y Ty Ogofog and Irish as Na Tithe Uaimh "The Cavey Dwelling"; when it fell under the rule of a Saxon chieftain named Snot it became known as "Snotingaham". Some authors derive "Nottingham" from Snottenga and ham, but "this has nothing to do with the English form". Nottingham Castle was constructed in 1068 on a sandstone outcrop by the River Leen; the Anglo-Saxon settlement was confined to the area today known as the Lace Market and was surrounded by a substantial defensive ditch and rampart, which fell out of use following the Norman Conquest and was filled by the time of the Domesday Survey. Following the Norman Conquest the Saxon settlement developed into the English Borough of Nottingham and housed a Town Hall and Law Courts.
A settlement developed around the castle on the hill opposite and was the French borough supporting the Normans in the castle. The space between was built on as the town grew and the Old Market Square became the focus of Nottingham several centuries later. Defences, consisted of a ditch and bank in the early 12th century; the ditch was widened, in the mid-13th century, a stone wall built around much of the perimeter of the town. A short length of the wall survives, is visible at the northern end of Maid Marian Way, is protected as a Scheduled Monument. On the return of Richard the Lionheart from the Crusades, the castle was occupied by supporters of Prince John, including the Sheriff of Nottingham, it was besieged by Richard and, after a sharp conflict, was captured. In the legends of Robin Hood, Nottingham Castle is the scene of the final showdown between the Sheriff and the hero outlaw. By the 15th century Nottingham had established itself as a centre of a thriving export trade in religious sculpture made from Nottingham alabaster.
The town became a county corporate in 1449 giving it effective self-government, in the words of the charter, "for eternity". The Castle and Shire Hall were expressly excluded and remained as detached Parishes of Nottinghamshire. One of those impressed by Nottingham in the late 18th century was the German traveller C. P. Moritz, who wrote in 1782, "Of all the towns I have seen outside London, Nottingham is the loveliest and neatest. Everything had a modern look, a large space in the centre was hardly less handsome than a London square. A charming footpath leads over the fields to the highway. … Nottingham … with its high houses, red roofs and church steeples, looks excellent from a distance."During the Industrial Revolution, much of Nottingham's prosperity was founded on the textile industry.
Friar Tuck
Friar Tuck is a companion to Robin Hood in the legends about that character. Tuck is a common character in modern Robin Hood stories, which depict him as a jovial friar and one of Robin's Merry Men; the figure of Tuck was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th through 17th centuries. He appears as a character in the fragment of a Robin Hood play from 1475, sometimes called Robin Hood and the Knight or Robin Hood and the Sheriff, a play for the May games published in 1560 which tells a story similar to "Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar"; the character entered the tradition through these folk plays, he was orginially partnered with Maid Marian: "She is a trul of trust, to serue a frier at his lust/a prycker a prauncer a terer of shetes/a wagger of ballockes when other men slepes". His appearance in "Robin Hood and the Sheriff" means that he was part of the legend around the time when the earliest surviving copies of the Robin Hood ballads were being made. A friar with Robin's band in the historical period of Richard the Lion-Hearted would have been impossible because the period predates friars in England.
What follows is a story which includes different versions of the legend. He was a former monk of Fountains Abbey, expelled by his order because of his lack of respect for authority; because of this, in spite of his taste for good food and wine, he became the chaplain of Robin's band. In Howard Pyle's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, he was sought out as part of the tale of Alan-a-Dale: Robin has need of a priest who will marry Allan to his sweetheart in defiance of the Bishop of Hereford. In many tales, from "Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar" to The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, his first encounter with Robin results in a battle of wits in which first one and the other gains the upper hand and forces the other to carry him across a river; this ends in the Friar tossing Robin into the river. In some tales, he is depicted as a physically fit man and a skilled swordsman and archer with a hot-headed temper. However, most Tuck is depicted as a fat and jovial monk with a great love of food and ale, though the two are not mutually exclusive.
Sometimes, the latter depiction of Tuck is the comic relief of the tale. Two royal writs in 1417 refer to Robert Stafford, a Sussex chaplain who had assumed the alias of Frere Tuk; this "Friar Tuck" was still at large in 1429. These are the earliest surviving references to a character by that name. In the 1891 romantic opera Ivanhoe by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Julian Sturgis, Friar Tuck was played by Avon Saxon. In the film Robin Hood he was portrayed by Willard Louis. In the film, The Adventures of Robin Hood the character Friar Tuck was played by actor Eugene Pallette as a fat individual fond of food but skilled with a sword, he was quick to quarrel with anyone who slighted him, deprived him of his food or made fun of his girth. In the film The Bandit of Sherwood Forest he was portrayed by Edgar Buchanan. In the film The Prince of Thieves he was portrayed by Alan Mowbray. In the film Rogues of Sherwood Forest he was portrayed by Billy House. In the late 1950s British television series The Adventures of Robin Hood, he was played by Alexander Gauge as a fat friar a tad too devoted to good eating.
He is clearly devoted to the Church and the poor people he serves, using his wits in order to spare them unjust taxes, provide them education or shelter them from harm. He uses the power and rights of the Church to good effect against the forces of the Sheriff; the 1958 Merrie Melodies animated short Robin Hood Daffy featured Porky Pig as a "fat friar", who sought Robin Hood, but refused to believe Daffy Duck was the legendary outlaw. At the end of the cartoon, Daffy becomes "Friar Duck". In the 1966 television series Rocket Robin Hood, Friar Tuck is again depicted as a traditional fat friar with a tonsure, despite the story taking place in the year 3000. Friar Tuck is memorable for a vignette that played during each episode depicting him in front of a large feast, taking a single bite of each piece of food on the table before throwing it over his shoulder; the veteran character actor James Hayter played Friar Tuck twice: in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men and A Challenge for Robin Hood.
In the 1973 Disney animated Robin Hood, Friar Tuck is a badger, voiced by Andy Devine. He is taken to be executed at the end of the film in a plot of Prince John's to lure Robin Hood out of hiding, he is rescued in time. In the British Robin of Sherwood TV series of the 1980s, Friar Tuck was played by Phil Rose. In this version, the character reluctantly served the Sheriff of Nottingham's brother, an evil abbot, served as Maid Marian's confessor, he joined the band alongside her. In the anime series Robin Hood no Daibōken, Friar Tuck is an old monk who lives on the edge of Sherwood Forest and helps Robin and his friend if needed while offering sagely advice. In the animated series Young Robin Hood, Friar Tuck is made to be a young man around Robin's age and re-titled to Brother Tuck. A young monk, sometimes questioning his choice being an outlaw, he is pious and speaks Latin every now and then. In Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Tuck was played by Mike McShane, drawing on the overweight, ale-loving interpretation.
The Mel Brooks
Stanley Myers
Stanley Myers was an English composer and conductor who scored over sixty films and television series, working with filmmakers Nicolas Roeg, Jerzy Skolimowski & Volker Schlöndorff. He is best known for his guitar piece "Cavatina", composed for the 1970 film The Walking Stick and used as the theme for The Deer Hunter, he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music for Wish You Were Here, was an early collaborator and mentor of Hans Zimmer. Myers was born in Birmingham, England. Myers wrote incidental music for television: for example, The Reign of Terror, a 1964 serial in the television series Doctor Who, he is known for composing music for the cult horror films House of Whipcord, House of Mortal Sin and Schizo for filmmaker Pete Walker. The Pink Floyd website credits the brass parts on their 1968 song Corporal Clegg to "The Stanley Myers Orchestra". Myers is best known for "Cavatina", an evocative guitar piece that served as the signature theme for Michael Cimino's 1978 film The Deer Hunter, for which Myers won the Ivor Novello Award.
A somewhat different version of this work, performed by John Williams, had appeared in The Walking Stick. And yet another version had lyrics added. Cleo Laine and Iris Williams, in separate recordings as He Was Beautiful, helped to make "Cavatina" become more popular. During the 1980s, Myers worked with director Stephen Frears, his score for Prick Up Your Ears won him a "Best Artistic Contribution" award at the Cannes Film Festival. He scored the film Wish You Were Here and several low budget features for director Nico Mastorakis, collaborating with Hans Zimmer, he won another Ivor Novello Award for his soundtrack to The Witches in 1991. Myers died of cancer aged 63 in Chelsea, London. Stanley Myers at the British Film Institute Stanley Myers on IMDb
Wentbridge
Wentbridge is a small village in the City of Wakefield district of West Yorkshire, England. It lies around 3 miles southeast of its nearest town of size, close to the A1 road; the village contains one of the largest viaducts in Europe, its significance sanctioned by the Museum of Modern Art. Wentbridge is one of a number of locations. Wentbridge sits in the heart of the Went Valley, on the northernmost edge of the medieval vale of Barnsdale, seen by many medievalists as the official home of Robin Hood. During the Middle Ages the village of Wentbridge was itself sometimes referred to by the name of Barnsdale because it was the main settlement in the Forest of Barnsdale, it was possible to look down upon the village from the Saylis; the county boundary follows the A1 from the River Went to Barnsdale Bar, the southernmost point of North Yorkshire. Close by to the southwest is the Roman Ridge, a Roman road which follows the course of the modern-day A639. To the north is Darrington. Earlier historians have assumed that this district was wooded.
However, aerial photography and excavation have shown that the region has always been a pastoral landscape dotted with occasional settlements. The village of Wentbridge straddles the River Went, from which it takes its name, along a north-south axis and sits less than a mile from the county boundary with North Yorkshire to the east; the village is so named because it used to be the site of the Great North Road's bridge over the River Went. Entrance to the village was down a steep valley which would have been a problem before motorised transport and became a bottleneck. Wentbridge House was one of the properties on the Great North Road, it still is called Wentbridge House Hotel. Within close proximity to the village of Wentbridge there are, or were, some notable landmarks which relate to Robin Hood; the earliest-known Robin Hood place-name reference - in Yorkshire or anywhere else - occurs in a deed of 1322 from the two cartularies of Monk Bretton Priory, near the town of Barnsley. The cartulary deed refers in Latin to a landmark named'the Stone of Robert Hode', located in the Barnsdale area.
According to J. W. Walker this was on the eastern side of the Great North Road, a mile south of Barnsdale Bar. On the opposite side of the road once stood Robin Hood's Well, which has since been relocated six miles north-west of Doncaster, on the south-bound side of the Great North Road. Wentbridge is unusual in that it has parts in three different civil parishes: the entire portion of the village to the north of the river, including the village church, is within the parish of Darrington, whilst south of the river, that part of the village on the west side of the B6474 road falls within Thorpe Audlin parish, with buildings on the road's eastern side falling within North Elmsall parish; the village is divided between two council wards, as such two parliamentary constituencies: north of the river the village comes under the Pontefract South ward within the Normanton and Castleford parliamentary constituency. Accordingly, the village's two Members of Parliament are Jon Trickett. On the Great North Road in the village are the Blue Bell Inn public house.
The village church is dedicated to St John the Evangelist. It is within the Went Valley group of parishes in the Diocese of Leeds. To avoid the incline on the valley, when the village was bypassed at a cost of £800,000 in 1961, one of the then-largest viaducts in Europe was built to cross the Went valley at a height of 98 feet using prestressed concrete, it is 308 feet long and was designed by F. A. Sims, became a Grade II listed building on 29 May 1998. In 1964 the engineering significance of the bridge was recognised by New York's Museum of Modern Art. Thirty years after its construction it received an award from the Concrete Society; the Anglo-Saxon Battle of Winwaed is believed to have taken place between Wentbridge and Ackworth where what is now the A639 crosses the River Went. The battle was a pivotal event; the most powerful pagan king in seventh-century England, was defeated by the Christian Oswiu in 655 ending Anglo-Saxon paganism. Archaeologists believe. English Heritage has placed a blue plaque on the bridge that crosses the River Went, recognising Wentbridge's strong claim to be the original home of Robin Hood.
Wentbridge is mentioned in what may be the earliest surviving manuscript of a Robin Hood ballad, "Robin Hood and the Potter": "'Y mete hem bot at Went breg,' syde Lytyll John". Though Wentbridge is not named in the medieval ballad entitled "A Gest of Robyn Hode", the ballad does appear to make a cryptic reference to the locality by depicting a friendly knight explaining to Robin that he ‘went at a brydge’ where there was'a wraste-lyng'; the Gest of Robyn Hode makes specific references to'the Saylis' and'the Sayles', a landmark by that name was located near Wentbridge. The outlaw himself mentions the site in the First Fytte of the Gest; the 19th-century antiquary Joseph Hunter identified its site: a small tenancy, of one-tenth of a knight’s fee, located on high ground 500 yards to the east of the village of Wentbridge in the manor of Pontefract. The high ground which overlooks
Paul Darrow
Paul Darrow is an English actor best known for his portrayal of Kerr Avon in the BBC science fiction television series Blake's 7. He guest starred twice on Doctor Who, playing Captain Hawkins in the serial Doctor Who and the Silurians, transmitted in 1970 and Maylin Tekker in the serial Timelash, transmitted in 1985, he is the voice of "Jack", on independent radio stations JACK FM and Union JACK, whose lines include dry-witted comments pertaining to current events. Darrow was born in Surrey and was educated at the Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, before studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art; the popularity of his role as Avon has tended to overshadow his extensive work in theatre and television. He plays the character of Kaston Iago in the Kaldor City audios, he appeared in all but the first episode of Blake's 7. Darrow's other TV appearances include: Emergency – Ward 10, The Saint, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, Within These Walls, as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1975 BBC series The Legend of Robin Hood, as Mr. Tallboy in the 1973 TV adaptation of Dorothy L. Sayers' Murder Must Advertise, as Thomas Doughty in the TV film Drake's Venture and Son, Making News, Pie in the Sky, Toast of London and Little Britain.
He provided the voiceover for Biblical quotations in Richard Dawkins's The Root of All Evil?. He was the presenter of the 2004 BBC3 reality TV series Hercules, his film credits are few but include roles as doctors in The Raging Moon and the Bond movie Die Another Day which he filmed but was deleted before the film went on release to cinema's.. Paul Darrow had a one off appearance in the 1990 series of Cluedo but did not play the murder victim. Proud of his work on Blake's 7, Darrow has acted as the show's most prolific spokesman, both in the UK and during the late 80s, in the U. S. when the show was broadcast on UK public television. In the mid to late 1990s, he purchased the rights to Blake's 7 and attempted to produce a big-budget follow-up mini-series, Blake's 7: A Rebellion Reborn. According to Darrow, it would have begun 25 years after the ending of the original series and might have included an aged Avon passing the torch to a new generation. Darrow records straplines for UK Jack FM station in Oxfordshire.
He provides the voice of the character Grand Moff Tarkin in the computer game Star Wars: Empire at War. He voiced the character of Zarok in the PlayStation game MediEvil. Darrow appeared in Emmerdale from 13 July 2009, playing a friend of Alan Turner's. Darrow provided the voice of a main character in the PC game Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising; the actress Glynis Barber, who played Soolin on Blake's 7, provided the voice for the main female character. The game was narrated by Tom Baker of Doctor. Darrow played the role of Samuel Vimes in the 1998/9 touring production of the play based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel "Guards! Guards!". In 2004 Darrow was the subject of the fourth volume of MJTV's "The Actor Speaks" audio CDs, featuring frank interviews and dramatic pieces, alongside guest Peter Miles, with a piece written by Tanith Lee. In December 2011 Darrow voiced the character of Overseer Tremel in the Bioware MMORPG release Star Wars: The Old Republic. In 2012, Darrow returned to the role of Kerr Avon in Big Finish Productions' Blake's 7: The Liberator Chronicles, a series of dramatic readings which take place during Series One before the death of Olag Gan.
Darrow stars as Avon in The Magnificent Four. In 2015, Darrow starred as Paul Rand, the enigmatic business man in charge of the business institute Atlas in the interactive video game Contradiction: Spot the Liar!. A sequel never came to fruition. Darrow was Patron of the University of York Astronomy Society 1981-1984. An extinct crocodile from the Miocene of Australia, Baru darrowi, was named after Paul Darrow In late 2014 he suffered an aortic aneurysm. Due to complications, surgeons had to amputate both of his legs. On 27 October 2018, Darrow appeared on a celebrity sci-fi edition of the quiz show Pointless, along with fellow Blake's 7 star Michael Keating. Darrow was using a wheelchair due to his amputations, he is the author of Avon: A Terrible Aspect, a 1989 novel about Avon's father and Avon's own early life. Darrow's autobiography, You're Him, Aren't You? was published in 2006. Darrow narrated the 2008 audio book of Terry Nation's classic children's story'Rebecca's World, Journey to the Forbidden Planet'.
In 2016, Darrow released an audio book of himself reading his autobiography "You're Him, Aren't You?". The Raging Moon - Doctor Die Another Day - Doctor Mister Jerico - Receptionist Paul Darrow on IMDb
