NEWS UPDATE: WHITSTABLE BENCH TO BE RESTORED AND THE BRASS PLAQUE TOO!

A VERY GOOD UPDATE, to the story about the Peter and Helen Cushing Bench at Cushing's View in Whitstable. Also news on the brass plaque and the reason why it went missing. I am SO happy to know, it's disappearance was NOT down to an act of vandalism and theft. These details were printed on the Canterbury Council News site today . . . This is good news, thank you Canterbury City Council!

WORK TO RESTORE Peter Cushing’s memorial bench in Whitstable is about to get underway. The city council has commissioned artist Will Glanfield to carry out the project. He originally made the seat, which is located at Cushing’s View on the seafront behind Keam’s Yard car park, in 1990 and will be restoring it using original Jarrah timber. A few weeks ago, a member of the public contacted the council to say the bench’s plaque had gone missing. The council had begun making arrangements for a replacement when Peter Cushing’s former personal assistant, Joyce Broughton, got in touch to say the original plaque had been handed into Whitstable Museum. The council believes the screws had rusted and the plaque had become loose, prompting a member of the public to remove it and hand it in. And when an officer met Joyce at the bench to collect it, the need for the restoration work to the bench itself became clear.

Peter Cushing on the day of the grand opening of Cushing's View on the sea front at Whitstable, Kent.

THE BENCH WILL BE REMOVED in the next week or so and repairs are expected to take around a month. The bench’s dedication plaque will also be reattached. Chairman of the council’s Community Committee, Cllr Neil Baker, said: “We know how important Peter Cushing’s bench is to the people of Whitstable. The last time it was removed for repairs, there were concerns it had been taken away forever, so we want to be clear this is only temporary and that it will be back in a little while, looking better than ever. “It’s particularly good that we’re using the original artist, Will Glanfield, for this project. He will treat the bench with the tender loving care it deserves and we know he’s going to do a great job.”

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RARELY SEEN CUSHING PROMO PHOTO : VINCENT PRICE AND THE LADIES : MONSTER VARIATIONS ON DVD AND CINEMA ART :

THIS IS A PHOTOGRAPH you don't often see and one I have not shared here before. A splendid portrait of Peter . . can you name the movie and the character?

VARIATIONS ON THE SAME TITLE: ABOVE and below, two versions of promotion material of cinema posters and DVD boxes. It seems the Baron's 'From Hell Wig' might not have been a promoter's WIG of choice when it came to DVD box design either, maybe?   

PANNED TO DEATH when it was released back in 1972, Hammer films, DRACULA AD 1972 now enjoys a certain 'Risen From The Dead' cult status, and the artwork and promotional material from this period, leaves much of what we see today, as promo art in the dust!

YOU NO DOUBT know the film, but can you give us the connection to one of those actresses in this pic and Christopher Lee?. Peter Cushing and Vincent Price only appeared TOGETHER in TWO films including the one where this photo was taken . . but they did have the opportunity to also work together on radio. Can you name the films in which they shared scenes and the titles of drama's in which they appeared together on radio? ANSWER AND MUCH MORE in the comments at our FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE!

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NO FOLK DANCING OR INCEST! CHRISTOPHER LEE SATURDAY!

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! Christopher Lee may have had a period of time during his long and successful career where he was type cast, but he also played a huge variety of characters and roles while competing with that unfair perception and reputation... He certainly believed in pushing his boundaries and building his experience. . .Well, in his words, read our banner today. I would have LOVED to have seen the interviewers face and expression, when he came out with this, amusing quip! - Marcus

Christopher Lee in A Feast at Midnight (1994) 

In The Avengers Episode 'The Interrogators' (1969)

Lee as Mycroft Holmes with Robert Stephens as Sherlock in 'The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes' (1970)

Christopher Lee as Sherlock Holmes with Patrick Macnee as Dr Watson in 'The Incident At Victoria Falls' (1992) 

As  Francisco Scaramanga with Roger Moore as James Bond in 'The Man With The Golden Gun' (1974) 

YOU'LL FIND TODAY'S POST AND AN ARCHIVE OF MOST OF OUR PCASUK WEBSITE POSTS AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! IF YOU ENJOY OUR POSTS AND WANT TO COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE WORK AND LIFE OF PETER CUSHING, COME AND JOIN OVER THIRTY THREE THOUSAND OTHERS, AND TAKE PART IN THE OLDEST PETER CUSHING FAN CLUB, NOW ON FACEBOOK BOOK! POSTS ARE UPDATED THERE EVERYDAY! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CLICK HERE  AND THEN CLICK LIKE THERE! YOU'LL BE MOST WELCOME!

EIGHTY YEARS YOUNG TODAY : ITS A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAME DIANA RIGG!

''WOMEN OF MY AGE ARE STILL ATTRACTIVE. Men of my age are not' ... so said, this amazing icon of entertainment last year. And you know, Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, CBE DBE...does have point! Many actors from her era have either left us, or look like an unmade bed! We all know the Cushing Connection here, Mrs Peel in the Brit 1960's tv series, The Avengers, where PC played the very dashing Paul Beresford, a smooth operator, pushing all the buttons as romantic interest for Rigg's all action Mrs Peel and a finger on the button of death that commanded his deadly Cybernaut!

DIANA RIGG'S CAREER also features the splendid 'Theatre of Blood' with Vincent Price. She also worked with Christopher Lee in the Avengers episode 'Never, Never Say Die' in 1967. Also was the only woman to marry James Bond in On Her Majesties Secret Service.

CURRENTLY starring in the international hit tv series, Game of Thrones, Rigg is in no hurry to retire, and I think like Mrs Peel, she'll be 'socking it to us' for a while yet Happy Birthday Diana Rigg, born today in 1938.

YOU'LL FIND TODAY'S POST AND A WHOLE ARCHIVE OF OUR PCASUK WEBSITE POSTS AND MANY OTHER EXTRAS AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! IF YOU ENJOY OUR POSTS AND WANT TO COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE WORK AND LIFE OF PETER CUSHING, COME AND JOIN OVER THIRTY THREE THOUSAND OTHERS, AND TAKE PART IN THE OLDEST PETER CUSHING FAN CLUB, NOW ON FACEBOOK BOOK! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CLICK HERE  AND THEN CLICK LIKE THERE! YOU'LL BE MOST WELCOME!

WHAT WAS THE PET NAME PC GAVE TO HIS TOUPEE?

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY Here is a rare colour photograph, I though I would share with you today, something I thought you would like to see😀 I love this photograph of Peter, just resting and a rare sight seeing him wearing that kind of hat! I would think by this time, he saw little point in wearing his toupee, that he would usually have on stand by, for any public appearance. Cushing actually had a PET name for the hair piece he wore in the 1980's 😀 . . .Can you tell us, what that NAME was? Post YOUR suggestion in the comment box below!

YOU'LL FIND TODAY'S POST AND A WHOLE ARCHIVE OF OUR PCASUK WEBSITE POSTS AND MANY OTHER EXTRAS AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! IF YOU ENJOY OUR POSTS AND WANT TO COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE WORK AND LIFE OF PETER CUSHING, COME AND JOIN OVER THIRTY THREE THOUSAND OTHERS, AND TAKE PART IN THE OLDEST PETER CUSHING FAN CLUB, NOW ON FACEBOOK BOOK! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CLICK HERE  AND THEN CLICK LIKE THERE! YOU'LL BE MOST WELCOME!

SUPRISE CORRECTIONS FOR FANS AFTER MANY YEARS ON!

IF YOU EVER posted your much prized copy of Peter Cushing's second autobiography, 'PAST FORGETTING' to him at his home in Whitstable in 1988 for him to sign, you may have been one of the lucky ones, to also get a little extra! The printing run of the book unfortunately had a few printers typo errors, on pages 92, 10 and 14 . . which when Peter was signing your copy, he also took the time and trouble to correct those errors, with his most unmistakeable fountain pen and handwriting. Here is an example of those pages with his corrections. Quite a few of our followers at the the PCASUK Facebook Fan Page have posted on the thread of this post today, also telling us they too have found corrections on their signed copy . . bit only found it either today or quite recently! It's just as well he isn't around to see some of MY regular typos hereat the website and on the PCAS Facebook Page . . they would keep him very busy! Many thanks to my good friend, Linda King for sharing the pages of her copy!

YOU'LL FIND TODAY'S POST AND AN ARCHIVE OF MOST OF OUR PCASUK WEBSITE POSTS FROM THE LAST EIGHT YEARS AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! IF YOU ENJOY OUR POSTS AND WANT TO COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE WORK AND LIFE OF PETER CUSHING, COME AND JOIN OVER THIRTY THREE THOUSAND OTHERS, AND TAKE PART IN THE OLDEST PETER CUSHING FAN CLUB, NOW ON FACEBOOK BOOK! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CLICK HERE  AND THEN CLICK LIKE THERE! YOU'LL BE MOST WELCOME!

TO WHOM DOES THIS TROOP OF MODEL SOLDIERS BELONG?? THE TUESDAY TOUGHY!

CAN YOU TAKE A GUESS AT WHO OWNS the collection of MODEL SOLDIERS that Peter Cushing is setting up at a PUBLIC DISPLAY back in 1960? Below a rare and edited clipping from a UK newspaper, in which a small feature appeared about this PUBLIC DISPLAY at the time! We'll share the whole clipping and the ANSWER NEXT TUESDAY!  Have FUN!

LAST WEEKS TUESDAY TOUGHY, really did prove to be QUITE a tough one! Lots of interesting answers, but not one that was correct! The ANSWER was 'The HELLFIRE CLUB' from 1961, in which Peter played, MR MERRYWEATHER. The story and screenplay was written by JIMMY SANGSTER, who wrote so many of Cushing's best scripts, for his roles with Hammer films . . . despite, what Cushing once stated!!!!

YOU'LL FIND TODAY'S POST AND AN ARCHIVE OF MOST OF OUR PCASUK WEBSITE POSTS AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! IF YOU ENJOY OUR POSTS AND WANT TO COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE WORK AND LIFE OF PETER CUSHING, COME AND JOIN OVER THIRTY THREE THOUSAND OTHERS, AND TAKE PART IN THE OLDEST PETER CUSHING FAN CLUB, NOW ON FACEBOOK BOOK! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CLICK HERE  AND THEN CLICK LIKE THERE! YOU'LL BE MOST WELCOME!

SUSANNAH YORK AND PETER CUSHING : ORSON WELLES GREAT MYSTERIES SEPTEMBER 1973

A QUICK PROMO SNAP AND A RARE ONE: Here is Peter Cushing and Susannah York during the shooting of am episode of a very popular television series in the 1970's, ORSON WELLES GREAT MYSTERIES. The episode was entitled, ' LA GRANDE BRETECHE' and also starred Michael Elphick. The series was an anthology of different tales. Each episode was introduced by Orson Welles, in big hat and opera cloak! He topped and tailed each story, though never appeared in them. The episode, 'La Grande Breteche' was broadcast, just once in the UK on Saturday 22nd September 1973. It starred Peter Cushing as the Count Gerard De Merret and Susannah York as his wife, Countess Josephine. What Cushing gives us, is a quite terrifying performance. As with all the stories in this series, they were chosen for their punch, sting or twist at the end. Needless to say, Cushing doesn't disappoint!

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PLEASE PUT THE PLAQUE BACK! WHISTABLE CUSHING BENCH STILL WAITING ELEVEN MONTHS ON

ONE OF THE MANY GREAT things about managing the PCASUK facebook fan page and website during the summer months, is the steady stream of photographs and posts from the many of you who have taken a trip to Whitstable, in Kent. As I am sure many of you know, Whitstable was the home of Peter and his wife Helen, for many years. They LOVED the town and it's residents. Peter was extremely fond of the walk way from his sea side front door, along the front to what would one day become, 'Cushing's View'. It was a walk he would take most days, chatting and meeting the public along the way. In 1990, Peter dedicated and donated, a beautiful bench to the spot, where walkers and 'lovers' could sit and take a rest, while taking in the sea air and sights. The bench was installed, along with a brass plaque on it's back rest, 'Presented by Peter and Helen Cushing who love Whitstable and its people very much' . . .

SINCE 1990, the bench has been used, photographed and adored by the public, tourists and ..fans. It never was damaged, vandalised or abused...until September 2017, when someone removed and stole the brass plaque. I received many enquiring, worried emails and photographs, from visitors to this site. It was PCAS follower David Perry, who managed to find out that it had been stolen, and the good news that it was now in the safe hands of the Whitstable Museum and it's volunteers..to be reinstalled . . .soon. I am very thankful for a message and photograph from another PCAS follower, John Charles this week that sadly shows the plaque still isn't back in place. It's summer, Whitstable like the rest of the UK is enjoying a wonderful season. The town is very busy with tourists and visitors, many ...sitting on that bench! Many taking photographs of it. Personally, I have kept an eye on the development of the repair. I have emailed, telephoned and contacted the museum and local authority, since September last year. I know budgets are tight, tasks are never ending, but . . thank you

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