So I was sitting discussing with my colleague (JS) various different topics when we stumbled across old films we used to watch as children. There is not a significant age gap between us, only 5 years, but our choices in favourite films does differ quite considerably.

Once we had finished listing our favourite films, JS touched on the main actor in one of her films (The Indian in the Cupboard) and how she used to have a crush on him when she was 3 years old! I was more shocked at the age of her first crush then the fact she had a crush on Henri from the film.

After controlling my laughter, JS added fuel to the fire by declaring two further crushes: the first, Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone and the second, Buzz McCallister from Home Alone. This send me into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, some of the others joined me. JS literally smiled and joined in with us.

The dreaded question fell on me when on of the girls asked me who I had a crush on when I was younger? I could honestly say I went blank and could not think of a single crush at such a young age.

So now I've had time to think about it, I think it only fair I declare my crushes from childhood films:

1. Allie from The Karate Kid Part I (She also appeared in Back to the Future)

2. Andy from The Goonies

3. Jessica from The Karate Kid Part III

So there you have it, my three choice.

Keep reading and I'll keep you posted on my life as The Odd One Out.

Tickets – they seem to cause more problems than they are worth sometimes.

London 2012 Games organisers have had to admit that 67,000 seats a day have been left empty at the Olympics – equivalent to one in 10 tickets sold.

Consequently, there was a rush by LOCOG to get tickets on sale on Monday, putting another 3,800 back on the market, with a promise more will become available day by day.

Disappointingly, after taking a quick look on the Games’ ticket website today, the process to buy more tickets seems as complicated as ever. Also, many have been angered there are no box office numbers to call and that tickets can only be bought online.

Yes, tickets can be a pain, as organisers at Lounge on the Farm have found this week.

The festival at Merton Farm, near Canterbury, announced on Tuesday, July 24 that a “very limited” number of early bird tickets would become available on Friday, July 27.

Yet, six days later, they are still sending out tweets saying the £79 passes are still on sale for LOTF 2013.

Granted, these are difficult times. Everyone wants to spend their money on those extra Olympic tickets going on sale this week. Plus, we are all generally a bit skint in these times of double-dip recession.

Yet this must be a bit of a blow for the festival, which must be hoping to get as much money in the bank as possible after a relatively poorly attended event this year.

Perhaps the memories of the rain and mud has put off a number of people off for now. It’s still a bit too raw in the memory.

But if Kent music-lovers want a great festival to keep afloat in these tough times, maybe snapping up those early bird tickets might be a good idea.

****

Talking of tickets, I have some pretty amazing ones for a certain show tonight.

I am not allowed to talk about it really. In honesty, I am not allowed to be there either. But the excitement is too much to not even drop a little hint.

Once a certain closing event of a certain rather big occasion has occurred, I’ll be able to write all about it.

But for now, just know that I’m really looking forward to it, and I’ll be bursting at the seams for a couple of weeks, waiting to get behind a keyboard and blurt everything out.

****

A couple of weeks back, we ran a nice little piece on page three of What’s On, talking about the Red Bull Pro Nationals motorcross up at Canada Heights, near Swanley.

Thanks to our monsoon like summer, the final day had to be cancelled, as the track had become a quagmire.

Following more problems with wet weather – this time at a venue in North Yorkshire – the promoters have decided to return to Canada Heights, for a second attempt.

The racing, bouncy castles, zorbing and even Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder, arrive on Saturday and Sunday, August 4 and 5. Details at www.redbullpronationals.com.

As many of you will recall I covered an event in aid of Breast Cancer Care a short while ago: kicking off my coverage by interviewing the amazing lady organising it all. I have been asked again to cover Steph’s fundraising activities and am kicking off again with an interview with the lady herself.

Hello again Steph, thanks so much for finding the time to share with my readers again what you have been up to, we had a great response last time.

Q. What have you been up to since we last met about your In Conversation With.. . event?

A. Quite a lot actually. We did the Pink Ribbon walk at Blenheim Place which raised around £1500. This was a fantastic event: I even got to meet Denise Lewis and have my picture taken with her! The event was so well organised! I attended the Canadian High Commission a couple of weeks ago as a guest at the Breast Cancer Care meeting of the ladies Dragon Boat racers. I’ve been working with an American lady over here in her fundraising events and it’s proven pretty insightful for us both as our fundraising and charity systems are quite different. I’ve been doing a lot of work with the Breast Cancer Care headquarters. I recently helped open a new Cancer Research shop in Sevenoaks. I’ve actually written a piece for the volunteer section on the Breast Cancer Care site – I’d never blogged before so that was a whole new experience for me! Otherwise, it’s been a whole lot of organising, coming up with new ideas and lots of meetings. Oh and lots of canvassing for this event over the weekends. It’s like a full time job, but I love it and the potential for all the good we can do!

You certainly have been incredibly busy! I think we’re all keen to find out what New to This Solar System is all about so I guess we had better not keep the readers waiting.

Q. So what IS New to This Solar System about?

A. This event is a benefit concert to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer Care. This event also presents the opportunity to introduce four local, unsigned [as yet] acts to the people of Sevenoaks. All of these acts have very kindly agreed to donate their time and their talent to this wonderful cause.

Q. So how did you go about getting all of these acts on board?

A. Well, I had seen The Find in concert as we held a small event a while ago where Jay invited Sarah Lillie as a guest. It was so good we knew we could do something more with it. I am frequently being asked at events if I could get Amy Coulshaw to do a set so this was the perfect opportunity. Electric isn’t feasible at this venue so, bearing in mind the need for a really great acoustic sound, we stumbled across Dan Clews who fits this perfectly. Everywhere I go, I find myself talking about these guys.

Q. So, what marvellous venue have you managed to secure this time and what are the details of this event?

A. Well, Sevenoaks School have actually been kind enough to allow us use of their facilities for this event: this place is absolutely beautiful [she says this knowing how much I fidgeted in my attire at the Tonbridge School because it was so grand] and it holds 420 people. New to This Solar System is actually a part of the Sevenoaks Festival.  The concert is being held on the 6^th July in the Pamoja Hall, The Space at Sevenoaks School. The doors will open for guests at 18.45 and the concert will begin at 19.30. With ticket sales and drinks purchases on the night we are hoping to raise around even more for Breast Cancer Care this time around.

Q. What’s prompted you to organise this event?

A. Well, we know how much people are struggling with the economy being as it is and we also know that charity fundraising is also really struggling because of it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter whether the economy is bad: Breast Cancer doesn’t go away just because we can’t afford it! Breast Cancer Care doesn’t stop working just because people are hard up and it’s really important to me that they continue getting the funding they need for their outstanding work.

Q. I know from your previous events that organising a concert is a fairly new thing for you. Have you had many difficulties?

A. Well, we’re finding that a lot of people aren’t really sure what the event is about and that people aren’t buying their tickets straight away which inevitably causes us a bit of worry that we won’t actually be able to deliver for Breast Cancer Care on this event. The difference with this kind of event is that usually I make all the decisions on what’s happening, when whereas this time I’m working with groups of people who all have different agendas and workloads. We’ve still got a lot to do but, well, it’ll be alright on the night! We just really want people to come along and have a drink and enjoy the music: it’s all about having a really great night whilst raising money for a worthy cause.

Q. So, how can people find out more about the event or get themselves a ticket to this great occasion?

A. We’re doing a poster drop over the Kent area, we’re advertising the event on the Breast Cancer Care online site, we’re listed in the Sevenoaks Festival line up, we’ll be out in Sevenoaks telling people about the event and we have a Facebook page [http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-to-this-Solar-System/125336894270462]. For tickets you can also call: 01732 450175.

Well I, for one, can’t wait for this event because I’ve looked up all the acts and they are genuinely amazing. I’ve got my ticket, have you?

Thanks to all of you who took the time to read Craig's guest post last week: I'm sure you weren't disappointed! Here you can find the rest of what Craig has to say about his journey to becoming an author with Inspired Quill:

At some point in this process, somewhere around the start of Haven, I had the funkiest cheese-induced nightmare of my life to date. It rattled me. I woke in the dark feeling utterly weird and a little sick, and immediately grabbed for a pen and paper. Sat in the dark, using the screen of my mobile phone as a light, I doodled, scribbled, put lots of question marks and eventually stopped to look at what I’d done. An image of an ancient sewer system, a group of deformed misfits walked the dark passageways, slurry and stench all around them, and the biggest of the group was carrying something. A machine. Something like a sarcophagus made of brass, filled with a strange blue fluid that gave off its own light, and there was a girl inside.

            That dream had such a profound effect that I toyed with it for quite some time. Who were they? Why were they in the sewer? And who was the girl trapped in the strange contraption? It became a bit of a favourite obsession, trying to figure out how those characters could have ever got into such an odd situation. And, over the years, that cheese-dream became Greaveburn.

            When I started to write Greaveburn, maybe four years ago, I still had a lot to learn. Hell, I still do. But there was something in that idea that I couldn’t put down. It was a nagging, gnawing, incredibly annoying idea that kept haunting me. Writing that novel has been the longest exorcism performed in human history. But, eventually, it was done. I took creative writing courses, finished my degree in Nursing, started another in English, fell in and out of love a couple of times, ate, slept, played too many video games and read even more books, and throughout all that, Greaveburn was a constant presence.

At some point, I broke out into short stories, got my first few publications and nearly passed out from excitement. Someone somewhere was liking what I was doing. That was a novel (excuse the pun) concept that I’d never considered. What if people actually enjoyed reading my junk? My new goal seemed clear. Now, it wasn’t just to write. It had evolved but was still blindingly simple:

Get a book on a shelf.

            That is, any shelf, any shop, even my own study. But book and shelf had to happen. And I thought I knew exactly how to do that. Finish Greaveburn. Make it awesome.  Get it published.

            Oh so simple, and oh so hard.

But five drafts later, Greaveburn was done. Finished. And the pile of paper sat on my desk, looking back at me.

“Well? Now what do we do?” It seemed to ask.

Well, I had no idea. And so I went back to my reference books. I made lists. I used Post-its and white boards and dry wipe markers. And eventually I had a plan. Greaveburn was hitting the road. I took the first few chapters, packed them some sandwiches into a hanky on a stick and booted it out the door, telling it not to come back without an acceptance in its pocket.

It came back.

A lot.

The rejection slips seemed to come through the letter box in flurries. I had to stand a shovel by the door just so I could get by. Over the course of a year or so, Greaveburn hit more desks than was decent and bounced back from an equal number. I was getting exasperated and downtrodden. To soothe myself, I put together my short stories into a collection and made them work the streets in the form of Not Before Bed. That passed the time and the feedback helped to stop myself from checking the light fittings for tensile strength. But in the end, there seemed no hope. As with anyone in these kind of life-changing dilemmas, I went to Twitter and pleaded for help from all the lovely people there. And, blow me! I got a message from a publisher by the name of Inspired Quill who were open for submissions. I’m surprised the paper didn’t combust with the speed I packed those three chapters into an envelope and sent them off. Something felt just a little different about this one. I told myself that this would be the last time I sent Greaveburn out. The very last. I had other projects to work on, ones that might fare better in the publishing world. I would concentrate on them and chalk Greaveburn up to experience.

That is, until the damned thing came back with a lovely little letter saying that Inspired Quill wanted to read the rest. All of it. This was the furthest I’d ever got. My faith in humanity was reaffirmed. And, luck of all luck, IQ liked it. Someone had read my novel and thought it was pretty damn good, thankyaverymuch.

Not even my excessive verbosity can describe the sounds I made that day. They were bestial, there was elated cursing, and all in a Yorkshire accent. Not pretty, my friends, not pretty at all. But I’d done it.

Contracts signed.

Muchos thanks to whatever Gods were on duty that day.

Queue sitting back in my smoking jacket and swirling sherry while making egotistical fnar fnar noises.

That was November last year, fourteen years after I first put pen to paper, four years after I started writing in any earnest. A long, hard, uphill slog. And it’s been bloody fantastic; the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.

But that’s all irrelevant. A warm up. A starter for ten.

Now the work really starts. Greaveburn (my own book! A-woo-hoo!) hits the shelves in August. I get to meet people who’ve read it, talk about it, swirl my sherry and pretend I know what I’m talking about when people ask me what it’s about. I get to meet Steampunks at conventions, strangers at signings, beg people to buy it…and try to ignore bad reviews. Getting to the top of that uphill slog, I realise that I can’t hoist the flag just yet. It seems this is just a hump in the foothills, and there’s a whole mountain range beyond that with my name on it.

Shoulder that backpack, tighten the bootlaces, adjust my bobble-hat.

There’s climbing to be done.

If you would like to keep abreast of Craig's progress with Greaveburn or just want to see his amazing Steam Punk costume for the book launch you can find him in these places:

Join the Facebook fan page - http://www.facebook.com/CraigHallamAuthor

Follow him on Twitter - @craighallam84

Subscribe to his blog - http://craighallam.wordpress.com/

As many of you may already be aware I have recently managed to bag myself a marketing internship with Inspired Quill publishers. I should insert drum roll here as I announce, very proudly, that I am the marketing intern assigned to Craig Hallam. What excites me so much about working with Craig? Firstly there’s the author himself and secondly there’s novel he’s launching at the end of the summer. Whilst Craig and I haven’t yet met in person there’s a good deal one can learn about a person from their writing (as you would figure when working with writers). His enthusiasm for his book launch and his excitement about having someone to share it with is infectious and he has offered me up a good many of his own ideas on what might be a different way to promote his book. Craig will be appearing at the Steam Punk Convention in September – in full steam punk attire. So, what’s so exciting about his book? Well, until I was introduced to Craig I knew nothing of the steam punk aesthetic as it applies to literature and have found myself very excited about the possibilities for creative promotion and for gaining a diverse audience. The novel Greaveburn is due to be Craig’s first ever published novel. Now I will stand aside and allow Craig to tell you himself about how he got to this stage *ENTER CRAIG*

I’m not sure when it started, or if it’s been there all along. I certainly can’t remember a time when my goal in life wasn’t to write. I certainly started putting pen to paper at an early age, even going so far as to start writing my first novel when I was fourteen. If you’re interested, it was about a jester called Malcolm and his talking funny-stick, saving a seaside town from impending doom at the hands of a Kraken. There was something to do with a giant tuning fork on the cliff tops that he had to ring in order to lull the leviathan to sleep again. That little project got to about four pages long before I gave up.

            But it was a start, if not a good one.

            I’ve always been an avid reader, and far more interested in the worlds that could be created rather than the one I was living in. My geography teacher once noted to my mother at parents’ evening that I wasn’t particularly interested in how a volcano might be formed, but more what it would be like to actually be there. That about sums up my formal education in a nutshell.

            Suffice to say, I always loved the creative writing aspects of English as a subject, and wasn’t really bothered about the literary commentary. My teachers must have hated me. My creative writing homework was always a couple of thousand words over the limit, for example. I remember having an argument with my GCSE teacher about whether I meant ‘permeated’ of ‘perforated’ in a piece of work. It was the latter. But we argued for about fifteen minutes before she demanded I change it. Now I think about it, that was probably my first interaction with an editor. Kooky.

            But the writing took a back seat. I grew up (only a little bit) and realised that there was no money to be made in writing for a sixteen year old, and my friends all had jobs and hence had fun. I had to get one of those pesky things, too. Long story short, I got a job as a Nursing Assistant which led me into studying Nursing at University. But even throughout that, the writing bug still nibbled at my brain. And somewhere in that course of studying Biology and Sociology and any other Ologies they threw at us, I started writing my first novel. Really this time.

            That book became known as Beyond Tor, and was the greatest learning experience in my life. My first lesson…that I was crap. The book was terrible. It still skulks on my hard drive, but it’ll never see the light of day. However, by the end of that novel, not only had I proven to myself that I could write a novel, but the ending was noticeably better than the start. That meant I could get better, too. And so there came a sequel, Haven. And that was a lot better, albeit still a fair bit of a work in progress. By this point, I was determined to write something good. And so I ingested books about writing. After three or four, I realised that they all said pretty much the same thing and went back to the first one. Until I read Stephen King’s On Writing, which I won’t bash on about, but was a great eye opener. Not only did it chronicle the progress of one of my favourite authors but, as it turns out, he was pretty rubbish when started out, too. He even thought his first book was terrible and threw it away (That was Carrie, by the way). While Beyond Tor was no Carrie, I was given a little hope.

Thanks so much for reading. You can read more of Craig's journey here next week. Please do feel free to post any questions for the author in the comments box below :)

http://craighallam.wordpress.com/

One of the hazards of writing a purely comedy inspired blog is that sometimes the funny all dries up. I realise, given the content of my previous posts and my ability to attract slapstick like a moth to a flame, that seems impossible but I really am currently sitting here wailing “somebody do something funny!” How is it that I haven’t done anything absurdly stupid in a while? Have I learnt caution? Doubtful. Something is wrong in the universe Watson and I’m determined to sniff out the “fishy” by Jove! Perhaps what I should do whilst I await my next calamity is go out and make funny happen to myself or others. Which of the following would generate the most comedy value:

1)      Whilst driving my Dad to a Dr’s appointment I do my best rally car driver impression: driving at high velocity round precarious bends yelling “Yee HAW” whilst Dad’s knuckles turn white with the vice like grip of the dash board. Dad does his best impression of “The Scream” – he’s hoarse from, well, all the screaming – then faints in pure terror.

2)      I decide to take my dear little bumper car through the car wash: sounds innocuous enough but, you forget, dear readers I am due a little mishap. Things that could go wrong/comedy gold on offer at the car wash (and the reason I have always been too scared to go through one) are as follows –

a.       My recently “Auto Glass-ed” window pops again causing me to weep and wail like a banshee and make me incapable of  moving my car: the nice boys in the petrol garage have to come and move it for me muttering “I thought women liked fairy sounds” and proclaiming that this would never happen to a male driver

b.      My roof is torn away from the body of the car exposing my head to the big washer thingies. My hair gets tangled up in said washy thingies and is torn from my head. Or: my head won’t give up my hair and my head is pulled from my body. The end.

c.       The car wash fills with limitless water and then breaks down. I have to live in said car wash for all eternity. I evolve to an amphibious life: I now have webbed feet and scales.

3)      I go for a smaller, noisier target: I throw large sticks so accurately that they get wedged in the spokes of the bikes that small children are riding up and down the street on. They are pretending to be motorbikes. Broom, Broom indeed children.

4)      I get arrested for what the police term “manslaughter” when one of the kiddies is killed. I then:

a.       Plead diminished responsibility – “my blog followers made me do it, your honour”– they believe that I am psychologically disturbed and lead me to my padded cell in a straight jacket

b.      Am sentenced to a life living in a car wash (see point 2. A)

c.       Am sent to prison where I acquire a questionable room mate…

d.      Am found not guilty: clearly children pretending to be a motorcycle is a fraudulent act therefore I was simply doing my civic duty. I will then get a magazine deal to sell my story “I just did what anyone would have done” and rise to stardom overnight

Vote now!

Well this entry is a special one as I have a business man who is affiliated with Maidstone United F.C!  Come on you Stones!!!

His name, Terry Casey, 61 years of age from Maidstone.

Terry is currently a company director but most of his time is consumed with his extensive work for a charity he operates in Ethiopia.  So good to hear of a Kent resident giving something good to the world. When not involved in his charity work, Terry is heavily involved in with the current construction of the new Maidstone United stadium in Maidstone.  Finally the Stones' are coming home and their is a lot of buzz from the people of Kent to see their local team return where they belong after spells in Ashford and Sittingbourne.

Terry does not have much spare time aside from that so understandably he could not comment further on my 'what do you do in your spare time' question.

An interesting fact that I have found out about Kent is that Leeds Castle is sometimes referred to as Ladies’ Castle. The reason being because many Queens of England have lived there Eleanor of Castile Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife and even his daughter Elizabeth all have lived in the castle.  Did you know that?  Well you do now!

Terry does not eat out in Kent very much but instead prefers to eat out in London.  If you want a good place to eat in the capital, I personally recommend you try the Texas Embassy Cantina near Trafalgar Square.  This place does awesome Mexican food and superb strawberry margaritas.

When asked to supply me with a story that summed him up, Terry responded "My character should be summed up by others, not by me."  This is one of the most intriguing answers I have ever received and Terry is right.  Others should decide on our characters, it is not for us to decide what we think we are.

Terry is closely associated with his Irish roots as opposed to his Kentish background and I respect that he could be honest and say that to me.  It all to easy for people to just make up a sentence for me to publish about Kent but if they are truly more associated with other places than its better to be honest about it.

And now for my random question, If you could take on the life of any person, past or present, who would it be and why?  Terry again gave me another interesting answer.

"I am very happy with myself"

A very good answer, if you are not happy with yourself than you wouldn't be happy being anyone else.

A big thank you to Terry and my very best luck to him and the Maidstone United team for the final stages of the stadium development.  I can't wait to see them in action at home!

Keeps those eyes peeled for more interviews, you never know it could be you next!

If you live in Kent, let's talk!

If you would like to appear on my blog, all I ask is that you live in Kent and that you are willing to talk to me for 10 - 15 minutes about yourself.

If you think you'd like to give it a try, drop me an email on millendauthor@gmail.com and we will see what we can do!

A year since I last posted and I am wondering where the time went. I was really getting into the swing of writing as ideas occurred to me, and enjoying the process of putting thoughts into words...and then I just lost focus for whatever reason. But as I was walking through cold wet Folkestone today and passed my friend Rachal (she sells all the lovely incense sticks, burners and other wonderfully evocotive items on her Saturday market stall) - I stopped for a chat.

Rachal was happy to stand and  listen to me chat on about a hundred different topics whilst she sold to her regular custumers and passers by. And I realised I was using poor Rachal to download several months worth of thoughts all jumbled up.

During our chat we covered just about everything from: goats cheese and red onion tarts made by Nick Todd and available in Googies and what an absolute culinary delight they are, spiritual teaching and my inability to articulate what that means in my life, psychic healing and psychic events that I am producing this year, creams and potions that do not contain lanolin (lanolin makes my skin fall off), relationships and how strange and frightening they can be, trust and what a wonderful thing it is when you find it, mind, body and spirit events I will produce which may also give an opportunity for local practitioners to showcase themselves, serendipity ...well I just like the word, management training and the potential to work with a German colleague in UK and Germany maybe, our children and their emotional needs, the weather..it was cold and wet and necessitated hot coffee drinking and blueberry muffin eating, discussion groups and how my new personal development support discussion group for therapists and practitioners is shaping up, psychotherapy and psychotherapists who despite being wonderful at helping folk with problems have their own journey of inner learning (as do we all), well made wooden toys and the potential online market for them, weddings (Zac and Heather are getting married...yayyy)....and by the time I had paused for breath Rachal had decided that due to the rain it was time to pack up and go home (she said it was the weather anyway). She didn't complain once about my barrage of words and disconnected ideas and offered to visit me in the week to give me a much needed head, shoulder and neck massage.

After our 'short' chat...I realised that it would be far kinder and easier on Rachals ears if I just started to write again...so here I am and I will start to regale your eyeballs and brain cells with new thoughts from the chaos inside my head.

For now though..I just want to say that in my opinion we do not talk enough - OK I perhaps overdid it this time so I take that point but for Rachal to spend the time listening to me was a wonderful gift of her time and patience and allowed me to sound out some thoughts on a number of significant things happening in my life.Just getting the words and ideas out there instead of occuping my headspace calmed me down.

Ok, I have done enough talking for one day...I am going to give myself the silent treatment now and will not be talking for 6 hours (easy to do actually because I am on my own this evening lol). I will soon be back with more words though..so until then bfn.

Information about Practitioners and Therapist Personal Development Support Discussion group 'Unstick Yourself' can be found here.

If you would like to know more about the above free and informal discussion group - with no obligation - please sign up here .

This is the biggest question posed by many people who have an interest in the subject of 'British big cats', and it is a subject often scoffed at by sceptics. Hopefully, this blog will answer a few of the questions posed by sceptics and also those with a genuine interest in what has become known as the British 'big cat' phenomenon. As a full-time researcher into the subject I've collected reports from the south-east of England since the age of nine! after hearing about a sighting in the area of Blue Bell Hill. Almost three decades later I'm still collecting evidence and believe that without a shadow of a doubt there are large, exotic cats roaming Britain. It's only natural there are a lot of sceptics to this subject, after all, a majority of 'big cat' stories in the press are often inaccurate or simply a beastly Halloween headline, but again, I'm hoping this blog will convince some sceptics that these stories are not born from myth or overactive imagination and that I am not insane in my quest!

I'm looking forward to any constructive comments and thought-provoking questions and will be covering a wide range of subjects to hopefully explain the why, what, where and when of the saga, a saga which in fact has been going on a lot longer than many people would have you believe. Although I've always enjoyed studying folklore, my research into exotic cats is very much something I like to keep separate. I decided to take it upon myself to study the sightings and evidence because the so-called 'mystery' of such cats has, mainly since the 1960s, been relegated to folklore. The reality is, there is no mystery as to why there are large cats roaming the wilds of Britain, and hopefully I'll explain why in this blog. I have conducted lectures, organised field trips, written articles and books, and liaised with zoologists, police, scientists, in the hope of simply making the public aware that large cats do roam the UK. Most counties seem to have a 'big cat' in their midst, and this is true, and certainly not folklore. Over the last few weeks there have been numerous stories in some of the major tabloids regarding potential evidence to support the theory that 'big cats' roam the woods, but as you'll find when reading this blog, the evidence has always been there, and is in fact quite easy to find if you know what you're looking for.

Kent - the 'garden of England' is still a heavily wooded, and in some places, dense forest county. Our wilds can provide ample enough shelter for an animal that does not want to be seen - and yet, despite the scepticism, sightings persist - and have for decades since the Surrey 'puma' legend hit the county of Surrey during the 1960s. From then on there have been beastly legends, from the Exmoor and Bodmin tales of the West Country, to the forests of the Scottish Higlands, the valleys of Wales and the remote moors of Yorkshire. Is every eye witness mistaken ? Can every so-called 'big cat' sighting be explained by species native to the UK, such as foxes ?

I will attempt to update this blog as regularly as possible, so if you have any questions, evidence or sightings please do get in touch. By writing this blog I am hoping that any detractors of my research, or sceptics, will look at the evidence with a non-bias view. I am open to any suggestions or views regarding what some evidence could be, but hopefully you will find that the evidence presented on here suggests that exotic cats ARE roaming the south-east of England.