Podcast appearances and mentions of chris eccleston

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 4 A pandemic survivor's harem continues to thrive amidst chaos.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 11 For the next hour or so, Andy explored the house on his own while the girls moved things from the car into the house, as well as letting the cats loose into their new environment. He wasn't sure who was more overwhelmed, himself or the cats. The building was immense, feeling both warm and alien all at the same time. Mostly, though, the space felt incomplete. It was a home that had been decorated by a real estate agent, not by someone looking to live in it. Everything was arranged for show not for actual use. He wandered into the gym first and found it stocked with free weights, resistance machines and a small aerobics area, all the machines in pristine condition, never used. Looking at himself in the mirror, he wasn't even sure he recognized himself in this new home. Andy strolled out of the gym and found himself in one of the three living rooms, with a wet bar off to one side. There were several couches arranged around the middle, as well as a handful of lounge chairs. Without warning, Muninn, his Russian blue cat, hopped up from behind one of the couches onto the back of it, which startled the hell out of Andy. As soon as the cat saw him, however, he sauntered over Andy's direction. Andy moved closer and pet the cat, who gave a healthy purr in response. "Yeah, I know, Mun, it's weird for me too. But we live here now, so explore away." "Are ya freaked out?" Aisling said to him as she moved into the room. "It's just a home." "That's just it, Ash," he sighed. "It's a home, but it's not my home, not our home. Not yet. I'm sure I'll get there at some point, but for right now, it's just reinforcing how weird all of this is. I mean, yesterday, there were seven of us crammed into that little tiny condo, and now Eric lives down the street, and we live, here. In the kind of place I never even dreamed about." Aisling moved over, a soft sympathetic smile on her face, as she wrapped her arms around him and held him in an inviting hug for a long moment. "The world's changing, and we have to change with it, Andy. That means we're all going to be a bit out of our comfort zones now and then, but think of it this way,  you can make one of these bedrooms into a full on study, and line the walls with bookshelves, like you said you'd always wanted to do. We'll put your desk in there, and you can turn it into a writer's cozy, a space where you can go and work on your next book and nobody'll bother you. What's wrong with that?" "There's nothing wrong with that, Ash. There's nothing wrong with any of this, except for the fact that I didn't really earn any of it." "Luv," she said to him, "most of the people who get lucky in life, it was right place right time, and all they did was have the good sense not to muck it up. That's what you're doing here. You were in the right place at the right time, and you had the good sense to let me into your bed. And I've been good to you, haven't I?" "Oh god, Ash, you and Lauren and Niko have all been amazing, far better than I deserve,” "There'll be none of that, mister," she scolded, slapping his shoulder. "You've been grand to all of us, and you've helped Eric and Lily get their shit sorted out. I know Jenny doesn't have her head sorted out yet, but when she does, I'm sure she'll thank you. You could've been a right shite about alla this, but instead you've been a stand-up guy. So take a deep breath." Andy stopped and took a deep breath. "It didn't help much." "It helped a little." "Okay, it helped a little." "Are you more bothered by the house, the staff or the fact that there's going to be a lot more women moving into our lives?" "It's a lot of women, Ash." "It will be a lot of women, Andy. Yes, that's absolutely true, but we'll manage it. Besides, the house is nice isn't it?" "Understating things a bit, aren't you Ash?" "Fine," she said with a wry grin, rolling her eyes in his direction. "It's a bloody magnificent place. Just in the tour alone, I wanted to strip down to my knickers and socks and play 'Risky Business' so if you hear 'Old Time Rock'n'Roll' blaring from the hi fi, look both ways when walking through the hallways." "You're changing the subject." "It'll be fine, Andy. Just stop worrying and enjoy this." She moved to sit down in the couch, and picked up a remote control from the coffee table in front of it. She looked around the room for a moment before she finally just pressed the power button on it, to see what happened. From a small overhang across the room, a giant television dropped down and turned on, as concealed speakers all around the room hummed to life. "That is hell of a television." Andy moved to slump down onto the couch next to her, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "And just think, this isn't even the theater room. Let's just relax for a little bit and watch some TV." Apparently whoever had set up their house had given them a deluxe cable package, with every optional channel Andy could think of, and loads he'd never even heard of. They settled on SpikeTV, which was in the middle of a James Bond marathon. They were showing "Goldeneye" and they'd had the luck to turn on right at the beginning. "I've always loved Brosnan as Bond," Aisling said to him a few hours later, as the movie was over. "I don't know that he's the best Bond, but he's my Bond. You?" "He was great, but I've always been a Connery man myself." "You Americans, you all have your own Bond, much like those of us across the pond have our own Doctor. You a fan of Doctor Who, luv?" Andy smirked wryly. "Tom Baker, but if I'm honest, I could watch David Tennant in anything. I watched "Good Omens" last year at least three times. I'm guessing you're a Capaldi girl." "Chris Eccleston's my Doctor," Aisling said. "But I'm glad you didn't say I should be a Matt Smith girl, just because he had a ginger companion." Andy shook his head. "So did Tennant, but neither of them were Irish. Catherine Tate's British and Karen Gillan's Scottish. I'm not an idiot, love." "Bless, Andy," she whispered, as she kissed his cheek. "It's so strange. I feel like I'm missing time, what with all the holidays we've basically skipped over. I was getting my first injections on July 4th, but I didn't even hear any crackers in the sky. Were there any?" "None that I could see, Ash. Halloween's just around the corner. Maybe now that we're in a gated community we'll get trick or treaters." "You think there's children in the estates?" "No idea. I'm not really sure what to expect here. We've barely seen the house, much less the small town that's formed up around it." "That's going to be just as strange, people we can sit and talk with, restaurants we can go and have dinner in, a movie theater filled with people, guaranteed not sick people. It all sounds so wonderful." "I'll talk to Eric, maybe we can get a Halloween costume party together." Aisling cooed at him. "That sounds wonderful." She glanced over his shoulder. "Looks like your maid in here." Andy looked back over his shoulder and saw Yvette standing there, nervously shifting back and forth, before he chuckled and curled a finger in her direction. "C'mon, Yvette. You look like you've got something you want to say." "Simply a request Master. I and the rest of your staff, well, we are having trouble keeping our heads clear. We do not wish to pressure you, naturally, but the longer you wait before imprinting us, the more difficulty we will have executing our responsibilities around the home. It is getting hard to focus." He removed his arm from around Aisling and rose to his feet, a wry smile on his face. "I'll say. I can't help but think about something Groucho Marx once said to his brother Chico." "I'm sorry, I don't know who those people are, Master." "Comedians. Groucho is the one with the bushy eyebrows and greasepaint mustache. Chico used to pretend to be Italian. Groucho would occasionally say to him, 'Chico, I think your accent is slipping.'" Andy grinned as he approached her. "Is your name really Yvette?" The maid visibly blanched. "Am I trouble?" "Answer the question," Aisling said, getting off the couch, heading to join them. "No, ma'am. It's Nicolette." "Are you actually French?" Andy asked. "Second generation, but I was putting on a show. Mr. Marcos seemed to think you might enjoy it." Andy shook his head and laughed. "Fucking Phil." "So you're not angry, sir?" "You don't have to lie to me, Nicolette." He gestured to the maid's outfit. "Do you really enjoy this kind of thing?" She smiled, almost coquettishly, and nodded. "I do, Master. I'm naturally submissive, and this is what I wanted to do in the new world." "Are you bisexual, Nicolette?" Aisling said. "I am, madam, if that's alright." Aisling leaned over and grabbed the girl by her mane of hair and pulled her into a firm, intense kiss that made Andy's breath catch a little. Nicolette seemed caught off guard only for a moment, before she leaned into the kiss, and pressed her busty body against the Irish girl. After they made out for a minute or so, Aisling pulled back and grinned at Andy. "Well, we should make sure the girl gets what she needs, but mama has needs too." Aisling pulled Nicolette with her over towards one of couches. She reached up beneath her skirt and pulled down her panties before stepping out of them. Then she laid back onto the couch and spread her legs, exposing that ginger cunt to Nicolette. "Tell you what. You lick my cunt, and I'll make sure he fucks you good." "Yes madam," Nicolette said as she moved down onto her knees, before Aisling pulled over a footstool. "Thank you madam." The maid moved up to kneel down on the footstool, her hands pressed on the couch, as she moved her lips down to press against Aisling's exposed snatch. Andy walked over towards them as he watched Aisling's fingertips move to get lost in the girl's thick blonde curls, rocking her hips up against the maid's mouth. "Shit, Andy, she's fucking good at this." "Umm, it certainly looks that way, but what if I wanted to see if those titanic tits of hers were real, hmm?" He unbuttoned his jeans, slowly unzipping them. "Oh, I can fix that," Aisling said with a laugh. She pushed Nicolette's face back. "Lay down and turn over. Are those enhanced or natural?" Nicolette rolled over, laying on her back on the footstool before she pulled the top off one shoulder then the other, tugging it down to her waist so her massive tits spilled free, thick and curvy. "All natural, madam. Any excess weight I put on seems to go straight to my tits or my ass and nowhere else." She curved her fingertips around her left tit and pulled it upward, bringing it up so she could lick her large pink nipple while Andy watched. Then she reached down and dragged her skirt upwards, as she moved to push her head onto the couch while Aisling moved up onto her knees, straddling the girl's face. "Come on, Andy, don't keep the poor slut waiting." Andy tugged his jeans and boxers down enough for him to fish his cock out, moving to step out, rubbing the tip of his cock across the maid's twat, finding it was still soaked. "Remember when I told you I never showed my cock to anyone I hadn't kissed, Ash?" "She doesn't want you to show her a good time, love. She's only got one thing on her mind, don't you whore?" "Yes madam," the maid said between licks at Aisling's cunt. "And what is that?" Aisling's question caught the maid off guard. "Ma'am?" "What is the one thing you've got on your mind?" "Being imprinted, ma'am." Aisling reached down and pinched one of Nicolette's nipples hard enough to make the maid yip audibly. "The master likes a dirty mouth on his girls, Nicolette. Maybe Phil didn't tell you that, but as Andy's first girl, it's my job to make sure everyone in the house knows exactly what he likes. So let me ask you again,  what's the one thing you've got on your mind?" "Getting the Master to fuck me, ma'am." "Why?" "So I can be imprinted, to be owned, to belong to him, and be part of his house." "Then tell him." "Yes ma'am." Nicolette pulled her head back for a moment to look up at Andy, and the look on her face was one he was starting to get quite familiar with, a heady mix of need and lust. "Sir, let me offer you my body, my drenched holes for your use. I need to be fucked to belong to you, to feel your jizz blasting inside of my cunt or asshole, marking me as yours, imprinting me, claiming me. Take me, sir. Own me. Fuck my tight young snatch and brand me as your slut, your maid, your little French fucktoy. It hurts, sir, aches. I can't think straight. I'm a rutting bitch in heat, needy for a cock to clear her head. Can I serve you, Master? Will you grant me that privilege? Fuck me, sir. Do it." "Put your mouth back to work, Nicolette, and I will," Andy said, as he pushed his cock along her cunt, feeling her shiver, her body instinctively trying to line it up so his wood would penetrate her. "Yes, Master. Of course, Master." Nicolette slid her head back between Aisling's thighs, pressing her face up against the redhead's cunt, her tongue pushing into the girl. Aisling leaned forward a little bit, reaching a hand forward to grab Andy's face, pulling him closer, kissing him as Andy pushed his cock inside of Nicolette's cunt. Beneath her, Aisling could feel the girl already lost in the throes of her first orgasm, muffling the scream by pressing her hips down against the maid's face. "How is she?" "I think I might have killed the poor girl." One of Nicolette's hands lifted and offered a thumb up gesture to them, which made Andy and Aisling both laugh until Aisling kissed Andy hard again. She reached down and grabbed Andy's hip to pull him hard into Nicolette, slamming his cock hilt deep into the French maid with enough force to make those heavy tits of hers jiggle and bounce. "That's it, Andy. Just rail the girl." "You're trying to make me cum inside of her, aren't you?" "It's working, isn't it?" Aisling giggled a little bit. "I'm giving up my load for the day to her. I want you to fill her cunt so full of cum that there's enough for me to lick a little bit out of her gash when you're done. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Andy groaned a little bit. "You're wicked, Ash." " Umm, just like you want me to be. I have to admit, I'm a little addicted to it, seeing a new slut fuckdrunk on your spunk for the first time, her eyes rolled back in her head, the orgasm so intense that she's trembling like she's been struck by lightning. It make you seem so powerful." "I don't think I can last long," he mumbled. "She's fucking tight." "Then why wait? She wants your jizz. I want you to jizz inside of her. You want to jizz inside of her." She kissed his cheek and then moved nibble on his earlobe. "Go on. Give your newest slut her nut. Fill her up with that hot spunk and claim her. Your girlfriend is telling you to do it. Cream her up. In your house. Make her your slut, your maid, your personal fuckhole. Give to us. Please Master, she fucking needs it. I need it. Cum for us. Flood the little bitch with your cum. Show her who the lord of the house is." Aisling licked her tongue along the shell of his ear, then breathed hot onto his flesh, before whispering, "Own her. Cum!" Nicolette's heels pressed into the small of his back as he pushed his cock hilt deep inside of her cunt and began to erupt inside of her. As soon as the first blast of his jism hit the back of her cunt, Nicolette began to thrash, her heels lifting off his skin as her legs pointed straight up into the air and began to practically vibrate, quaking like she had her own personal earthquake. Eventually Andy's release ebbed back, and Aisling leaned to kiss him once more, her hand reaching up to brush sweat from his face. "Another one bites the dust," she giggled against his mouth before he pulled his hips back, letting his cock slide out from Nicolette's snatch as the girl's legs moved to slump down on the footstool, her whole body lying ragdoll limp, her lips very quietly mumbling that familiar word over and over again. Aisling lifted her hips up and moved back to her feet, shifting Nicolette to move the maid's entire body up onto the couch, cradling the girl's head against the pillow on the armrest. Andy was starting to adjust to tuck his cock away before he felt Aisling's hand stop him. "Just wait there, mister." The Irish girl grabbed a blanket and moved to lay it over Nicolette's unconscious form, covering her up, making sure the maid looked cozy. After Nicolette was properly tucked in, she turned around and kneeled down to lick his cock clean. It had still been glistening with a bit of his cum, as well as juices from Nicolette's cunt, but Aisling gave it a spit shine. Andy could feel himself struggling to get hard again, but as soon as Aisling had his cock clean, she tucked it away. "Tomorrow you can take care of the gardener and the cook." "Fucking this many people is exhausting, Ash." "Awww. Poor baby. Do you know how much sympathy I have for you, half a dozen women craving your cum so much they'll fling themselves at you?" "Very little?" "Not even that much." Andy chuckled, helping Aisling to her feet. "Yeah, I guess that's fair." Chapter 12 Andy awoke the next morning much earlier than he normally did. It was the fact that the bed beneath him was new to him. New bed, new house, but the house itself didn't change as much of his perspective as the bed did. Sure, the four of them had fit in his old bed back at the condo, but the new bed had plenty of room for them to sprawl out if they wanted, and yet, he still awoke with all the girls basically pressing up against him, Aisling and Niko on either side of him, and Lauren mostly draped over Aisling. The cats were nowhere to be seen, although he wouldn't be surprised if they wandered across the bed several times during the night. He did his best to extricate one arm free so he could look at his watch, only to find it was actually nearly nine a.m., far later than he'd expected. The girls remained zonked, and he had to admit, they'd all been up a bit late into the wee hours of the morning just wandering around and exploring the house. He still felt like he didn't have a great handle on the layout of the place, but he figured that would come in time. Determined not to wake anyone, he wriggled his way downward, disentangling the gilded cage of arms and legs he found himself wrapped in. Once free, he was pleased to see that he hadn't woken any of the trio, so he headed into the closet to grab a change of clothes. Immediately, he feared he might have made a terrible mistake, as the walk in closet was larger than the old condo's living room, but thankfully, most of his t shirts were hanging on clothes hangers directly in front of him, and a dresser there seemed to have his pants, boxers and socks. In fact, as he glanced at the walk in closet, he was a little amused to see how little of what he saw was actually his own clothes. Sure, all of his clothes were there, but they took up a fraction of the amount of space the walk in closet had on offer. Each of the girls had carved up their own section of the closet space, although if the Major was to be believed, this wouldn't be enough room eventually. The Major had even suggested each partner consider taking one of the bedrooms of the manor as their own, simply to have their own space, and their own place to keep their clothes. "Personal space is going to be important," she had told them yesterday. Andy had immediately decided it was advice worth heeding. He grabbed a change of clothes and headed towards the bathroom. After stepping foot inside of the bathroom, he closed the door behind him, doing his best to keep the noise volume down, so as to not wake anyone. He imagined the girls would be up any minute now, but saw no reason to get anyone up before they awoke naturally. Some nights they all wore pajamas, but last night, they'd all just piled in one naked mess into the new bed, so the only thing Andy had to take off before he got into the shower was his watch and glasses, setting both on the counter next to his clothes. The shower space was just about the same size as the bathroom in the old condo, but it was a thing Andy had decided he was just going to have to come to terms with. Everything in the new home was going to be bigger, because it had more people to accommodate. It did, however, give him plenty of room to maneuver as he attempted to get the water's temperature to a level he was comfortable with. He hadn't even thought to ask how the utilities of the new home were going to be paid for. He made a mental note to ask someone about it as he stepped under the soothing warm water. Ten minutes later, he'd finished the shower, dried himself off and gotten dressed. As he passed through the bedroom, he could see that while none of the girls were awake yet, they had shifted to make up for his absence, now lined up like three little spoons, with Niko's ass pressed against Aisling's hips, and Aisling's ass against Lauren's hips. The cats had also joined them on the bed, sitting at either corner of it, almost like they were on guard duty. Andy reached down to pet Huginn, and the black cat leaned his head up to lean into Andy's touch. He smirked as the cat slowly pulled away from Andy's hand, but it was only to roll onto his back, exposing his belly, hoping Andy would give it a rub. He patted the plump cat's tummy briefly, but not long enough so that Huginn would think it was a game of Attack The Hand. He didn't want to remain long enough to wake the girls, so he grabbed his phone from the charger on the nightstand, moved to the door of the bedroom and slipped out, closing it shut behind him as he moved into the hallway. The layout of the house was still fuzzy in his head, but he knew for certain that if he wanted to grab some breakfast, he needed to head downstairs. As he wandered downstairs, the cook, Jennifer, he thought her name was, awaited him. She still had on the same apron from the day before, but the clothes she had on beneath it had changed to warmer colors. The t shirt was a light green and the slacks a cream color. "Good morning, sir. Would you like some breakfast?" she asked, a smile beaming at him. She was fidgeting, he noticed, and he was certain that the effects of the vaccine were starting to claw at her. He would have to make sure to take care of both her and the gardener today. "Sure, Jennifer, that'd be nice. Is it Jennifer, or do you prefer Jen or Jenny?" he asked her, as she started to lead him towards the dining room. "Whatever you'd like, sir," she said, demurely. "No," he chuckled, "I'm asking you what you prefer to be called. I don't mind being in charge of the house and all that, but I'm not about to go around deciding what people are called. What do you prefer to be called?" "Jenny, sir," she giggled. "Sorry, sir. What would you like for breakfast today?" "Just, like, a croissant or a bagel with egg, cheese and ham on it? I don't need anything special." "Give me five minutes and I'll whip something up for you." Andy moved to sit down at the dining room table. The chairs were aimed at a much more formal environment, something he was going to have to make sure got corrected. He felt a little bit like Michael Keaton as Batman, sitting at a massively empty table all by himself. He opened his friend group's Discord chat channel and typed in a message to Eric “ you okay in your new place, man? “ but he saw that Eric was off line and didn't respond, so he figured he'd hear back from him later in the day. Phil was up, though, and the two chatted for a little bit while Andy waited for breakfast to arrive. Jenny poked her head in. "Did you want juice or milk, or should I make coffee?" "God, the girls made drink coffee, but I can't fucking stand it. So it wouldn't hurt to put a pot on, but none for me, thanks. I'll just have some orange juice or pineapple juice or whatever." "Got it," she said, dipping back into the kitchen, the swinging door closed behind her. Phil was in good spirits, and let Andy know that he would be behind the wall in the gated community before the end of the week, which meant they could all hang out again. Phil insisted that on Saturday, they should all get together and play poker while the new families intermingled, something Andy agreed to immediately, and suspected Eric wouldn't have any problem with. "Sir, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jenny said, as she brought out a tray with a bagel filled exactly as he'd asked and a glass of orange juice on it. "I don't mean to be rude or impatient, but,” "No no, Jenny, I know. You're having trouble thinking clearly, and would like to get imprinted as soon as possible. Let me eat my breakfast, and then we can go take care of it if you like." "I would like, sir, but that's not it." The girl looked at her hands as she wrung them together nervously before she looked up at him. "May I speak freely, sir?" "Jenny, you're now and forever under orders to always speak freely in the house, okay? What is it?" "It's my partner, sir, Katie." "What about her?" "Well, she, ah, she lied on her forms. Sir." "About, what exactly, Jenny?" Andy wanted to know what was going on, but he was also famished, so he took a bite from his breakfast sandwich, as if encouraging the girl to continue speaking. "It's, well, it's a bit embarrassing, sir, but, you know that Katie and I are partners, right?" Andy swallowed his mouthful and took a sip from his orange juice before he spoke again. "You did mention it yesterday when you introduced yourselves." He gestured to a chair across the table from him. "Sit, sit. Now tell me what's up?" Jenny looked at the chair like it might bite her, but then nervously moved to sit down, her hands still folded together on top of the table. "So, uh, while I'm bisexual, Katie isn't. Sir. She's strictly a lesbian." Andy tried to keep his face blank. "Alright." "So while she's going to need to intake your jism regularly, she's, uh,” "She's going to be a pain in the ass about it," Katie said, moving into the room, clearly sounding cross. "Is that what you were going to say, Jen?" Katie was dressed in work clothes, having been outside working in the gardens, and had dirt on her knees, although she'd been careful not to drag any loose dirt into the house. "We're so fucked." "Baby, no! I just wanted to explain,” "You just wanted to explain that I wasn't going to do my job to our new boss. That's just great, Jenny! Now we're going to get hauled out of here and thrown in jail!" "Katie, please!" "We're fucked. We're so fucked, just because you had to grow a fucking conscience! I could've faked it! I could've pretended and just gotten through it, but no, you had to,” "Ah Hem!" Andy said, loudly clearing his throat to get both of them to settle down. "Can I interject into this, or do you two want to go on arguing about what I'm going to do without actually knowing anything?" Katie moved to nervously sit down in a chair next to Jenny, looking a little taken aback. "Sorry, sir." "Sorry, sir," Jenny echoed. "Thank you." Andy took another bite from his sandwich, which was delicious, while he let the two women sit in silence a moment, as if almost daring them to start arguing again. They made it past him finishing the sandwich without speaking again, but he was on his last sip of orange juice when Katie, the Hispanic girl, couldn't help herself and spoke again. "I love my wife, sir, and I want to remain faithful to her. And you seem like a nice enough man, but I'm just not attracted to you in any way. Sorry, sir." Andy smiled and shook his head a little bit. "Good lord, they barely told me anything, and somehow I still know more about all of this than you two do. Jenny, are you bisexual, or are you also lesbian?" "Bisexual, sir, but I'm married. To Katie." He nodded. "Look, I get that. So here's your options. If you want, I can tell the army you've changed your mind, and you can go back there, but if you've already been given the vaccination, you're unfortunately going to have to get paired up with some man." "That part's actually true?" Andy nodded. "I'm sure you're already feeling it, that unfamiliar blaze in your body. It'll get worse, a lot worse, until it's harder and harder to think, and you're just a raw, rutting creature, yearning for male sperm of some kind." "How horrible," Jenny whispered. "Better than the disease, Jenny," Katie said, patting her arm. "So what are our other options?" "The obvious one is, naturally, that you both continue to be here, do your jobs, and I simply provide sperm for you to consume. I mean, I could just bring you in towards the end of a session with me and one of my partners, or with Nicolette,” "Who?" Katie asked. "He knows," Nicolette said, standing in the door, leaning against the doorframe. She was wearing another maid's outfit, but it was subtly different than the one she'd worn yesterday. "And he wasn't mad. He even thought the whole Yvette thing was funny." "Or I could just agree to always use the two of you together, but the only person I touch would be Jenny, and Katie could touch Jenny. It's not strictly what you had in mind, but,” "But it would satisfy Katie's insistence that she remain faithful," Jenny said. "Would you be okay with that, baby?" "Okay?" Katie said, rolling her eyes. "Well, I might be able to get to okay eventually, if that's okay with you. Sir." "Come on," Andy said, rising to his feet. "Take me to your room and we'll get you both imprinted." "I'd, I'd rather you not come into our room, sir," Katie said. "If that's okay, sir. I'd like that to be just our special place, mine and Jenny's." "That's fine, but we'll need to have some place to lay you both down once you're done." "I did just fine on one of the couches, Master," Nicolette giggled. "Maybe we should use one of the living room spaces again." "Alright, but let's use one more off to the side." "There's always the lounge out in the pool house," Katie suggested. "I have a pool house? Y'know what, forget I asked. Of course I have a pool house. Fine, let's go out to the pool house. Nicolette, if the girls wake up, let them know I'll be back in a little bit, okay?" "Of course Master," she said with a curtsey, as Katie put her arm around Jenny's waist, and the two started to lead him to the back yard. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, sir," Katie said, as they walked past the pool. Sure enough, on the other side, there was a small house, which Andy could see had showers, a sauna, bathrooms, a small bedroom, and a little lounge. Hell, by itself, it was bigger than the old condo, and clearly this was a little guest house. "But I don't think your sperm is going to do anything for me." "Mentally, sure, probably not, Katie. But on a biological level, you'll find this whole thing is a little surreal. When you meet Niko, you'll get to know what sort of state she was in when she came into my life. She'll tell you the story herself, I'm sure, but from my point of view, she practically assaulted me before I even got her name." Jenny grinned impishly, as she closed the door behind Andy. The lounge had three couches in a U shape pointing towards a massive television, with a picture window on the side wall facing the pool. "I have to admit, that sounds kinda hot." "It was," Andy said, as the two girls pushed him to sit down in the middle of the couch. "A little terrifying, but kinda hot. So how do you want to do this?" Katie leaned up and pressed her lips against Jenny's, as Jenny's hand smoothed down her wife's hip. The kiss intensified and Andy could see the tongues dancing together, as Katie's hand moved to cup one of Jenny's plump tits through the apron before reaching behind her to untie it, pulling it up and over her head, tossing it aside. "I'm thinking Jenny here'll blow you, and I'll just share it at the end, so you have to tell us when you're close. If that's okay. Sir." "That's fine, Katie. If you always want to do it this way, that's fine, or if you want to switch it up now and again, we can do that too." Katie nodded, and reached down to pull Jenny's t shirt up and over her head, exposing the brunette's overabundance of titflesh that had actually been quite concealed by the apron. "We, uh,” She blushed a little bit before continuing, pushing Jenny down to her knees. "We've had threesomes before. I don't mind if Jenny gets a little cock now and then, as long as I'm always there, but it's hard to get men to understand I don't want any. They usually try to pressure me to join in." "Well I won't ever do that, Katie," Andy said. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, although,” Jenny had unbuttoned his jeans, and unzipped them, as the other two continued to talk. Katie smirked, rolling her eyes a little. "As long as you don't care if I say no, you can always ask, sir." "I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind taking your top off as well, so we're all at least a little exposed here." "No, I can do that," she said, unzipping the top of the worksuit. "My tits aren't anywhere near as nice as Jenny's, though." She peeled the top down to her waist, exposing a perky caramel colored pair of tits, capped with darker tan nipples. "You've got excellent tits, Katie," Andy said to her, as she tied the arms of the top around her waist to tie it in place. "And don't you ever take shit from anyone who says otherwise." "Aw, you're sweet, Andy," she said before looking down at her wife. "How's it look, hon? Something you can work with?" Jenny nodded, having fished out Andy's cock, her fingertips stroking up and down it slowly. "It's a good size. I may want to have a ride on it now and again, if that's okay, baby." "Let's take it all one step at a time, okay?" Katie said. She moved to sit down on the couch next to Andy, laughing softly. "She's always been over eager. But I'll probably let you fuck her now and again. And I know she's a very good cocksucker. Her old boyfriend used to brag about it all the time." "Pig," Jenny said, before she wrapped her lips around the head of his cock, letting her tongue brush over it slowly, evoking a shiver from Andy. "Oh! Not you, sir, him." "I figured that one out, Jenny." Andy glanced over at Katie. "So are you both really submissive? Did you really want to do this, be a gardener and a cook?" "Jenny's mostly submissive, and I'm a switch," the Hispanic woman said. "And these were the jobs we had in the before times, just at different places. I was the gardener for some tech millionaire, and Jenny worked in the kitchen at the S F O airport Marriott, so we'll do our jobs well, and the other thing reasonably well." "I just want to make sure I'm not forcing anyone to do anything they don't want to." "We will be sure to tell if you're pushing it. Sir." She laughed slightly at herself, as if chiding herself not to forget to call him that. "Remember, you're going to have to tell us when you're close, sir," Katie said. "I'm a man of my word, Katie." "I hope so." Jenny pushed her head down onto his cock, sliding her lips down a few inches before pulling her head back up. "Oh, if you're going to do it, just fucking do it, Jen." Katie took her hand and pushed on the back of Jenny's head, forcing her face down hard into Andy's lap, until he could feel the girl's lips around the base of his cock, her throat twitching as she was struggling not to gag. Katie leaned in to whisper into Andy's ear. "She fucking loves shit like this." After a few seconds, Katie pulled Jenny's head back, and the girl coughed, laughing throatily, spit dripping from her mouth onto his cock, tears running down her eyes, a crazy smile on her face. "Oh god, I think I fucking came when you did that, Kat." "Well, not to take credit for it, but that was my precum. You're starting the imprinting process now." "I call bullshit," Katie said. "Prove it." Andy decided the best way to do this was to mostly remain out of it, so he took Jenny's arm by the wrist, rubbing her palm over the tip of his cock, which oozed out a little bit of precum, then lifted it up towards Katie, palm facing her face. "Lick. Prove me wrong." Katie cocked an eyebrow at him, then leaned forward to run her tongue along Jenny's palm. As soon as her tongue slurped in that precum, she leaned back suddenly against the back of the couch, pulling up her knees to her chest, her face scrunched tightly as she spasmed violently. Andy was fairly certain that Katie's panties were drenched, but didn't want to embarrass the girl by looking. After a few seconds, Katie's eyes opened again, and she groaned, a sultry wanton sound. "Oh you utter bastard," she moaned. "I know that's all physiological, but fuck was that good,” "You're going to get that same sensation each time you get any of my cum. Both of you. Ash's been with me the longest, about two months now, and she says it's never gotten any less intense, and from time to time, it's even way more intense than that." Katie pushed Jenny's head back down into Andy's lap, forcing her mouth back onto his shaft, as she wriggled in her seat. "How often do we have to have it?" "We've experimented around a little bit with trying to wean a girl off of it, but after about a week or so, it starts impairing logic. Not a lot, at first, but a little bit. It's harder to think clearly, you find sex popping into your head unwarranted more than usual. And by ten days, it's like a painful gnawing hunger. Lauren wanted to try and go two full weeks without, but on day eleven, ah,” Katie laughed softly. "Go on. You said we have no secrets here." Andy nodded with a slight shrug. "She, uh, when I went to take my shower in the morning, she followed me in and forced me to fuck her by trapping me between the wall and the sink. She bent over the sink and braced her hands against it and pinned me. I mostly just stood there, my ass pressed against the wallpaper while she thrust back against me hard and fast. She's, ah, she's a lot stronger than I am." Both girls laughed, although Jenny's laugh was a bit muffled, as she still had most of his cock in her mouth. "I think once a week or so is something we can make work," Katie said, brushing her hand along the back of Jenny's neck. "See? I told you she was good." "Fuck, her tongue keeps teasing against the bottom of my balls. I'm not going to last long like this. You may want to,” "Sure," Katie said, sliding off the couch and onto her knees, off to the side of Andy's right leg. "I know how we can do this." She pulled Jenny's head up and free of his cock before pushing her over to the other side of Andy's legs, his legs pressed together. "C'mere, babe." Katie pulled Jenny close, and then the two women kissed with the length of his cock between them, blocking their lips from reaching each other until they both slid up and kissed with the head of his cock between them. Jenny reached down to fondle his balls, and he felt a second hand join, a little surprised that it was Katie's, as the two tongues danced against each other, and over the head of his cock, and he couldn't resist any longer, his body tensing up as he had a hand resting on either of their shoulders. When that release hit him, he could see Katie's other hand on the back of Jenny's neck, as if holding her in place, as he saw Jenny suddenly reach up and do the same, helping each other to stay locked in place around the tip of his cock, as he blasted a hot load of spunk into their mouths. He felt like he gave at least a few pumps of jizz into each of their mouths, and certainly they were both affected, as each of them began to tremble, the clasp of hands and necks keeping them all in place, as both of them swallowed mouthfuls until finally they could resist no longer and both girls slumped their heads back and to the side, the full weight of their unconscious bodies pressed into the couch. Each of them trembled and vibrated a little, the aftershocks of the process clearly still coursing through their veins. Both girls were quietly murmuring that familiar word, imprinting, over and over again. It took Andy a few seconds to regain his composure, but once he finally did, he tucked his cock away beneath his boxers and jeans, zipping them up and rebuttoning them before he stood up and extracted himself from between them. He moved to lift Katie up onto the couch first, laying the girl out on it, before picking up Jenny, pushing her onto the couch with Katie, draping one arm over the Hispanic girl. Then he picked up an afghan laying in the room and covered them both up, for warmth as much as modesty. It wasn't freezing cold, but Halloween was next week, and California in October could get cold. He assumed the guest house had heating, but didn't even have the slightest idea how to turn it on. He was about to leave, then decided to scout the pool house out a little more. Sure enough, he found a thermostat, and noticed it was set to off, so he set the temperature to 70F and turned it from Off to Auto, hearing a heater kick on along the far side of the building. His work done, he decided to head back inside. He stopped to look at the pool, marveling the fact that he had his very own swimming pool, something southern Californians might have in spades, but certainly came at a premium in the northern California area, where real estate was a scarcity. He'd had dreams of his works being optioned, turned into movies or some such, and hoped that they would make him oodles of money, but the books hadn't developed a big enough audience where Andy would've felt comfortable enough letting someone adapt his works while remaining faithful to what he'd written. A producer had once offered him ten grand for the rights in perpetuity for everything, offering Andy no creative influence, no backend profits and no altering of the deal if things performed well. Andy had, in response, made a Berry Gordy joke that he was sure went over the producer's head, then politely declined. He'd jokingly referred to it to his friends as the "you'll take our money, shut your mouth and like it" deal. But he didn't, he wouldn't and so he didn't have to. In the end, he'd still ended up with a pool. He continued heading towards the house, seeing Niko, wearing just one of his over sized t shirts, although he suspected she probably had panties on underneath. Her arms were crossed over her chest, so he couldn't be sure, but he thought that it was one of his Catherine Wheel t shirts. It looked like the orange corners of the "Ferment" album cover peeking around her arms. "Morning, sleepyhead," he said, as he walked up towards her. "Everyone else up?" "Ash was toweling off when I came downstairs and Lauren was just heading into the shower, so she should be down in a little bit," Niko said to him. If Aisling had fallen into the role of his girlfriend, Niko had worked herself into becoming his right hand woman. Aisling took care of him emotionally, and Niko seemed to enjoy making sure everything was humming along. She'd been the one to structure their packing, and made sure Andy didn't forget anything he would regret leaving behind. Sure, all of that stuff was being brought over, but Niko had made certain that Andy hadn't left anything truly important to other people. "Also, your newest girl is here. She's waiting in the living room. Well, the front living room. One of the front living rooms. The one closest to the door. I signed for her, figured you wouldn't mind. That's her car parked out front, and the Uhaul attached to it has the rest of the stuff from the condo." "Nice." Andy was surprised another girl had arrived so soon, but the Major had made it clear that they would be coming at a steady rate until he was at capacity, which meant at least another nine or so, maybe even as many as thirteen more, although Andy had stressed to the Major that stopping early was absolutely fine. The Major had seemed to think that was funny. They'd walked inside of the house and headed towards the front living room. "What's her name?" "Her name is,” "Taylor!" Lauren's voice shouted as Andy and Niko walked into the room. Sitting on the couch was a young blonde, barely five feet tall, in a white muscle t shirt that didn't cover all of her toned stomach, and a pair of jeans that looked like they were practically painted on. A denim jacket was draped over the back of the couch. The girl's hair was platinum blonde, bordering on white, clearly dyed or bleached, but had dark eyebrows, and Andy could see dark hair down at the roots. She had a gold belly ring and heavy Doc Martin shoes. Small diamond earrings adorned her ears, and around her right wrist was a gold bangle bracelet. Her lipstick was a bright pink. In fact, it was clear that the girl, who looked like she was in her early twenties, had spent a decent amount of time on both her outfit and her makeup, like she wanted to make a good first impression. It was also worth noting that she was more than a little buxom for her small height, the top strained over her large tits enough that Andy could make out a white bra on underneath it. If not for the dark roots, she almost reminded him a little of a smaller version of Lauren. Both girls had a bit of that 'I'm showing off for Instagram' vibe to them, although Andy would never have said it that way to Lauren. "Andy, no fucking way! I do not want that bitch in this house!" The girl on the couch looked like she was about ready to break down crying, as Lauren loomed over her. His Aussie partner had put on a bit more than Niko, in that she was wearing yoga pants and a sports bra. "I'm sorry, Lauren," the girl, Taylor, said. "I'm so, so sorry, baby." "Don't fucking 'baby' me, you whore!" Lauren shouted, turning to walk towards Andy. "This is intolerable! Figure it out!" Lauren kept walking right past him and headed towards the stairs, each step heavy, almost like she was trying to stomp her anger out. "Figure It Out!" she shouted from upstairs, just before he heard the bedroom door slam loud enough to rattle the house. "I take it you know her?" Niko said to Taylor. "Yeah," Taylor mumbled. "I'm her ex girlfriend." Chapter 13 Andy looked at Niko, then at Taylor, then back to Niko, unsure of what to say to anyone. "Look, Niko, can you figure out her side of the story?" he said, gesturing to Taylor. "I'm going to go talk to Lauren and find out what the hell is going on." "Good luck, babe," Niko said, kissing his cheek. "Tell her," Taylor said before stopping, biting her bottom lip in a pout, then starting again. "Tell her if she'll let me, I'll spend the rest of my life apologizing to her." Andy didn't know what to say to that, so he walked out of the room and started heading to the stairs, trying to follow the sound he'd heard a minute or so ago of Lauren stomping off. Clearly there was bad blood here, but talking to Taylor first would only hurt Lauren's feelings, so he needed to check on his partner. Once he got to the top of the stairs, he saw Aisling leaning against the outside of the master bedroom door, which was closed. "What's all this then?" she said, jerking her finger to the door. "Lauren stormed in here crying a minute ago and told me to go away." "We just had a new girl show up, and apparently she used to be Lauren's girlfriend. I'm going to go talk to Lauren about it right now." Ash raised her hand. "Are you sure about this, Andy?" He shook his head with a sigh. "No, but I'm not going to sit around and do nothing, so I'm going in there." "You want me to go in with you?" Andy shook his head again. "No, better let me go in on my own." "Don't have to tell me twice. Who's keeping an eye on the ex?" "Niko's down talking to her. You're welcome to join her." "I'll do that," she said, moving to kiss his cheek, much as Niko had done. "You're a good man, Andy Rook. I'm sure you'll figure it out." "I think my spaceship knows which way to go. Tell,” "She knows," Aisling giggled, as she strolled past him and headed to the stairs. Andy moved to the bedroom door and considered knocking, but decided that it would only encourage Lauren to tell him to go away, so he simply opened the door and stepped in, closing the door behind him. He saw his Aussie partner sitting on the bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms folded atop of them, her face buried against her arms. "Okay, Laur, tell me the whole story," he said, moving over to sit down on the bed. "Taylor and I dated for about a year. She was even living with me for a few months, until one day I came home from work early and found her banging some guy in our,” She paused, wiping her eyes. "She was fucking some fella in my bed. I threw her out that night, and told her to pick her shit up the next day. I packed it up and left it in the hallway for her so I didn't even have to look at her. I haven't even seen her since." "Okay. What do you want me to do here?" "Do?" She curled her fingers together into fists before forcing herself to relax them. "What I want you to do is throw the bitch out on her ass and leave her to rot in the sun." "I somehow think the Air Force will come pick her up and take her back, if that's what you want." "She deserves a lot worse." "Well, she's already been injected with the vaccine, so the urge for male cum is probably eating away at her pretty badly right now, and you know what that's like." Lauren's face scrunched up. "It's a need, but it's not punishment." "And if I send her away, I'm pretty sure the Air Force is just going to give her to someone else in New Eden, so it's not like I can make her just disappear," he said, sighing softly. "But you're the one with the history here. So you tell me what you want. Should I throw her out? Is that what you want?" "What I want? What I want is for her to be punished and learn some fucking loyalty." "Do you want to be the one to do that?" Lauren rubbed her eyes again, then reached to take one of Andy's hands that had been resting atop of her knee. "What do you mean?" "Phil told me that if a woman partakes of the cum of a man other than the one she's imprinted to, it can have, consequences. Dire consequences. Which means she's going to have to be loyal to our family, if you want her to be a part of it." "She can't just come in without some retribution, Andy," Lauren said, shaking her head. "I won't let her just walk all over me like that." "Lauren. Love. At this point, you have the upper hand. You hold all the power right now. Your ex is here, and more than anything she wants to stay here, it looks like. Right before I came up here, she said she'd do everything she could to spend the rest of her life apologizing to you, to try and make it up to you. Have you talked to her at all since you threw her out?" "I didn't even talk to her when I threw her out, Andy!" Lauren said, tossing her

Hey, Who fans and welcome to Episode 418.Hey, Who fans! It's been a minute since we last put an episode out and this one is a Garry-solo, news-focused episode with an update on the latest Doctor Who news and how the weekly episodes here at The Big Blue Box will work moving forward.Firstly, the main episodes that you've enjoyed for over a decade on a (nearly) weekly basis will now change to a seasonal format. Yep, we are no longer going to try and put episodes out every week. The two main reasons for this are: we've reviewed nearly everything apart from a couple of animated stories, and when there's no new Who going out and not much news, Doctor Who is a bit light on stuff these days. Secondly, Adam and I, when our schedules allow, don't want to force putting content out as you guys will notice it and drift off. I've seen it happen on other podcasts and it's the last thing I want for The Big Blue Box.So in a nutshell - we aren't going away, we're not going on hiatus and we're not locking the doors to the TARDIS. We're sensibly putting the show on a seasonal format so when we do put content out, we're enthusiastic and have stuff to talk about. You'll next hear from us in April for our first proper season with our reviews for Season 2, then for the spin-off and our next season etc. Lastly, the monthly Round Table episodes will continue as normal, as the writing team have such interesting and entertaining views on all things Doctor Who.Who fans, thank you, it's been amazing and a privilege for Adam and me to waffle to you all (again, nearly) every week for the last 10+ years and we hope you stick with us as we transition into a different format.Also as a reminder - we set up the Cosmic Echoes podcast network this year, and although the amount of content for this podcast will be scaled back, we're bringing you more content overall! Our first new podcast - Federation Strike: A Journey Through Blake's 7 - has gone down a treat so check that out if you're a Blake's 7 fan or you've heard of the show but not dived in.Phew, with that being said, the rest of the episode is rounding up the latest Who news including the start date for Season 2, a casting announcement for Season 2, The Sun newspaper progressing their "the show is being axed" story with the Christmas Special now under threat, a ton of money raised at auction for Children in Need, Chris Eccleston and Billie Piper back together for more 9 and Rose stories at Big Finish, and you can still grab the Season 7 blu ray collection from a couple of online retailers.Links to the stuff we mentioned:Season 7 blu ray collection at Amazon and Zavvi.9th Doctor and Rose adventures from Big FinishThis is The Big Blue Box PodcastJoin us each week for a new episode every Friday from your hosts Garry and Adam. We talk news, reviews, commentaries and general chat on everything Doctor Who PLUS listen to our monthly

In this episode of Veteran On the Move, Joe is joined by President and founder of Delmarva Veteran Builders (DVB), Chris Eccleston. Chris served in the Navy for six years prior to attending college and later entering the construction industry. He worked in the industry for five years, starting as a laborer before starting his own business. DVB focuses on hiring Veterans and bringing military level professionalism and teamwork to every project. Chris shares his lessons learned from his leap into entrepreneurship and the importance of fostering a growth mindset in your business. Chris is also the co-author of Grit Over Greatness, a children's book teaching the importance of the construction trade and inspiring the next generation.    Episode Resources:  Grit Leads to Greatness  Grit Leads to Greatness on Amazon Chris's LinkedIn Delmarva Veteran Builders   About Our Guest    Chris Eccleston, a Salisbury, Maryland native, is the President and founder of Delmarva Veteran Builders (DVB) a fresh, gritty commercial construction firm igniting potential and doing epic things. DVB brings the veteran attitude to local construction projects which led the company to become one of the nations fastest-growing companies recognized by the Inc 5000 list for three consecutive years and the Vet 50 List for two years. Chriss dedication to veteran employment led to DVB receiving the Secretary of Defense Freedom Award at the Pentagon. DVB has completed over 200 different construction projects in the Mid-Atlantic area with a value over $167,000,000.00. A Navy veteran who served for six years as a nuclear machinist mate on the USS Theodore Roosevelt during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Chris takes great pride in his military service and supporting members of DVB who still serve today.   Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.   About Our Sponsors Navy Federal Credit Union   As a member-owned not-for-profit, Navy Federal puts members at the heart of every single thing that they do. With low fees and great rates, resources to help you crush your financial goals, and 24/7 access to stateside member service representatives with award-winning customer service Members could enjoy: -Earning and savings of $473 per year by banking with us  -An average credit card APR that's 6% lower than the industry average  -A market-leading regular savings rate nearly two times the industry average Learn more: www.navyfederal.org/offers At Navy Federal, our members are the mission.      Army Matters Podcast AUSA's Army Matters podcast amplifies the voices of the Total Army – one story at a time. Join hosts LTG (Ret.) Les Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey every other Wednesday as they interview the modern chroniclers of the Army experience to discuss inspiring leadership stories, current issues faced by Soldiers and our military families' journeys. Start listening now wherever you listen to podcasts.   Want to be our next guest? Send us an email at interview@veteranonthemove.com.  Did you love this episode? Leave us a 5-star rating and review!  Download Joe Crane's Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470. Veteran On the Move podcast has published 500 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane. The podcast features people, programs, and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 7,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Ent...

Nick and Benji present… The Chat… with Lisa Bowerman… Good Review Guy: UNIT Brave New World: Seabird One… Behind the scenes and Drama Tease: Doctor Who - Once and Future: Time Lord Immemorial.

Envision a world where the art of construction has faded into obscurity... In a crumbling dystopian realm, daring siblings Tegan and Trig find themselves ensnared in the enchantment of enigmatic luminous stones.When a catastrophic earthquake tips their city perilously close to the precipice, the determined pair embarks on an extraordinary odyssey to a destination known as Greatness, convinced it harbors the solution to their city's impending doom.Their journey is fraught with unrelenting hindrances, but providentially, they form alliances with whimsical creatures who impart crucial trade skills as they navigate a hazardous terrain.Do these young adventurers possess the determination and resilience needed to confront their trials, unearth the secrets of Greatness, and ultimately reshape their world? Sound entreaging? Then join in as we discuss this new children's book from Chris Eccleston and Jenny Schroen designed to spark the creative curiousity of our youth!

How can we successfully contextualize the construction industry for the new generation? What role does technology play—and what about creative concepts like children's books? Join host Todd and guests Chris Eccleston and Jenny Schroen as they discuss the children's construction book series Grit Leads to Greatness, the initiatives we can all take to change perceptions of construction, the huge variety of job and growth opportunities in the industry, and much more. Jenny is the Creative Developer for DVB. In 2020, she won a MarCom Award, an international creative competition for developing DVB's ad campaign “Grit Leads to Greatness”. In-depth research regarding the power of GRIT and her first-hand view of the workforce shortage inspired Jenny to team up with Chris to co-write a children's book titled “Grit to Greatness”, a nod to her own children for preserving through tough times while demonstrating to all people the vital impact construction trades have on the world. Chris is the CEO and founder of Delmarva Veteran Builders (DVB) located in his hometown of Salisbury, Maryland. He proudly served in the Navy for 6 years as a nuclear machinist mate, completing 3 tours of duty. After the military, Chris received a construction management degree and has become a passionate warrior defending the image of tradespeople. As DVB grew, the company gained recognition for its strong company culture and fresh approach.

Ben and David continue their look at the Doctor Who monthly rankings by discussing the results of the 1980s Doctors, plus the Chris Eccleston stories. We theorize to why there is so little movement in the rankings over the years and lament the voting preferences of the DWM readership. The music for this episode is from The Mark of the Rani, composed by Jonathan Gibbs of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. We recorded this episode on 2 July 2023.

Unleash the power of imagination in our latest episode, as we dive into the captivating story of “Grit Leads to Greatness”, a children's book written by our two guests Chris Eccleston and Jenny Schroen. With workforce issues challenging the construction industry, this brilliant duo saw an opportunity to sow the seeds of interest early on and cultivate a generation that thrives on skill, creativity, and passion. Don't miss out on this enlightening conversation that combines the magic of storytelling with the practicality of real-world skills. Hit that play button and let's embark on a journey of reshaping perceptions about construction, breaking down barriers, and creating exciting pathways for our future builders, architects, and engineers! Chris Eccleston, LEED, AP, CHC President & Founder Delmarva Veteran Builders Chris@delmarvaveteranbuilders.com Jenny Kerr Schroen Creative Developer Delmarva Veteran Builders Jenny@delmarvaveteranbuilders.com Resources: https://www.gritleadstogreatness.com/ https://www.delmarvaveteranbuilders.com/

First-time authors Chris Eccleston and Jenny Kerr Schroen have worked on many fresh ideas together at Delmarva Veteran Builders (DVB), a commercial construction firm, and realized they shared a long-time dream to write a children's book. Basing their concept on DVB's tagline, “Grit Leads to Greatness,” they devised an epic adventure book to show both parents and children that construction is heroic. Once the story was written, Chris and Jenny spent most of 2022 meeting with pioneers and thought leaders of the industry, learning more about what was being done to address the immense labor deficit. They figured they were onto something when they began hearing from not just national construction organizations, but also people outside of the industry who shared stories of how the workforce shortage affected them personally. Chris and Jenny quickly realized that one group or construction affiliation was not going to solve this. It was going to take a global effort to introduce a new generation to the trades. They hope their book, “Grit Leads to Greatness”, can be used as a tool to help bring together people from all walks of life to conquer an issue that impacts all of humanity.Time Stamps :

Twenty years ago, director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland helped revitalize the zombie subgenre with this seminal post-apocalyptic thriller produced on a shoe-string budget....even though the story isn't technically about zombies.  Nope this is the actually story of a fictional pandemic which strikes the UK known as the "Rage" virus.....society becomes gradually wiped out by those who are "infected" which can basically be described as FAST zombies who spew blood which spreads the infection.  And at the core of this story is an aimless bike messenger (Cillian Murphy) who was actually in a coma during the first 28 days of this pandemic and a resourceful survivor who he teams up with played by Naomie Harris.  Brendan Gleason and Chris Eccleston also co-star as fellow survivors of this outbreak.Host: Geoff Gershon  Editors: Geoff and Ella GershonProducer: Marlene Gershonhttps://livingforthecinema.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/Letterboxd:https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/ 

Grit Leads To Greatness by first-time authors Chris Eccleston and Jenny Schroen, draws in both children and adults to the world of construction through secret passageways, snowboarding, volcanos, waterslides, and rollercoasters. By telling a creative tale, one that puts kids in the shoes of the protagonists, they can begin to see reflections of their current world and the not-so-distant futuristic society that could exist if the construction trades are forgotten. Kids are encouraged to find Greatness in their own life by resisting distractions, believing in themselves, and taking action when others do nothing. Most importantly, they can understand in simple terms how GRIT is the cornerstone of a well-lived life. All Music and Lyrics Performances by James Harrell and Ilyana Kadushin.  More about Guests: Authors Chris and Jenny have worked together at Delmarva Veteran Builders (DVB) and realized they shared a long-time dream to write a children's book. Basing their concept on DVB's tagline, “Grit Leads to Greatness,” they devised an epic adventure book to show both parents and children that construction is heroic. Once the story was written, Chris and Jenny spent most of 2022 meeting with pioneers and thought leaders of the industry, learning more about what was being done to address the immense labor deficit. They figured they were onto something when they began hearing from not just national construction organizations, but also people outside of the industry who shared stories of how the workforce shortage affected them personally. Chris and Jenny quickly realized that one group or construction affiliation was not going to solve this. It was going to take a global effort to introduce a new generation to the trades. They hope their book, Grit Leads to Greatness, can be used as a tool to help bring together people from all walks of life to conquer an issue that impacts all of humanity.

Do we honor veterans on more than just Veterans Day? What do memorials and these commemorations mean to the veterans? There are a myriad of ways to serve our country.  In this episode, we meet some of the founders of The Worcester County Veterans Memorial in Ocean Pines, Maryland. We also speak with veteran and owner of Delmarva Veteran Builders, Chris Eccleston. All Music and Lyrics by James Harrell and Ilyana Kadushin.

In this episode: Christi and Angela interview Jenny Kerr Schroen and Chris Eccleston from Delmarva Veteran Builders. Jenny and Chris are in the final stages of releasing a children's book about construction and trade skills. The book leads kids on an epic journey through a fantasy world with various creatures that have certain skills which help guide the children on their quest to save their dilapidated city. The book teaches how to deal with failure and success as well as the vital impact that construction trades have on the world. This was a fun podcast to make while sharing a great message. Check it out!

Hello, Who fans and welcome! Coming up in this episode... We kick off with an update from Adam on the latest BFI event, our thoughts on Chris Eccleston's recent comments on multi-Doctor stories and then onto our weekly review story. Our review story this week is Torchwood: Children of Earth "Day Four". This is The Big Blue Box Podcast Join us each week for a new episode every Friday from your hosts Garry and Adam. We talk news, reviews, commentaries and general chat on everything Doctor Who PLUS check listen to our monthly Round Table episodes with the whole team. Check out our https://www.bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk/ (website) where you can also listen to all of our episodes for free along with the amazing reviews and articles from our writing team. Follow us on the socials Come and get involved and chat Who between episodes on https://twitter.com/bigblueboxpcast (Twitter), https://facebook.com/bigblueboxpodcast (Facebook) and https://instagram.com/bigblueboxpodcast (Instagram). We also have a free https://discord.gg/8jZ42Qg (Discord server) for you to hop in and chat with other like-minded Who fans. Thank you for listening to this episode and remember to follow the podcast on your fav podcast app so you don't miss an episode when they drop every Friday (or pop over https://www.bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk/listen (here) for links to all the popular podcast platforms). Have a fantastic week and until next time remember... Aaaaaaaaaaallons-y!

It's all change this week on the Power of 3 as Tom and Dave are switched for Lisa and Helen! We go behind the scenes of recent Big Finish Ninth Doctor release Girl, Deconstructed, and find out all about the writing and directing of the story which is set in Dundee. Kenny chats with Lisa McMullin and Helen Goldwyn, about Chris Eccleston, setting the story north of the border, and Dundee accents - and how to say "pie".

The NewsChris Eccleston is still adamant about not appearing on-screen as The Doctor while dropping some details about his fallout with RTD and we sadly say goodbye to Tony Selby aka Sabalom Glitz. Review story this episode: Torchwood: FragmentsWe can almost reach out and touch the end of Series 2, so close! In this penultimate episode, the Torchwood team are down but not out as we get treated to some flashbacks showing the origin of Torchwood Three and its current members. Is this a decent story by Chibbers or a lemon? Coming next week: Daleks in Manhattan & Evolution of the DaleksWe've not reviewed a Tenth Doctor story since June and we're nearing the end of his stuff now so let's dive in and see what this is all about. Daleks, obviously but we've not seen it in a while so the rest is fuzzy. Thank you all for listening to this week's episode and remember to follow the podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts so you don't miss an episode when they land every Friday. Stay cool and until next week - Allons-y!

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcastIf you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this episode.Competition ends August  27th 2021. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references:https://www.stephenspencerassociates.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/customerexperiencespecialist/ Stephen Spencer + Associates is a collaborative consulting and training organisation with a simple purpose: to help you extract maximum value from your customers' experience of you. Transcription:Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in, or working with, visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. In today's episode, I speak with Stephen Spencer, Founder of Stephen Spencer + Associates, a collaborative consulting and training organisation. We discuss why customer experience is so important right now, how to maximize interactions to drive value, and what attractions can do to foster a more innovative culture. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on all the usual channels by searching, "Skip the Queue".Kelly Molson: Stephen, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, it's really lovely to see you again.Stephen Spencer: It's an honour and a pleasure, thanks very much, Kelly. Kelly Molson: So many people have recommended that we speak to each other. But, as ever, this podcast, we're going to go straight into our icebreaker questions. So, I would like to know, what is the worst job that you have ever had?Stephen Spencer: Oh, that's easy. One Easter, when I was a student, I worked for an employment agency, so it's a different job every day. And, the worst job was cleaning out the undercarriage of a private jet that belonged to an Arab Sheik. There's a bunch of us put in a van, we had to wear so much protective clothing, and visors, and things over our heads, that you literally couldn't see, and then you had high-pressure hoses. And, you could just glimpse the luxury within the jet through the open door, but we were underneath just spraying out the oil, and grease, and dirt, and god knows what else. It was a horrendous, horrendous day. I sort of thought, "My life is over before it's begun. If this is how I'm going to spend my life..."Kelly Molson: You were so close to the luxury, you could almost touch it.Stephen Spencer: It was. You could see it was all very beautifully, ornately designed, in keeping with the culture inside. But, underneath it was just a regular old, filthy old bit of kit. Kelly Molson: I feel like that sums us all up, right? Inside, we're all just regular, normal, filthy old people. Stephen Spencer: Well, you speak for yourself. I thought we were all looking up to the stars. "We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up to the stars." That's the quote, isn't it?Kelly Molson: Maybe, I'm trying to keep real, Stephen. I've gone a bit retro with this one, so I'm hoping that you remember this program. Do you remember a program called Stars in Their Eyes? Stephen Spencer: I do.Kelly Molson: Excellent. Okay. So, let's go back. If Stars in Their Eyes was a thing now, who would you perform as?Stephen Spencer: Oh, it's easy, Elvis. Absolutely. Elvis is my go-to for karaoke. Funnily enough, I've been a massive fan of Elvis since the day he died, because he wasn't obviously relevant in 1977, but the day he died I spent the whole day playing all his music. I just got absolutely hooked. And years later, there's an attractions connection here, I got to meet and work with a heroine of mine, the late Debo, Duchess of Devonshire, at Chatsworth. I discovered that she was a massive Elvis fan. And, what I didn't know, but later read in her autobiography, was that she too became a fan the day he died, because she saw all the programs and heard all the music. Anyway, yes. No contest, I would be Elvis.Kelly Molson: What song? You said he's your karaoke go-to, what's your karaoke song?Stephen Spencer: Funnily enough, it's a song that he did I think very well, but not originally his song, it's My Way. Which, kind of also is my personal theme tune. Kelly Molson: I love this.Stephen Spencer: I never do things anybody else's way, it's always my way. But, not in a command and control way, just, "This is my way, and if it facilitates stuff, that's great, if you don't like it, there are lots of other people who will do it your way.Kelly Molson: Excellent answers, I'm enjoying this very much. Let's move on. I would like to know what your unpopular opinion is.Stephen Spencer: Well, I think my unpopular opinion is that Line of Duty is increasingly disappearing up its own fundament.Kelly Molson: Oh, gosh.Stephen Spencer: ... Or should we say, that Jed Mercurio has believed his own hype. The last series was a sort of ragbag of references to the previous series, a completely flimsy plot. I'm not just saying the ending was disappointing because it was, spoiler alert...Kelly Molson: You can't do that, what if no one's... Stephen Spencer: I said spoiler alert, people could have switched off at that point. The thing that got me slightly suspicious of Jed Mercurio was The Bodyguard, that one-off series that he did. Where, we were expected to believe that a man wearing an explosive vest would be allowed to walk from one end of London to the other to go and visit his wife and children, rather than being taken out before he could put the entire population of Central London at risk. I just thought, "This is ridiculous." So, I spent part of lockdown watching all the previous series of Line of Duty, and the early ones, absolutely brilliant. Stephen Spencer: But I tell you a series that's better than Line of Duty, and that's Spooks. There was never a bad episode of Spooks. I think it was nine series, we watched about 100 episodes, and there wasn't a single bad episode. And also, they constantly refreshed the central characters. Whereas we all love Ted, obviously...Kelly Molson: Who doesn't?Stephen Spencer: ... And Kate, and Steve, it is inconceivable that that man would still be in that job, considering everything that he's, for the best of intentions, done and got himself mixed up in. It's ridiculous. Kelly Molson: Oh my gosh, Stephen.Stephen Spencer: I'm sorry if that's an unpopular opinion.Kelly Molson: I think it is an unpopular opinion.Stephen Spencer: Now we can nearly go back to the pub, or we can go back and sit outside, we need to keep ourselves warm, there's no point in everyone just sitting around saying, "Did you see Line of Duty, it was really good wasn't it?" No, let's actually be real here.Kelly Molson: I think this is really going to split our listeners. I do know that there was a lot of people that were really unhappy about the ending. And, if I'm completely honest, I was one of them. However, I have loved every single minute of Line of Duty. And, I did love the final season, if it is the final season, we're not quite sure.Stephen Spencer: I don't think it will be. Clearly, if they want to do another series, there's more to uncover. Maybe they shouldn't bring it back. Unfortunately, it's a bit like what happened to Doctor Who, which was amazing when it was rebooted with Chris Eccleston. I'm not talking about the latest incarnation of the Doctor, I'm all for that, but it's just the fact that the writing got more and more self-indulgent. And, if you're writing Doctor Who and it's unbelievable, you really should take a look at yourself, I would suggest. Kelly Molson: Okay, let's move on. So, Stephen Spencer + Associates, it's a collaborative consulting and training organisation. You've got a simple purpose, and that is, "To help extract maximum value from your customers' experience of you." A few topics that I really want to cover today, but let's start with the biggest one which is, why is customer experience so important right now?Stephen Spencer: I think right now, clearly, it is really important because it has changed so much, and the changes are going to be with us for the foreseeable future. We've had this dramatic, probably five years of accelerated adoption of online and, as we're doing now, remote meetings and so on, people shopping from home, in a year or less. So, straightaway, businesses don't have that personal contact with customers that previously they could have actually exploited or at least known what was going on. Stephen Spencer: Secondly, there's still going to be an element of public health and social distancing, people are going to be nervous. There's going to be a need for businesses to continue to demonstrate that they're providing a safe, healthy environment for customers, which risks creating an experience that's compromised. Stephen Spencer: And thirdly, I think, for the foreseeable future, there's probably going to be less customers around. There may well be fewer staff serving them. And, there's probably going to be less money in the system as well. For many attractions, obviously, the international market is going to take, quite possibly, two to three years, if not longer, to recover. That's what all the predictions say. So, it means we've got to do more with less. So, fundamentally, how do we focus in on every customer's experience, and maximize every interaction so that we get maximum value out of it, both for the customer and for the business?Kelly Molson: Maximizing interactions. And, I guess, it's understanding what elements of the experience drives the most value. How do attractions do this at the moment? What are the steps that they need to go through to look at how they can make that happen? Stephen Spencer: Well, I think something that could be done a lot better in many attractions, and I've worked in many attractions and with many attractions, is a much more joined-up approach between marketing and operations, and possibly finance and strategy as well. The challenge with being a Customer Experience Consultant is a lot of what you're saying, sounds like stating the bleeding obvious. But, the reason you have to state it is because it passes a lot of organisations by, for all sorts of reasons, good and not so good. But, really, really understanding who are your customers, breaking them down into recognisable subsets.Stephen Spencer: I'm a great believer in developing customer personas. And, one of my favourite ways to do this working with organisations is, "If this group, or this couple, or this individual was a celebrity, or a band, or a team, or a character in a soap, who would they be?" You find as soon as they've identified that person, then they can really start to put layer, and layer and a layer of, "How would we treat this person? What would this person want from us? What kind of communication would they appreciate? What would make them go, "Wow"?" Stephen Spencer: And, I think what often happens is, the marketing focus tends to be on idealised segments, and the reality on the ground is real people. What really works is when marketing gets out there, and gets stuck in, and talks to the customers, and sees who's coming in, and there's a complete consistency between strategy and execution. Because, at the end of the day, whatever you do, the most powerful thing you can do for a customer is speaking to them and treat them the way they would want to be treated. And, the only way you can do that is if you are able to look and listen, and observe, and take that time to engage, and, again, keep listening, and give that customer the response they're looking for. Stephen Spencer: You see it time and time again, the most high-tech attractions, attractions that have incredible properties, whether it's heritage properties or brands brought to life in amazing ways, it's still the human interaction that's the most powerful thing. So, understanding, which is important also, to give your team the confidence to talk to customers in the right way, understanding who they are, is fundamental for me, and that being consistent through the whole organisation. Kelly Molson: How does that change? We're recording this, it's the 11th of May today, so next week, the 17th, most indoor attractions will be able to open. We're still looking at capped capacity, we're still looking at a reduction in operation staff, probably front of house staff, for attractions. How do you look to monitor that now? And, how does that change as restrictions start to get relaxed and you get more, and more, and more people through the doors? How does that process change? What can people do? Stephen Spencer: I think, given what I've said, the most important thing you can do is to maximize your customer's every interaction. Many people know this, some people won't know this, in customer journey mapping, which is the classic way to think about your customer's experience, you identify all the touchpoints, so all the interactions between the customer and the attraction. Obviously, starting with before they ever visit, so advertising, or the website, or review sites, whatever it is. And, you map all those touchpoints. Then, you identify, what we call, the moments of truth, which are the real make or break touchpoints. So, the points at which you could really deliver on the value proposition or not. Stephen Spencer: By doing that, and then matching that customer journey to those customer profiles, you can start to say, "Right"... I think, for example, the work that people like BVA BDRC and Decision House have been doing, in terms of sentiment research, really plays into this as well. Because, they've identified some COVID personas, in terms of where people are at, in terms of their willingness to go back, their nervousness, or confidence about interacting again. So, you build all this in. Stephen Spencer: So, what I'm saying is, bring your team together and say, "Let us work through the experience that we're going to give to our visitors when they come back when we're able to reopen. I hope that attractions have already been thinking about how they add something extra, really make visitors feel, not just welcomed back, but that there's something extra special that's been laid on to welcome them back. And again, that doesn't have to be something very expensive, it doesn't have to be something high-tech, but it just has to be something that is appropriate to the brand and relevant to the customer. Bearing in mind, obviously that we're talking, for most attractions for the foreseeable future, it's the local/staycation market, rather than international. So again, just a great opportunity to say to the team, "Everything's changed. Everything's new. Isn't it exciting? We're opening up again, maybe we've done some work behind the scenes, a new exhibition, new information that we've had the chance to research about our site that we can share. Whatever it is. Let's now plan the reopening or the next stage of reopening, almost as if we're planning a family Christmas or a celebration. And, think what we can do." Just get everybody involved, and everybody shares the excitement. Stephen Spencer: We know that there are challenges for teams coming back who've been maybe furloughed, or new staff being recruited in a lot of cases as well who have never had the experience of working at the attraction before. And now suddenly We're reopening, it's a big deal. But, some of us weren't here before, some of us are nervous about being back. It's all a bit strange. Some of us have been here the whole time and we're knackered. So actually, that is another reason to bring people together, not just for, what I call, pre-opening training, which is almost like going through the motions, but to make it really, really special.Stephen Spencer: We've been recently working with a museum that actually was closed already before the pandemic for a major refurbishment, and also rebrands, and a repositioning of the museum. And, we created, first of all, with a workshop that we ran for all teams across all departments, a fact-finding workshop. And then, translating that into pre-opening training that was much more about exactly what I've been talking about, "What are we going to do? How do we take this great new shiny vision that we've got and turn it into customer interactions? Who are our customers? What do we know about them? What do we need to do? What would we do if it was our granny, or our brother, or our friend coming, what would we do?" And, just turning it into a mission that is translatable to everybody's role and everybody's capabilities.Kelly Molson: I love that idea, that you position it as a real celebratory event. It's such a nice way of looking at it. And, what does that mean to people? Like you say, for attractions, you've got such a different range of people that will visit, what does that celebration mean to them? How do you apply it to that individual person? I think that's such a nice way of framing it. Also, one of the things that attractions have been really good at as they've been talking about reopening and that process of how they do that, is most attractions haven't been talking about reopening and going back to normal. They've actually been embracing the idea that they don't have to go back and do the things that they used to do, they can embrace something different. And, like you say, they might have a new attraction, they might have a new collection, they might have something new that they've got to celebrate. But, even if you don't, you still can improve that customer experience by shifting the way that you do things. Kelly Molson: And, that's the next thing that I want to talk about. How do attractions reimagine what they've been doing and be a bit more innovative moving forward from being able to open again?Stephen Spencer: For just the reasons that you said, I've always been slightly wary of the expression, "Build back better" because, superficially, great. But actually, I think it implies that we're trying to get back to what we were doing before but just a little bit better. Well, I don't know about you, but before the pandemic and before I knew there was going to be a pandemic, I had this feeling, and I think a lot of people did, that we couldn't go on the way we were going. Whether it was overtourism, obviously there was a lot of inequality and division in the world, we were literally on course to destroy the planet. And, it just felt like this isn't great. And then, we had that period of reflection in the first lockdown when if you had a garden, if you had access to green space, you had time on your hands, it was just wonderful to be able to reflect on, "Wouldn't it be great actually if the birds every year we're able to be born into a world that was that much cleaner? Or if the canals in Venice, bring it back to tourism, ran clear all the time, rather than views of Venice being dominated by these enormous ships?"Stephen Spencer: So, I've really tried to talk about building forward better, because I think it is about this process of true innovation, which is actually creating something new and different. So, to do that I think you have to be really, really clear on, what is your purpose? What is your reason for being? What is your vision? Organisations and consultants use smoke and mirrors to talk about purpose, and mission, and vision. But, when I talk about mission, I'm really referring to why we're in business, what we're trying to achieve. It's different for the public sector, and private sector, and third sector organisations. For the private sector, it may be about share price, or it may even be about selling the business at some point in the future. For museums and charities, it's about a very long-term project.Stephen Spencer: And then, vision, I say, "Why is that of interest to the customer, the visitor, the person that you're aiming that experience at?" And, within purpose is also values, and I think it's a great time to revisit mission vision values and say, "This is what we believe. This is the difference that we want to make in the world. Now, how do we go about it?" An example of that, back in 2012 I was helping to launch the Emirates Air Line cable car, in the run-up to the London Olympics and Paralympics. It had a very complex structure because it was ultimately owned by Transport for London, TFL, and then Docklands Light Railway, DLR, and then it was operated by the cable car company Doppelmayr. The front of house team was Continuum, which I was working for. The sponsor was Emirates. There was a security company and a cleaning company. I think there were about eight different stakeholders. Stephen Spencer: And, we had to design what the passenger experience would look like. And, we created, what we call, a passenger charter, which is basically everything you need to know as a new employee, and they're all new employees, and they're all coming from Newham in Greenwich. Most of the recruitment had already happened in Newham in Greenwich for the Olympics. So, we were sort of hoovering up what was left in a way. And, I mean that actually very positively, because what we got was a whole load of people who'd never worked in customer-facing roles before. Some of them had really interesting and quite often harrowing backstories about how they came to even be in London. And, there were 40 ethnic backgrounds across 100 initial recruits. And then, as I say, all these different brands. Stephen Spencer: So, how did you bring it all together? We came up with the very simple, what we called our vision statement, "Inspiring Journeys", and so everything had to be measured against inspiring journeys. So, the uniforms, they looked, rather than TFL uniforms, they looked like airline uniforms. But, when it came down to more mundane things like selling a ticket, issuing a refund, handling a lost property inquiry, we did not use the TFL standard procedures, which were, to put it mildly, bureaucratic and not very customer-friendly, because it wasn't inspiring journeys. We talked earlier about pre-opening training, when we ran pre-opening training on the passenger experience and presented each of the new recruits with their passenger charter, they were whopping, and cheering, and yelling, and stamping their feet at the end of these workshops. I've never had a reaction like it.Stephen Spencer: I had people asking me to autograph the charter for them because they felt it was such a special thing that they were doing. And within three months... Bearing in mind, we opened literally... It was such a steep learning curve. We had 30,000 passengers a day, almost from week two. We were moving ropes and stanchions around. I had to move 1000 people while they were all standing in these ropes and stanchions because it wasn't working, the queuing system. Again, that goes back to every interaction. You don't just look at a load of cattle in a pen and say, "Okay, that's the guest." You think about, "Hmm, the way they're queuing, it's not right, it's not working." The end of that story is that we came top of the TFL passenger survey for London within three months. From a standing start, never had a cable car before, these people had never worked in customer-facing roles before, but they all got what we were trying to deliver.Stephen Spencer: So, for attractions, obviously, not everyone can open a cable car, but you can go back to, "What is your essence?" This museum I was talking about earlier, they were founded in the 19th century and had quite a set offering, and they have re-imagined it for the 21st century in a way that makes it accessible to everybody. It's totally accessible. There's no one who can't actually find an angle for this to be relevant to them. So, I think it starts with that. We've created, not just for COVID, but for the long term, what we call our innovation toolkit, which facilitates this process. And, the middle part of the process is the fun part, because it's the brainstorming, it's the innovation facilitation. Where we say, "You've clarified your purpose. You've clarified your vision. You've also identified your assets. Because you've got some challenges, you've got some burning issues you have to deal with, whether it's financial or other issues that you have to deal with right now because otherwise, you'll be out of business. But, beyond that, you've identified what are your core assets. Now, we need to think about who are the potential audiences for those assets. And, of course, some of them, who were there before, are not there for the foreseeable future, or they've changed. So, we look at trends as well as segments. Stephen Spencer: Then, we look at all the different business models, all the different revenue models that you could... It doesn't have to be purely revenue, but because we're very much about sustainability and recovery, I think it's important that we identify every revenue opportunity. And we say, "If you take your asset where you're particularly strong, and you apply it to these audiences where it really resonates, and you've got these potential business models that you could..." I'm talking for attractions, it could be anything from a virtual curator tour to a new family play area, to a new petting zoo, it could be anything. Virtual, physical, or a combination of the two. Stephen Spencer: And then, you do some evaluation based on effort vs reward. There's a simple matrix that just allows you to prioritise your long list down to a shortlist, and now you can start to work out, "Which of those ideas can we turn into reality?" Some of them we can probably do very quickly, some of them are medium-term, others are longer-term aspirations. But, what should come out of that is something completely new. Because, you didn't start with, "This is what we do now, how can we make it a bit better?" You started with, "Why do we exist? We don't exist in a vacuum, so for whom does that matter? And what could we do?"Kelly Molson: One of the things that you talked about earlier was about getting the whole team involved, from marketing to operations, to front of house, in that whole customer experience journey. How do you do that from an innovation perspective? What can attractions do to foster a more innovative culture within their organisation so that people feel that they're part of that process, they can input to it? Stephen Spencer: I think one of the exciting things that definitely happened in the last year was that organisations had to become less siloed. Kelly Molson: Definitely.Stephen Spencer: You see lots and lots of organisations for all sorts of reasons, some of it historical over very long periods of years, but others quite new. When we had the cable car, we found that there was a different culture on the north side to the south side. The team members started saying, "Can we work on the south side today?" And when you probed and said, "Why?", "Oh, it's like being on holiday over there, it's lovely." And, part of the reason was because the management team was on the north side, so there was a bit more scrutiny, a bit more structure. And, we were like, "Crikey", that shows how quickly culture forms because that was within three months that happened. Stephen Spencer: So, not being siloed is a really difficult thing. But, because of COVID, so many organisations had to think across all departments, across all of those touchpoints, because they had to plan safe and also viable visitor experiences, visitor journeys. I think it's really important to keep that going. It's really important that departments all work together. The organisation and it surprises people when I say this, that I've worked in that was the least siloed was actually The Royal Collection. I'm very old, so I was lucky enough, one of the perks of age, to be around when Buckingham Palace first opened to the public, so I got to do the shop. We had a single mission at that time, which was to raise £37 million to restore Windsor Castle after the fire of 1992. I realise for many of your listeners it will be a revelation that Windsor burned in 1992 because they probably weren't even born, but look it up in the history books, it happened. And, it was really important that we raised this money, because the Government had tried initially to say the Government would pay, and there'd been a public outcry, and so it was declared that the Royal Household would raise the money itself. And so, opening Buckingham Palace to the public was one of the ways that it did this. Stephen Spencer: What I found was, we worked in an office where it didn't matter which department you were in, curators, curatorial people, marketing, commercial people, we were quite a small team, but we literally worked all cheek by jowl. So, you could pop into the office of the keeper of Queen's pictures and say, "I want to crop this picture to put on a range of stationery. I can't quite decide which bit to crop." In a lot of organisations, I know the curator would say, "You can't crop it. Don't put it on a range of stationery, it's not appropriate." Whereas, in an organisation where you might think that would be the reaction, it would just, "Yeah, I'd take that bit, because that's really fun if you do that. Look at the expression on that woman's face, that will really capture people." They loved helping. Stephen Spencer: Part of the reason was because we had a single objective, "We've got to raise £37 million, everything we do has to be commensurate with who we represent." Sorry, I always get a bit... It was such a powerful mission that we're all on. We didn't have big budgets. I was talking about the Duchess of Devonshire earlier, she was one of our trustees, and back before the current Queen's Gallery, the old Queen's Gallery was a real Heath Robinson affair. The shop was awful, it was a brightly lit Formica unit, harsh, totally unsuitable environment for what we were trying to do. Back in the day it turned over about £400,000 a year, even however bad it was. But, the Duchess kept saying, "This shop is a disgrace. It absolutely is a disgrace. Something needs to be done." We didn't have a big budget, but we had to do something because we had Debo on our case. So, we were given 25 grand, and it was about 1500 square feet of shop, and it needed everything doing, so it wasn't a lot of money.Stephen Spencer: We managed to get an off-cut of a carpet that was being woven as part of the restoration of the castle, which literally an off-cut carpeted the entire space. We borrowed some antique furniture. We found a fantastic designer called George Carter, who can make things look amazing with paint, and just great design, and great lighting. We transformed the shop, and the following year it took one and a half million pounds. The point was, we did not have a big budget. We had to use our ingenuity to find somebody who could do something on a very small budget, relative. We had to really translate what we thought a shop that was attached to Buckingham Palace should look and feel like, so that we could showcase products that people would want to buy. Because, they clearly couldn't get them anywhere else, and because they felt they were almost buying literally a product from the Royal Palace. That's what actually is important, that people are excited, people are emotionally stimulated. Stephen Spencer: On that customer journey, there is... Somebody I really admire called Colin Shaw, who is a bit of a guru of customer experience, and he talks about the peak and the end experience being the two most important for the overall creation of emotion and memory. And, of course, creating the right emotions, the right memories, is so important because so much now is dependent on word-of-mouth, and recommendation, and of course loyalty as well. So, the peak experience, if you go to The Tower of London, visiting the Crown Jewels. Is that a fantastic experience, or is it absolutely awful because you had to queue for an hour and there was no entertainment or cover, and it was raining, and you were shoved through, and everyone was rude to you, it just felt like it was a blur? Or, was that experience facilitated because there was entertainment for the queue, maybe Henry VII's jester was wandering up and down, and when you got inside you were allowed the time to interact with the exhibits, and you came out saying, "Wow, that was incredible"? Obviously, straight into the shop. Stephen Spencer: And then, the end experience, which of course for different attractions might mean different things. It might be the toilets. Really important, Duchess of Devonshire took us into her toilets, the gents toilets at The Orangery Restaurant at Chatsworth, to show us the mint and hand-painted tiles. And, told us, "The toilets are the most important part of the experience", and I've never forgotten that. But, it might be whether somebody says, "Thank you", or wishes you a safe journey, or crouches down to the children's level to talk to the children to find out what they thought of the experience. It's that that sends you off... We always talk about first impressions last, but last impressions are incredibly important. It's like when you have a lovely meal in a restaurant and you build up a rapport with the waiter or the waitress, and at the end, somebody else brings you a bill, and it's like, "Oh". It's like you're having dinner in a friends house and suddenly a complete stranger came to bring you your coats, and you didn't get to say goodbye to your friends. So, it's really powerful, but yet actually really quite simple. Stephen Spencer: Going back to what we started with, you go back to, "Who are my customers? What do they want? What's that emotional journey, as well as that physical journey? How well does it deliver on the brand promise, the value proposition? What are those memories that we're creating, and those emotions?"Kelly Molson: It feels like, from that story that you just shared as well, that the one thread that runs all the way through this, from all of the things that we've covered today, is about everybody in that team having one shared vision. Stephen Spencer: Yes.Kelly Molson: That everybody has that one shared vision. And, that is the core that runs through everything that you do from a customer experience.Stephen Spencer: Yeah. I was incredibly fortunate in my career to go and study at the Disney Institute. The Disney Institute, they don't currently, but they did run programs in the UK, and I know quite a few colleagues who've been on them. They weren't as good, because you weren't at Disney. Going to the Disney Institute is a totally immersive experience. But, the point is, the person in the laundry, the cleaner, it doesn't matter who you talk to, they have the same vision. And, that's how it always was from when Walt was around. They went through a wobble after Walt and then his brother Roy died. There's a really interesting book by Michael Eisner, who now runs Portsmouth Football Club, but he turned Disney around in the 90s about that. It is that idea that everyone has the same vision. Everyone knows and has the same vision of who the customers are. Everyone knows what we should be doing for them.Stephen Spencer: If you follow that up as far as possible with empowering people to do the right thing, which is probably a whole other podcast, that is very powerful too. Because, if people are on the same page they will know what is the right thing, and it's giving people confidence. We recommend teaching people storytelling techniques and communication techniques, as well as just teaching people about service standards. If you teach people that actually this is a skill, and it's a science, and it's an art... Going back to my earliest days in customer experience, we used to talk about French waiters and the fact that they have this immense pride in being a waiter. It's a profession, it's not a job that you just do while you wait for something better to come along. Stephen Spencer: So, if you can convince the people on the front line that they genuinely are as important... I go back to this museum that I was talking about earlier, that's their new approach, is that front of house and back of housework together. Back of house will regularly appear at the front line and talk to visitors. Is one team, because everyone's role is equally important. I don't know many organisations that really, really practice that. A few that might preach it. And, I'm not saying that it's not difficult to do, it's jolly difficult to do. It's jolly difficult, because if you're the leader of the organisation you have other pressures on you that quite often people out in the organisation don't know about or see. But, by the same token, I also learnt that delegation is just the greatest skill to learn, because the more you delegate, if you do it right, the more you empower people, the more you build them up, the more you develop them, the more you allow them to reach their full potential. And then, when the going gets tough, people don't stand back and say, "What are we doing now, Boss? What's your plan?" Everyone just instinctively gets stuck in. As we know, in visitor attractions, you never quite know what's going to happen from day to day. If everyone gets stuck in no matter what, it's more fun, it's definitely more productive, and it's definitely better for the customer. Kelly Molson: I think that's a very good note to end our podcast interview on.Stephen Spencer: I thought so, a little sound bite there.Kelly Molson: I've got one more question for you before you go, where can people find you? If they want to find out more about what you do and what you offer, where's the best place that they can find you?Stephen Spencer: Absolutely. The website is stephenspencerassociates.com. On social media, is Positive Stephen. On LinkedIn, we have a company page, and I'm on there as well. Do have a chat. We may have something specifically that we can offer, our Toolkit we're very excited about, and we'll be rolling that out over the next two to three months to show how it can work in different sectors. As you can tell, I just love talking about this stuff. So, if somebody just wants to have, let's say, a discussion about Line of Duty vs Spooks, then call me.Kelly Molson: Okay. If you want to do that, listeners, we will put all of Stephen's details in the show notes. So, if you missed the website address don't worry, just head to the show notes and they will all be there. Kelly Molson: We always end the podcast by asking if you have a book that you would recommend, so something that you love, or something that's helped shape your career in some way? Whatever you like. Stephen Spencer: Absolutely, I'll show it to you, although the listeners won't be able to see it. It's a book called The Pursuit of Wow! By Tom Peters. I didn't know who Tom Peters was, in 1997 I was very lucky to go on a five-star fam trip to Atlanta to find out about the merchandise mark there, and the facilities for retail buyers. But also, we were shown the very best of Atlanta from Martin Luther King's church, to the Jimmy Carter Library, to CNN, Coca-Cola. We had breakfast with Tom Peters. Stephen Spencer: For those who don't know, Tom Peters wrote the first business bestseller called In Search of Excellence, in 1982, which identified, "What are the traits that make companies successful over the long term?" They're still the traits that we would talk about today. Tom's still going strong. He blew me away with the power of his message and his delivery. It was very much about, We need to get back to, and he still talks about this today, people being the most important raison d'être for any organisation. The little things being the big things, so the details being the really crucial things that make or break experiences, make or break the business. He's passionate about women, as he says, "Women buy all the stuff, they make all the decisions, they're far better leaders than men." He's been saying that for about 30 years.Stephen Spencer: The Pursuit of Wow!, which is a book I went to buy when I'd heard him speak, I was just like, "Wow, I need to know more", is literally about how you can take any experience, however small, whatever size your budget, whatever sector you're in, and you can turn it into a, "Wow!" Experience. In other words, "Why should anyone be excited by this?" How many meetings have we sat in where we've planned things that, quite frankly, we're not excited about, so why should anybody else be excited about it? So, although it was written 20, 25 years ago, it is still my favourite book of Tom's. Stephen Spencer: His brand new book, which is just out, is called Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism, so you can tell he's still talking about the same things, and this is his post-COVID. He's 78 now. I've met him a couple of times, I've interacted with him on social media. And, I said to him, "I can no more believe that you're 78 than I can that Captain Kirk is 90." I got some smiley faces in response. Stephen Spencer: He's basically saying what I'm saying, which is it comes downs to customers interacting with people, and everything else is the luxury that you're afforded by either the fact that you have a site that is already set up, or you have big budgets. But, it will stand or fall on that human interaction. So, that's a message for everyone.Kelly Molson: Absolutely. I very much like the sound of Tom. Stephen Spencer: You'd love him, honestly, he's brilliant. Kelly Molson: I'm going to go and follow him.Stephen Spencer: Yes.Kelly Molson: Listeners, if you are interested in winning a copy of that book, as ever, if you head over to our Twitter account and you retweet this episode announcement with the words, "I want Stephen's book", then you will be in with a chance of winning it. Stephen, thank you so much for coming on today, I think this was an excellent discussion. I'm intrigued as to what the response will be for your unpopular opinion. Kelly Molson: I do hope that people take you up on your offer to have a chat, because I think that there's some really exciting concepts that you talk about there, and I think that they should be at the heart of what attractions are looking to do now they're reopening. So, thanks for coming on and sharing that.Stephen Spencer: An absolute pleasure, Kelly, thank you so much for having me.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five-star review, it really helps others find us. And, remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast. 

Recuperamos algo así como el formato más original del podcast para traeros la actualidad de la franquicia: Big Finish, Titan Comics, novelas, la entrevista a Chris Eccleston… y otras noticias que nos habría gustado no comentar. Hablamos también de qué nos gustaría ver en un universo más amplio de Doctor Who al más puro estilo Marvel o Star Wars, los videojuegos de DW y denunciamos un tongo. No hemos llegado a tocar todas las preguntas que nos mandasteis, las dejamos para una edición posterior no muy lejana en el tiempo. Hacednos saber qué os parece el formato y seguid proponiéndonos vuestras ideas a través de nuestros medios de contacto habituales. _________ La musica que suena en el episodio es: - Thirteen, de Ominous Voice, que suena al inicio https://whomix.windbubbles.net/remix/505 - Swamp Doctor, de Stereo Static que suena al final https://whomix.windbubbles.net/remix/267 _________ - Nuevos podcasts y canal de YT: + Podéis escuchar a Quim y su Mission to the Unknown aquí: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-mission-to-the-unknown_sq_f11160863_1.html y seguirlo en @MTTUPodcast en Twitter. + Los Ptings en la TARDIS (Nebur, Viva y Lucas) os matan suavemente con su canción en https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-ptings-en-la-tardis_sq_f11178767_1.html y los podéis seguir como @PtingenTARDIS en Twitter + Con el mismo nombre que el podcast de La Constante, damos la bienvenida al nuevo canal de Con T de Tardis en Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxoAJfqYB3M3iN4N53ovy4Q - Las noticias Big Finish de la semana: a. Se termina el evento TLV con Echoes of Extintion. https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-time-lord-victorious-echoes-of-extinction-2262 + Además TLV se redondea con la experiencia inmersiva Time Fracture en la que habrá cameos de David Bradley, Jemma Redgrave y John Barrowman y si vas a Inglaterra tienes toda la info en https://linktr.ee/dwtimefracture b. La nueva serie de UNIT que tanto le apetece a Esther es Nemesis y su primera entrega llegará en Noviembre. https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/unit-nemesis-1-2437 c. El nuevo evento o la gran sensación Big Finish es Dalek Universe y (¡oh, sorpresa!) está protagonizado por 10 https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-dalek-universe-1-2347 - Las noticias comiqueras de la semana: a. Fandogamia ya nos ha traído Conversión, el último número del primer tomo de 11 y Fran aprovecha para haceros recomendaciones comiqueras imprescindibles para Whovians: https://fandogamia.com/recien-llegados/350-11-doctor-who-03-conversion.html b. En noviembre se publicará una novela gráfica protagonizada por el Capitán Jack y que es un tie-in con el Episodio 2 de la temporada 13. Si quieres saber ms entra en el link bajo tu responsabilidad: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690782/doctor-who-2021-event-by-written-by-jody-houser/ c. Titan prepara ya un nuevo volumen de 13 en el que por fin vuelven los Sea Devils y Rose como líder de la resistencia humana en el universo paralelo como en la temporada 3. Disponible a partir del 11 de Mayo: https://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Comics-Vol-Alternating-ebook/dp/B08PVX54YM/ - Otras noticias: a. Alex Kingston es la nueva actriz de Doctor Who que se apunta a escribir una novela protagonizada por su personaje. Ruby's Curse nos trae de nuevo a River Song y a Melody Malone: https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/1385625103828926468 b. Mickey el idiota era realmente algo más que un idiota y otras noticias tristes de DW: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/apr/29/actor-noel-clarke-accused-of-groping-harassment-and-bullying-by-20-women c. La entrevista a Chris Eccleston en los dos últimos números de la DWM (563-564): https://panteondeladiscordia.com/category/dwm/

Recuperamos algo así como el formato más original del podcast para traeros la actualidad de la franquicia: Big Finish, Titan Comics, novelas, la entrevista a Chris Eccleston… y otras noticias que nos habría gustado no comentar. Hablamos también de qué nos gustaría ver en un universo más amplio de Doctor Who al más puro estilo Marvel o Star Wars, los videojuegos de DW y denunciamos un tongo. No hemos llegado a tocar todas las preguntas que nos mandasteis, las dejamos para una edición posterior no muy lejana en el tiempo. Hacednos saber qué os parece el formato y seguid proponiéndonos vuestras ideas a través de nuestros medios de contacto habituales. _________ La musica que suena en el episodio es: - Thirteen, de Ominous Voice, que suena al inicio https://whomix.windbubbles.net/remix/505 - Swamp Doctor, de Stereo Static que suena al final https://whomix.windbubbles.net/remix/267 _________ - Nuevos podcasts y canal de YT: + Podéis escuchar a Quim y su Mission to the Unknown aquí: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-mission-to-the-unknown_sq_f11160863_1.html y seguirlo en @MTTUPodcast en Twitter. + Los Ptings en la TARDIS (Nebur, Viva y Lucas) os matan suavemente con su canción en https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-ptings-en-la-tardis_sq_f11178767_1.html y los podéis seguir como @PtingenTARDIS en Twitter + Con el mismo nombre que el podcast de La Constante, damos la bienvenida al nuevo canal de Con T de Tardis en Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxoAJfqYB3M3iN4N53ovy4Q - Las noticias Big Finish de la semana: a. Se termina el evento TLV con Echoes of Extintion. https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-time-lord-victorious-echoes-of-extinction-2262 + Además TLV se redondea con la experiencia inmersiva Time Fracture en la que habrá cameos de David Bradley, Jemma Redgrave y John Barrowman y si vas a Inglaterra tienes toda la info en https://linktr.ee/dwtimefracture b. La nueva serie de UNIT que tanto le apetece a Esther es Nemesis y su primera entrega llegará en Noviembre. https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/unit-nemesis-1-2437 c. El nuevo evento o la gran sensación Big Finish es Dalek Universe y (¡oh, sorpresa!) está protagonizado por 10 https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-dalek-universe-1-2347 - Las noticias comiqueras de la semana: a. Fandogamia ya nos ha traído Conversión, el último número del primer tomo de 11 y Fran aprovecha para haceros recomendaciones comiqueras imprescindibles para Whovians: https://fandogamia.com/recien-llegados/350-11-doctor-who-03-conversion.html b. En noviembre se publicará una novela gráfica protagonizada por el Capitán Jack y que es un tie-in con el Episodio 2 de la temporada 13. Si quieres saber ms entra en el link bajo tu responsabilidad: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690782/doctor-who-2021-event-by-written-by-jody-houser/ c. Titan prepara ya un nuevo volumen de 13 en el que por fin vuelven los Sea Devils y Rose como líder de la resistencia humana en el universo paralelo como en la temporada 3. Disponible a partir del 11 de Mayo: https://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Comics-Vol-Alternating-ebook/dp/B08PVX54YM/ - Otras noticias: a. Alex Kingston es la nueva actriz de Doctor Who que se apunta a escribir una novela protagonizada por su personaje. Ruby's Curse nos trae de nuevo a River Song y a Melody Malone: https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/1385625103828926468 b. Mickey el idiota era realmente algo más que un idiota y otras noticias tristes de DW: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/apr/29/actor-noel-clarke-accused-of-groping-harassment-and-bullying-by-20-women c. La entrevista a Chris Eccleston en los dos últimos números de la DWM (563-564): https://panteondeladiscordia.com/category/dwm/

Frequent does not mean trivial and simple does not mean easy!  Says Dr. Chris Eccleston, PhD, director Center for Pain and Research at the University of Bath. A primary goal of medicine is to relieve pain and suffering. Sadly though, this is poorly achieved, especially when it comes to pediatric patients, despite ample evidence for the detrimental longitudinal effects of poorly managed pain in kids. Children’s pain should also be prioritized, yet why is is so hard to do that? How then do we make pediatric pain matter, visible, understood and better? In this episode, Dr Eccleston joins us to talk about how we can deliver transformative action in pediatric pain and make it matter. Dr. Chris is a Professor of Pain Science at the University of Bath in the UK, and he runs the Center for Pain and Research at the university. His contributions to clinical and research aspects of pediatric pain medicine  are immense. He has extensively written and published scientific and educational articles and stories that help the reader think from a new perspective. And today, we’re discussing the paper/commission he wrote for the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, including the behind the scenes story of that commission, and what inspired them to write it! Takeaways In This Episode:   How Dr. Eccleston got interested in pediatric pain management Reasons why for pediatric pain (or chronic pain in general) does not get acknowledged and therefore not addressed Factors that contribute to sustained conversations and attention to an issue. Why we may have a propensity to diminish others' pain The starting point for making improvements to pediatric pain. Discussion about the Lancet Commission paper on pediatric pain and what inspired Dr. Eccleston to write this about pediatric pain How we deliver transformative action in pediatric pain The 4 transformative goals  What does equity  mean when it comes to pain and how must we work on making it an important issue What to expect from this Lancet Commission article and what Dr Eccleston's hopes are. Dr Eccleston' advice for healthcare professionals, the importance of serendipity, community and connection Links Christopher Eccleston PhD The Lancet Commission - Delivering Transformative Action in Pediatric Pain Center for Pain Research IASP  PICH (Pain in Child Health) research training  Cochrane Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care  Leadership Rx for Women Physicians FREE Clinicians' Pain Evaluation Toolkit Proactive Pain Solutions   About the Author Christopher Eccleston PhD Christopher Eccleston PhD is a Professor of Pain Science at the University of Bath in the UK and the Director of the multidisciplinary centre for pain research.   His work has been focused on evidence based pain management, therapy development, technology innovation, and behavioral science.  He has authored over 280 peer reviewed scientific publications and 3 books in the general field of pain, interoception, evidence based medicine, pain management, and digital therapeutics.   He was awarded the British Pain Society Medal in 2012, the Pain Champion Award for Contributions to European Pain Policy from the European Pain Federation in 2018, and the ‘Ronald Melzack’ award for pain science from the International Association for the Study of Pain in 2018.   He has chaired the University of Bath ethics and integrity committee (2018-) , and have held key editorial positions as a senior editor in Cochrane (2010-2020), and as the field editor for psychology in the journal PAIN (2010-2020).    His work is rooted in his beliefs; "I aim to put the body back into psychology and psychology back into medicine. I’m interested in ensuring that the science we do is rigorous, and that integrity is assured in research and publication practice."       

The News We recap the official viewing figures for Revolution of the Daleks and some details on Chris Eccleston's first story at Big Finish. Review story this episode: SJA - Lost in Time We are coming to the end of series 4 for SJA now so how are the stories holding up? Does this still have and continue the SJA magic? Coming next week: Terror of the Zygons Back to some classic Who next week for as we look at the Zygon's first appearance up against the Fourth Doctor. Thank you all for listening to the show. Until next time have a great week, take care of yourselves, stay safe, healthy and remember – Allons-y! Support this podcast

Nick and Benji present… Reviews: Dracula's War … Preview: Doctor Who Short Trips: The Shattered Hourglass … Christopher Eccleston Interview… Drama Tease: A Christmas favourite!

The NewsA new digital trading card game is coming later this year and Chris Eccleston is coming back. Yes, you heard that correctly, Chris Eccleston will back as The Doctor at Big Finish. The MerchNo merch this week. Review story this episode: The Key to Time Part 5 - The Power of KrollAre those auditionees for the old Incredible Hulk series? Anyway, The Doctor and Romana are closing in on the fifth segment but there's the little problem of a giant squid. Coming next week: The Key to Time Part 6 - The Armageddon FactorWe conclude our The Key to Time series reviews with the final chapter. Lots going on in this six-parter so join us as we wrap it all up. Thank you all for listening, and until then have a great week, take care of yourselves, stay healthy and remember – Allons-y! Support this podcast

@DaveBandana: I've managed to treat my hayfever very well over the last week (I'm a real man, @Mr_SmallPackage), so what I'd like to know is what are the best alternative medicines that you've ever taken? Whether it was for anything from a cold or a hangover.   @StaySafeRovers: Is there a football team or a city yous have a special place for in your heart that yous dont support for any mad reason. for me accrington Stanley and Granada will always have a special place in my heart they were the only two teams I would constantly win money on back in my gambling days   @Eoin_Davis1: Thoughts on the PS5 reveal and TLOU2 coming out this week   @jmolloy1985: been in more virtual meetings & wary as to if my intention is coming across right, wondering have you said something in a promo/video you wish you could take back or amend?e.g with it been pride month would @AMTRick do the promo differently this yr?   @WolfOfTheBoro: Favourite bit of wrestling merch from your childhood and/or adulthood? I had an inflatable Stone Cold Steve Austin that was ideal for practicing a Lou Thesz press on!    @IrishSlamDan: If each of you was a square on a monopoly board....   - Where would you place yourself? - Where would you place each other?   @MrLyndaBlock: Fuck marry kill Big Bang theory  Sheldon  Leonard Howard    @SeanMacSamhrain: Rewatching DrWho atm, is there any show you’re rewatching/have watched in gen where an actors role is undervalued by the fan base? Watching season 1 of modern DrWho and Chris Eccleston’s performance is amazing but ppl only talk about David Tennant and Matt Smith.    @ItsLauraB83: Had a question for @HashtagLowBlows #asklowblows and I wrote it down. Can I find the stick it that I wrote it on... NOPE so I will just ask, if you could have dinner party with 5 people dead or alive who would you choose? Sorry lads if you been ask this before.   @joestodge: Whats the most disgusting thing you’ve ever seen a coworker do?    A lad (anto) cut off his finger with a bench saw we had to look for it coz the saw fired it across the factory Another lad found it and said anto your picking my nose and jammed the finger up his nose   @EMSProWrestling: The world is a pretty dark place at the moment so my question this week is looking for something positive.  What is the nicest random act of kindness you have experience in wrestling? Mine was not too long after I started wrestling and was struggling to do anything. I was trying to do flip bumps after training. Upon seeing I was getting nowhere fast @DebbieKeitel came over and spent 15 minutes making sure I became comfortable with it and got me doing them properly. Although it was a small thing in hindsight it probably made me stay at wrestling given my mindset on how I was doing at the time. Thanks Debbie   @cluelessnerd: what is the stupidest thing you have heard someone do that wasn’t you?   Example, my parents flew to Manchester for a gig a few years back only to discover when they checked into their hotel that the gig was the night before so they missed it   @SimpsonsWWE: what’s your favorite conspiracy theory?    Mines the Denver airport one, some think it’s home to a massive underground city to be used by the New World Order when the end of the world comes. It’s full of Masonic imagery and murals.   @Midget_Mammy: What is the worst/most embarrassing thing you've ever been caught doing?   @KentoCCFC: Quickfire round! Erase something from the following groups from existence   Day of the week Irish food brand Stereotype about wrestling Stereotype about wrestling fans Part of the United Kingdom Colour of the rainbow Match result/moment from wrestling history Month of the year   @Bryanamaniac: You're asked to create wrestling jukebox musical. Pick 5 wrestlers entrance theme songs for the musical and 1 of the songs you pick is the name of your musical.

In this episode recorded LIVE! at the 2018 Denver Comic Con Ken moderates two different discussions with Doctor Who royalty. First up is The Doctor himself, David Tennant. Ken and David discuss Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer, Randall and Hopkirk Deceased, Nevermind the Buzzcocks, the live broadcast of The Quatermass Experiment, Doctor Who, Tom Baker, Peter Davidson, Russel T. Davies, the responsibility of being the Doctor, an exclusive club for former Doctors, being merchandise, Broadchurch, Scrooge McDuck, immodesty, Presbyterian guilt, Scotland, Jessica Jones, Kilgrave, playing evil characters, Ken's shirt, the nature of heroes, Good Omens, Camping, the nature of accents, Hogwart's House, being a voice actor, the power of educators, throwing phones and books. Next up Ken welcomes everyone's favorite companion, Rose Tyler herself Billie Piper. Ken and Billie discuss her days in drama school, her teenage music career, her lack of familiarity with Doctor Who before she was cast, traveling the United States, Matt Smith, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Chris Eccleston, Robert DeNiro, how to deal with being in the public limelight, ridding yourself of the criticism of social media, the music industry, the changing world of acting, having to be your own PR person, Penny Dreadful, having David Tennant be your assistant, the inappropriate nature of John Barrowman, the romance at the center of Doctor Who, the popularity of UK shows in the United States, the perils of fame, and stealing a legacy for your uninterested children's future.

Welcome to Episode 182… The News Some serious talk on Chris Eccleston appearing at London Film and Comic Con and cons in general. Merch Corner Finally(!) the Series 9 soundtrack... The post https://www.bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk/ep182/ (Sarah Jane Adventures – Ep182: Free Bubble Shock!) appeared first on https://www.bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk (The Doctor Who Big Blue Box Podcast). Support this podcast

A cranky Chris (Eccleston), a snippet of Steven (Moffat) and a serendipitous Series 11 opening sequence concept are all in the news this week, but let’s be honest, you’re here for the trenchant insights of one Kyle Anderson of Doctor Who: The Writer’s Room podcast and Nerdist fame (and, we suppose, the Three Who Rule’s meagre offerings) as we delve into the second of our three-part Malcolm Hulke Miniscope with a look at “Colony in Space”, “The Sea Devils”, “Frontier in Space”, and “Invasion of the Dinosaurs”! Links: – #WhoAgainstGuns – Eccleston speaks out about his time on Doctor Who – Snippet of Moffat’s first Day of the Doctor draft – eBook release of A Second Target for Tommy – Stuart Manning’s Series 11 opening sequence – Doctor Who Infinity game trailer – Doctor Who Infinity interview with Susan Cummings Miniscope: – Malcolm Hulke – Kyle Anderson

Rob and Dave discuss Doctor 13, Jodie Whittaker. Featuring listener emails and a special audio from The Rev. As always, you can write to us: hello@theDWshow.net - Jodie Whittaker graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2005 with a gold medal in Acting. Since then she has worked continually in Film, Television and Theatre. Her TV credits include the critically acclaimed ITV drama Broadchurch (for which she was nominated for Best Actress for the RTS Television Awards), Emmy award-winning Black Mirror, Sky 1's The Smoke, BBC's Cranford, in which she starred opposite Judi Dench and Imelda Staunton, The Night Watch (BBC), The Accused (BBC), and Tess of the D'Urbervilles (BBC). Jodie has recently finished shooting Journeyman, written and directed by Paddy Considine, as is the lead in the new BBC drama series Trust Me. Her other film credits include Venus, (which earned her nominations for Best Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards; Best British Newcomer at the Critics' Circle Awards and Best Actress In A Motion Picture at the Satellite Awards); Attack The Block, One Day, Black Sea, Good Vibrations, St.Trinian's, Get Santa and most recently Adult Life Skills, which she Executive Produced as well as starred in which received a number of BIFA nominations. Jodie made her professional theatrical debut at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in The Storm. Other theatre credits include playing the title role in Antigone at the Royal National Theatre, Bash at the Trafalgar Studios, Awake And Sing and Enemies at the Almeida, both directed by the then Artistic Director Michael Attenborough. - 1. What does it feel like to be the Thirteenth Doctor? It's very nerve-racking, as it's been so secret! 2. Why did you want the role? To be asked to play the ultimate character, to get to play pretend in the truest form: this is why I wanted to be an actor in the first place. To be able to play someone who is literally reinvented on screen, with all the freedoms that brings - what an unbelievable opportunity. And added to that, to be the first woman in that role. 3. Has it been hard to keep the secret? Yes. Very hard! I've told a lot of lies! I've embroiled myself in a whole world of lies which is going to come back at me when this is announced! 4. Who was the first person you told when you got the role? My husband. Because I was allowed to! 5. Did you have a codename and if so what was it? In my home, and with my agent, it was The Clooney. Because to me and my husband, George is an iconic guy. And we thought, what's a really famous iconic name? It was just fitting. 6. What does it feel like to be the first woman Doctor? It feels completely overwhelming; as a feminist, as a woman, as an actor, as a human, as someone who wants to continually push themselves and challenge themselves, and not be boxed in by what you're told you can and can't be. It feels incredible. 7. What do you want to tell the fans? I want to tell the fans not to be scared by my gender. Because this is a really exciting time, and Doctor Who represents everything that's exciting about change. The fans have lived through so many changes, and this is only a new, different one, not a fearful one. 8. What are you most excited about? I'm most excited about becoming part of a family I didn't even know existed. I was born in 1982 - it's been around longer than me, and it's a family I couldn't ever have dreamed I'd be part of. 9. How did Chris sell you the part? We had a strange chat earlier this year where he tricked me into thinking we were talking about Broadchurch. And I started to quiz him about his new job in Wales, and asked him if I could be a baddie! And he quickly diverted the conversation to suggest I should consider auditioning to be the 13th Clooney. It was the most incredible chat because I asked every question under the sun, and I said I'd take a few weeks to decide whether I was going to audition. He got a phone call within 24 hours. He would've got a phone call sooner, but my husband was away and there was a time difference! 10. Did he persuade you? No. There was no persuasion needed. If you need to be persuaded to do this part, you're not right for this part, and the part isn't right for you. I also think, for anyone taking this on, you have to want to fight for it, which I certainly had to do. I know there will have been some phenomenal actors who threw their hats in the ring. 11. What are you going to wear? I don't know yet. 12. Is that your costume in the filmed sequence which introduced you as the new Doctor? No. 13. Have any of the other Doctors given you advice? Well they can't because they haven't known until now, but I'm certainly expecting a couple of calls - I've got a couple of mates in there. I'm mates with a companion [Arthur Darvill], I'm mates with a trio of Doctors. I know Matt Smith, Chris Eccleston and obviously David Tennant. Oh! And let's throw in David Bradley! Four Doctors! So I'm hoping I get some calls of advice. - The BBC today announced to the world that Jodie Whittaker will be the new Doctor Who. The identity of the new Doctor was revealed exclusively on BBC One and on social media around the world after the Men's Wimbledon Final on Sunday 16 July. She will be the Thirteenth Time Lord and take over from Peter Capaldi, who leaves the global hit show at Christmas. New head writer and executive producer Chris Chibnall, who takes over from Steven Moffat on the next series, made the decision to cast the first ever woman in the iconic role. Jodie Whittaker says: “I'm beyond excited to begin this epic journey with Chris and with every Whovian on this planet. It's more than an honour to play the Doctor. It means remembering everyone I used to be, while stepping forward to embrace everything the Doctor stands for: hope. I can't wait.” Chris Chibnall, New Head Writer and Executive Producer, says : “After months of lists, conversations, auditions, recalls, and a lot of secret-keeping, we're excited to welcome Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. "I always knew I wanted the Thirteenth Doctor to be a woman and we're thrilled to have secured our number one choice. Her audition for The Doctor simply blew us all away. Jodie is an in-demand, funny, inspiring, super-smart force of nature and will bring loads of wit, strength and warmth to the role. The Thirteenth Doctor is on her way.” Peter Capaldi says: “Anyone who has seen Jodie Whittaker's work will know that she is a wonderful actress of great individuality and charm. She has above all the huge heart to play this most special part. She's going to be a fantastic Doctor.” Charlotte Moore, BBC Director of BBC Content, says: “Making history is what Doctor Who is all about and Chris Chibnall's bold new take on the next Time Lord is exactly that. The nation is going to fall in love with Jodie Whittaker - and have lots of fun too!” Piers Wenger, Controller BBC Drama, says : "Jodie is not just a talented actor but she has a bold and brilliant vision for her Doctor. She aced it in her audition both technically and with the powerful female life force she brings to the role. She is destined to be an utterly iconic Doctor." Matt Strevens, Executive Producer, says : "I'm so thrilled that Jodie Whittaker said yes to playing the Doctor. I've been a fan for years and always hoped to work with her. She is an actor of great emotional range and inhabits every role with complete passion and conviction. Just thinking about what she will bring to the Doctor makes me as excited as a kid at Christmas. It's going to be a lot of fun."

Writer/creator Damon Lindelof, director/executive producer Mimi Leder, and co-stars Ann Dowd, Chris Eccleston, Carrie Coon discuss the first season of the HBO series and what's coming next.Recorded June 7, 2015 at ATX

Mal Young was Head of BBC drama who commissioned the return of Doctor Who. He hired Russell T Davies & they together got Chris Eccleston to be the new Doctor. Without him, none of this happens. We talk to him about all of that & his work on Brookside, Casualty, Holby City, the Bill & so much more. He gives us a master class in working your way up from an extra to running the show in one of his first interviews about Doctor Who in 10 years.Find Mal Young on twitter @MalYoungGallifrey Stands is sponsored by http://www.DottiesCharms.co.uk. Check out the Doctor Who range today. Gallifrey Stands can be found at on twitter @DoctorSquee, by email GallifreyStandsPodcast@gmail.com, on stitcher, iTunes & http://gallifreystandspodcast.podbean.com & on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1481026762176392/ You can buy the GallifreyStands lipbalm @ https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/209093664/gallifrey-stands-geek-stix-inspired-by?ref=shop_home_active_12

A return appearance for the Slitheen in this week’s 2005 series commentary Doctor Who: Boom Town, which showrunner Russell T Davies wrote for Annette Badland and as a character piece it’s one of the best episodes of the season for both herself and Chris Eccleston.   You can read more about this week’s story here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boom_Town_(Doctor_Who)   End theme is Bad Wolf Remix by Allan Spears   The show is now on Facebook please join the group for exclusive behind the scenes insights and of course also discuss and feedback on the show https://www.facebook.com/groups/187162411486307/   If you want to send me comments or feedback you can email them to tdrury2003@yahoo.co.uk or contact me on twitter where I'm @tdrury or send me a friend request and your comments to facebook where I'm Tim Drury and look like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdrury/3711029536/in/set-72157621161239599/ in case you were wondering.