I began my performing career back in the 1960s, being paid to sing at weddings and other services as a church chorister, then I learned to play the piano and guitar. I sang in school choirs in the Carmina Burana, Belshazzar’s Feast and others, as well as appearing in school plays. I briefly played the drums in Usk and District’s Silver Band, then I went on to form and sing in two rock bands in the early 1980s, the first being The Hell Fire Club in my native south Wales, then Baron Viktor and the Monsters from Hell in London.
From 1988 to 1992, I had the principal speaking part as William of Pembroke, the Earl Marshall, in the world’s only touring mediaeval jousting tournament. I performed at the permanent base in Breamore, just outside the New Forest, and I took part in numerous gala performances around Britain.
I travelled around Europe and Scandinavia as part of the touring unit, becoming the first western knight to appear in Russia, in St Petersburg’s Olympic 87,000 seat stadium. I spent two seasons in Finland, and then another performing in Austria in 1991.
After this, I spent the first half of the 1990s first as an extra, and then as an actor. I am the only person to have had two separate speaking parts on Channel 4’s The Crystal Maze, appearing first as Lance, the Guard of the King’s Seal, in Series 5, then as the Aztec High Priest in Series 6. I had the part of the Carnival Barker in the pilot of the sequel to The Crystal Maze, which was called The Magic Carnival.
I delievered a Black Mass in mediaeval Latin as the Satanic High Priest in The Unpleasant World of Penn & Teller, and I appeared in a video for the rock band Extreme and their single Stop the World. I appeared as a drunken lecher in the video of Massive Attack’s song Be Thankful, and so it goes…
I appeared in commercials and series such as The Bill, EastEnders, Crimewatch, Ivanhoe and Between The Lines, while I had the pleasure of appearing as part of the stunt team on a Casualty Christmas special. I did much else besides, such as touring London and southern England as part of a Murder Mystery troupe, but as the records of my performances went up in flames when my home was burned down in March 2018, I’m content to leave it all there.
