BARNES RECREATED
If you were at Tales from the Vicarage Live on Friday September 8th you will know that one of the highlights of the evening was when we recreated old photographs of John Barnes and Watford fans from the 80s on stage on the night.
We learnt about the background to the pictures and some were quite eye opening - literally. Let us explain. Nick Davidson's picture (below) sees him with quite a startled expression on his face, because that day he had been off school with severe hay fever and couldn't open his eyes, so when he had the photo taken he was battling to keep them open.
The little details in the photos which we recreated added something extra, from John wearing retro tracksuit tops in some to having the Van Dyk brothers under each arm to Barry Mason pulling exactly the same expression on the night as he had done thirty years before. It was a treat for them, for the audience and for John who really got stuck in to the role.
All of the pictures were taken during John's time at the club between 1981 and 1987, the majority at open days and Junior Hornets events. Judging by the number of photos of youngsters with John it was clear he was one of the big draws on those days. That was also mirrored on Friday night by the amount of people that wanted to get things signed and have photos with him afterwards - he very kindly stayed long after the show had finished.
Pete and Steve Van Dyk
Tracy Gibbon
Barry Mason
Matt Rowson
Brian Connor
Nick Davidson
We learnt about the background to the pictures and some were quite eye opening - literally. Let us explain. Nick Davidson's picture (below) sees him with quite a startled expression on his face, because that day he had been off school with severe hay fever and couldn't open his eyes, so when he had the photo taken he was battling to keep them open.
The little details in the photos which we recreated added something extra, from John wearing retro tracksuit tops in some to having the Van Dyk brothers under each arm to Barry Mason pulling exactly the same expression on the night as he had done thirty years before. It was a treat for them, for the audience and for John who really got stuck in to the role.
All of the pictures were taken during John's time at the club between 1981 and 1987, the majority at open days and Junior Hornets events. Judging by the number of photos of youngsters with John it was clear he was one of the big draws on those days. That was also mirrored on Friday night by the amount of people that wanted to get things signed and have photos with him afterwards - he very kindly stayed long after the show had finished.
John really enjoyed it and made it a special moment for the fans. Though, he did joke that he often gets shown photos by adults who've had snaps with him when they were kids and feels like he looks younger than the people stood in front of him. Seriously though, it was an extra element to an evening that was thoroughly enjoyable to put on and then to cap it all for the fans, they were invited back on stage for the finale where John performed his famous rap from New Order's World in Motion - which was met with a standing ovation to end.
Here are the all important results ... thanks to everyone who took part including our photographer Paul Vincent from Stone Creative Design.
Pete and Steve Van Dyk
Adam Slater
Tracy Gibbon
Barry Mason
Matt Rowson
Brian Connor
Nick Davidson