BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / The "Good News" thread

**Posted by mrshouse** April 14, 2015 1:53 pm

Guysguysguys, I'm so excited!!!
My heart rate must be through the roof! Guess what my lovely parents and my lovely aunt got me: an autograph from Ben!!!! And it's not printed and this is not a drill and it's lovely and most wonderful and it only took a couple of weeks! And now I need to get a proper frame and hug it and care for it and...awwwww!!!!!!

**Posted by tonnaree** April 14, 2015 1:55 pm

Much good news!!!! (((hugs Phantom and mrshouse)))

**Posted by SolarSystem** April 14, 2015 2:50 pm

mrshouse, you are aware of course that you need to post of pic of it, right...?

**Posted by mrshouse** April 14, 2015 2:54 pm

Hm, how can I do that from my mobile....? Too dumb.... I'll try later on the PC.

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** April 14, 2015 5:27 pm

OMG mrshouse!!! You lucky woman!!

**Posted by Harriet** April 14, 2015 7:52 pm

A lucky day for all those who posted here! Glad for you!

**Posted by ukaunz** April 15, 2015 12:23 pm

Your news is great news mrshouse!

I got a follow-up to my email... Well, I didn't actually get a reply from my tv-famous friend, but he forwarded it to two other people who also lived in the flat at the same time (it was a big, multicultural house of about 10 residents and we all had a great summer together in 1999). Anyway, it turns out several of them are still in touch with each other, and two of them also got married! So my hubby and I aren't the only ones... And I'm back in contact with a bunch of old friends

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** April 15, 2015 12:50 pm

That is so lovely! I'm happy for you ukaunz!

Not really the same... but last week I saw someone from my advanced German class 6 years ago on TV... it was actually good to see her.

I had been wondering what happened to her; the last time I saw her she packed her stuff away with tears in her eyes because her boyfriend had been killed just months before our graduation.
I never really got along with her, but she was a really interesting girl (I also had a crush on her...) but I never stopped wondering how her life went after that.

She was on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, a charity version where she and a friend were competing to win money for some riding school. She looked healthy and happy and it was good to see.

**Posted by mrshouse** April 15, 2015 1:10 pm

That sounds really great, ukaunz and Phantom! It's so nice to meet old friends again and see that they are alive and well.

**Posted by ukaunz** April 15, 2015 2:45 pm

mrshouse wrote:
Guysguysguys, I'm so excited!!!
My heart rate must be through the roof! Guess what my lovely parents and my lovely aunt got me: an autograph from Ben!!!! And it's not printed and this is not a drill and it's lovely and most wonderful and it only took a couple of weeks! And now I need to get a proper frame and hug it and care for it and...awwwww!!!!!!

Can I ask how they got you an autograph? Did they send something for him to sign? I'm writing a letter to Benedict and still trying to decide whether to ask for an autograph. Do people usually just print out a picture and send it to him hoping he will return it with his signature on it? Or does he send out his own photos?

**Posted by mrshouse** April 15, 2015 3:09 pm

In the end it didn't turn out too difficult. My auntie had the idea and it happened that my parents were on a trip to London for a couple of days. So my aunt did the research on the web for the fan mail and autograph adress and she and my mum ( she was an English teacher for 40 years) wrote a letter to go with an envelope with the adress to be sent back. And when my parents were in London they just went to a postal office, bought British stamps and sent it to the said adress. They're all three in their seventies, so as simple as it sounds, I think it was a bit of effort. I think from Germany the most difficult part might be to properly pay for the return.
That won't keep me from trying stage doors when we go to see Hamlet, of course...

**Posted by mrshouse** April 15, 2015 3:09 pm

Oh, and I forgot to mention that they send their own pictures.

**Posted by ukaunz** April 15, 2015 10:37 pm

Thanks for the info mrshouse

**Posted by Harriet** April 15, 2015 10:41 pm

Perhaps UK fans or fans who visit the UK could help sending / bringing stamps to friends in the rest of the world?

**Posted by Ah-chie** April 16, 2015 3:32 am

Am I missing something here?

Are International Reply Coupons (IRCs) not available any longer? That's the accepted way of sending postage with things you want sent back from a foreign land, as far as I know. You can buy them at any post office to the best of my knowledge. We did it all the time when we wanted someone to return things to us without incurring any cost to themselves.

Why couldn't you have just sent the appropriate return postage for the envelope by including some IRCs in the original package?

But perhaps I have just misunderstood the situation? If that's the case - I apologise for butting in.

-Val

**Posted by ukaunz** April 16, 2015 5:52 am

Yes I have heard of IRCs but have never used them before, so I wasn't completely sure how they worked. I was going to ask at the post office next time I was there.

**Posted by batchlock** April 16, 2015 1:28 pm

I got my phone case yesterday! I'm so happy with it :D

**Posted by ukaunz** April 16, 2015 1:32 pm

That's brilliant

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** April 16, 2015 2:20 pm

That's gorgeous!

**Posted by Russell** April 16, 2015 3:52 pm

Ah-chie wrote:
Am I missing something here?

Are International Reply Coupons (IRCs) not available any longer? That's the accepted way of sending postage with things you want sent back from a foreign land, as far as I know. You can buy them at any post office to the best of my knowledge. We did it all the time when we wanted someone to return things to us without incurring any cost to themselves.

Why couldn't you have just sent the appropriate return postage for the envelope by including some IRCs in the original package?

But perhaps I have just misunderstood the situation? If that's the case - I apologise for butting in.

-Val

Uh, yeah! Back when I decided to try my hand at it and send the Sherlock guys a printed picture (requesting autographed), letter, and SASE, I used those. Of them, only Rupert ever used them and sent me the pic back, but a little disappointing no idea whether it was simply them being too busy, or anything to do with the post. Still… it was pretty cool.