The Team

According to his parents, Peter was born outside a village called Wedlock. At school he was always the Teacher’s pet. They kept him in a cage at the back of the classroom. After leaving full time education at the tender age of 31, Peter started looking for a career that would suit his temperament and fully use his educational capabilities. The job at Lidl stacking shelves did not last long but it was a springboard into showbiz. As lead singer for “Dicky Heart and the Pacemakers” he toured the high spots of Basingstoke and Horsham. It was during this period he got a call from the Phileas Fogg Theatre Company. He was offered the opportunity to become Assistant Bottle Washer. After years of training, dedication and hard work he is now Executive Assistant Bottle Washer. He hopes to be awarded the Nobel Prize for his lemon meringue pie recipe and is currently the British Hide and Seek Champion. His philosophy can be summed up by his profound saying, “There is many a cat wot has sat in front of the fire and got its bum burned”

Charles Septimus Grundle was found under a gooseberry bush on the 9th day of November, at some time in the last millennium. He was raised in the Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiogogogoch. Because he could never pronounce it or spell it, he tells everyone he is from Cardiff. After leaving The Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls, several jobs followed; a hod carrier for Lego and a bouncer for Mothercare. It was after he tried his luck as a soot juggler that the call of the theatre beckoned. It was there he found his true vocation and went from strength to strength and is now famed as the best actor to ever have come from Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogg-ogoch. In a nutshell, Charlie´s motto has always been "Dimitte me lambere faciem tuam!"

We won Petra in a raffle. Since then she has become Fogg’s “Miss Moneypenny”. Her 1st job was for a well-known Dutch snijbonenmolen manufacturer. Her task was to put the snij in the bonenmolen. She was so successful that the company moved her to Portugal. Unfortunately Portugal was not ready for such an innovative product, so the factory had to close. She has one child at the moment who she has called Snij She is hoping for twins next time who she is planning to call Bonen and Eric

When Super – Jen was born on the distant planet of Basingstoke, she always dreamed of travelling far and wide. She spent 3 years in South Wales honing the skills that would keep her away from Basingstoke. She found Spain and loved life there so much she spent 5 years enjoying it. Then in January 2014 she discovered The Netherlands. What keeps Super – Jen in the land of the Nethers? The lovely people and beautiful landscape? Yes, but above all: Stroopwafels, stamppot and microwaveable cheeseburgers!

Peter is tall and skinny with ginger hair and blue eyes. He was raised in the slums of Middlesborough, by a gang of thieves, living on a diet of 'parmos' (a Teeside takeaway delicacy) and black puddin'! He was eventually kidnapped by a band of travelling minstrels and made to perform in their vaudeville show that toured the north-east of England. The end of the show was a singing tap-routine which could educate about the workings of Microsoft Word, and was performed in prisons and other reformatory institutes to help the inmates come to grips with such technology. He was voted Top Educational Performer 2002 by The Grundian’s Theatre Supplement. He hopes to create such pizazz with his work in The Netherlands.

Melanie was born in a small village in Zambia or Zimbabwe or somewhere beginning with Z. (Zwolle perhaps?) Her early years were spent running bare foot through the savannahs, chasing gnus or wildebeest as they are also known as. (so, maybe not Zwolle) The love of the outdoors and one gnu in particular have stayed with her all her life. She moved to England in a tearful state, mainly because she had to leave George, her favourite gnu behind. Her life changed when she won the Montreux Octopus, freestyle, eating competition. She is now engaged in knitting a full size George the Gnu.

Despite having the surname of McSporran, Kyle was not born in the Highlands of Scotland. This may explain why he does not like haggis, whiskey, Robbie Burns or bagpipes. He does, however, in the privacy of his home and only at weekends, enjoy putting on his kilt and quoting lines from the film Braveheart. It was this film that inspired him to become an actor. His only limitation to the roles he takes on is that he insists on wearing the same face make up as Mel Gibson did, for every part. He also insists on calling everyone “Jimmy”.

Alexa was brought up in an out of way and quaint little village called Winslow in Buckinghamshire. This was invaded by the Danes in 960, the Normans in 1067, the French in 1415 and the Dutch in 1657, but no one noticed. With the genes and blood of all these marauding races in her, it is no wonder she has a wanderlust and finds it hard to stay in one place. The creditors, who are also chasing her, added to her roving behaviour. Her idea of heaven is working out, watching films, going out for meals and pampering herself. This she manages to achieve in one go; she takes her rowing machine, which is equipped with a dvd player in to restaurants, eats with one hand while the other is being manicured. Now working in the Netherlands, with its ancient heritage, history of world renowned painters and sculptors, it’s reputation for producing exquisite flowers and cheeses, her favourite aspect of Dutch culture indulging in Chocomel with Slagroom.

The question of who actually wrote the plays of Shakespeare has fascinated Mary since college. She had a eureka moment when she saw the four opening words of Macbeth, When Shall We Three. By using the first letter of each word could mean, “William Shakespeare Wrote This”. She was now on a quest to find further clues in his works. The theory Francis Bacon was the real playwright was disproved when she realised, “To Be Or Not To Be”, really spelled out “That Bacon, Obviously Not The Bard!” To add to her theory, she saw, “Friends Romans And Countrymen”, from Julius Caesar, could mean Francis? Really! Absolute Claptrap!” Her quest continues. Mary has also told us she was a 14th century Tibetan female cobbler in a previous life.

Ivan was born in the wilds of Northumberland the son of an itinerant kipper salesman and the local public convenience attendant’s assistant. Cruelly denied a career in his first love of rabbit taming, due to injury, Ivan turned his thoughts to nobler pursuits and immediately began a life of devoted public service as a fish and chip sampler in Whitley Bay. A brief sojourn to Spain*, via Bognor Regis, opened Ivan’s eyes to the possibilities of the world and to the fact that there was more to life than battered cod. Haddock for instance. Since then Ivan has been doing his civic duty by sampling fish dishes in various European countries leading to him working for Phileas Fogg, after he misunderstood the title, due to an inherent inability to think, and believed it to be a sought after Dutch delicacy similar to Kibbeling. He has also done some theatre. *This may have been Aberdeen. His compass was broken.

Ben can trace his infatuation for history and historical figures back to a very young age. At primary school he was cast as Gaspar, one of the three wise men, in the Nativity play. Even at that young age Ben was determined to bring drama and theatrical accuracy to his role. Dressed in robes complete with flowing white beard he brought his younger brother on to the stage. His brother had green face make up and a bolt through his neck. He lurched on, arms outstretched while Ben delivered his only line; “I bring to you my gift of Frankenstein!” Ben loves researching and donning authentic costumes of famous people of the past, his favourites being Genghis Khan, Nelson and Madame Curie. His pièce de résistance can be seen in the photograph, Helen of Troy.

James Bond has always been a hero of Roxanne, so from childhood her ambition has been to become a secret agent. She was recruited by the newly formed MI7, which specialises in the shady world of theatrical espionage. Whilst at the University of Manchester studying for a degree in drama, she uncovered and exposed a nefarious gang of actors intending to flood the country with cheap, dangerous and illegal Groucho Marx masks. After getting her degree, she knew she needed Lacoq. So she travelled to Paris to the École Internationale de Théâtre. As ‘Hufflepuff 468’ in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2, she thwarted a gang attempting to bribe a quidditch team to lose, in order to defraud gamblers. In the photograph we see Roxanne ready to infiltrate the paramilitary wing of a pratfall of clowns

The two loves of Ashley’s life are acting and making scale models of airplanes from tin foil. His acting skills and achievements, as we all know, are legendary and hardly need mentioning here. As a child he would take the tin foil from the tops of milk bottles and create simple but accurate models. His heart was almost broken when milk bottles were replaced with plastic cartons. Luckily he found most take away containers were made from tin foil and they became an admirable substitute. His scale model of a Vulcan bomber was the envy of the small but elite West Shillington Tin Foil Aeromodelling Club. Currently he is working on a model of the International Space Station

Emma started her fun packed life as a child. With the breeze in her sails, the wind up her Dhoti, a song in her heart and bonhomie plus other French words like cul de sac and soup de jour, she launched herself in to showbiz. Many rolls followed, cheese and ham just to mention two. Sorry, many roles followed until at last, by a strange quirk of fate she was spotted by The Phileas Fogg Theatre Company. If Emma’s pet tortoise had not had an ingrowing toenail, if Tottenham Hotspur had not won 2-0 against Millwall, if Cadburys’ Creame Eggs had not been discounted at Tesco and if it had been a Thursday, this may never have happened.