December 3 month review

Welcome to the 3 month review for December, this is where I'm going to round up the results of the letters and see what's what.

Total letters sent: 25
Replies received: 14 - 56%
No Reply: 11 - 44%
RTS/Denials: 2 - 8%
Pre Prints: 3 - 12%
Authentics: 8 - 32%

So, of the 25 letters I sent, I got just over half back, of those I did get back only 8 were actually signed by the person I'd written to. A very shocking 11 people haven't replied in 3 months, although one I was told takes about 6 months to reply, but I'll come back to that. Let's talk about the ones I did get.

Within one month:
5, Stephen Fry, Victoria Wood, Thelma Barlow, Robbie Coltrane, Rik Mayall

3 genuine, 2 pre prints

Within two months:

5, Chris Barrie, Julie Walters, Ian McKellen, Charlie Cox, Brian Blessed

All genuine

Within three months:

2, Timothy Spall (genuine), Ian Holm (pre print)

(one denial, one RTS)

The people who haven't replied at all and possible reasons as to why:

Tom Felton: - filming Potter but he's able to update his twitter 6 times a day while he's at it
Dawn French: - Has been busy with comic relief I suppose
Warwick Davis: - Was told he takes about six months anyway
Tom Baker: - Um... no excuse? He's not doing any VA work currently
Paul McGann: - He's got a couple of films going on but that hasn't stopped anyone else
Sylvestor McCoy: - Touring with Little shop of horrors, which I'm actually going to see so I'm going to try and collar him outside
Anne Reid: - Bugger all, no excuse
Celia Imrie: - Not much really
Eric Sykes: - Very old I suppose (didn't stop Ian Mckellen)
Ben Barnes: - Bugger all, no more busy than Charlie Cox who sent a personalised pic
Sir Patrick Moore: - Umm... None again

Of these people, I've only thought 3 of them would be busy enough to delay sending fanmail, the rest I'm just very disapointed in.


I'm about to send off the March batch now so hopefully I'll get a few more replies.

Colin Firth, Ian Holm, Timothy Spall

Colin Firth:

A fast return from the February batch, though I'm 90% sure that it's a secretarial. Its a nice headshot personalised for me but strangely its signed in felt tip. If it's genuine then its a very fast return but the likelihood is that its some poor person sat in an office.

Result: Success

Ian Holm:

A bit of a strange one, he sent me two headshots with pre printed signatures and one he'd signed my name in blue biro. Considering this took nearly 3 months to arrive you'd think he would have signed he's name as well as mine but I've been told he's actually insane so it makes sense.

Result: Success (sort of)

Timothy Spall:

This just made it inside the 3 month mark, a bit shocking considering its a plain B&W headshot, not even personalised. It's a nice picture but I don't think it was worth the 3 month wait for it. Oh well I'm sure he's very busy running round with Tim Burton and the like, I don't think it would be worth writing to him again as I've only seen bad results from him.

Result: Success

Colin Baker again

Since I'd initially sent to him at a wrong address, I resent to the updated one I'd found. It came back really quickly and I got a personalised postcard signed in silver sharpie.

I'm quite shocked that he's the only doctor who that I've heard from, I also wrote to 3 other doctors in December and so far there's been no response which is quite disheartening.

Oh well, it's quite a cool postcard anyway and I'm chuffed that I got him.

Result: Success

Sir David Attenborough and Cassandra Clare

Sir David Attenborough:

First response from the February batch, amazingly it only took a three day response on this one which is uberly impressive. I sent a letter and a SASE and I received a really nice colour picture that was signed "Best Wishes David Attenborough" - Picture to come later, I can't be bothered scanning at the moment.

Result: Success


Cassandra Clare:

Cassandra Clare is an author, if you don't know her, then go buy all her books immediately. She became famous on the internet for writing three novel length fanfictions known as the Draco trilogy. She then got a contract and wrote a series of books. The mortal instruments trilogy, City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass, City of Glass is out next month, I have mine on pre-order from amazon.com.

I sent her an email, asking if she would mind sending me an autograph, she kindly responded and said that she was sorry it had taken so long and had popped a signed postcard in the post for me.

She's replied to messages I've sent her before, she is an uberly nice girl who understands the need to be a fan girl, her books are utterly brilliant and she needs to be read by more people.

Result: Success

Doris Day and Jay Leno

Doris Day:

I sent an email for this one and to be honest, didn't expect to hear anything back. I was really surprised when this beautiful autograph turned up in the post. It was personalised to me and is likely to be a jewel in my collection.

I really love Doris Day, I think I need to watch calamity Jane again tonight to celebrate.

Result: Success

Jay Leno:

This was another email jobby, back in December. Again I didn't expect to hear anything on this one and got a huge beautiful personalised picture. Jay should be proud that he's sending fans a nice picture, some people just can't be bothered or worse, only sell their signatures to their fans.

Result: Success

Sir Ian Mckellen & Doug Bradley (sort of)

Ian Mckellen:

One from the December batch (reminds self to start writing February batch.) I sent a letter talking mostly about how much I enjoyed LOTR and got a 4x6 black and white head shot. It's personalised to me, though its my full name, which is slightly strange, but aparently he does it to stop people selling them.

I'm not currently connected to my scanner... sorree, but it looks pretty good. Going to try again at some point and get myself a Gandalf picture signed.

Result: Success

Doug Bradley:

Not actually part of the experiment, but I thought I'd say anyway. My friend knows I'm quite horror obsessed and Mr Doug Bradley aka Pinhead, only sells his autographs. I am adamantly against this but there's nothing I'm going to do to prevent it.

Anyway my friend got a refund on paypal & bought me one from his site. For £5 (£7.50 with P&P, not even first class) I got a postcard, personalised to me. The picture isn't great but I'm really chuffed with it anyway. I love the Hellraiser series and I'm really happy to put this in my collection.

Chris Barrie

I am a HUGE Red Dwarf fan, I simply adore it, best programme ever on telly.

Today, from the December batch, I got a reply from Mr Chris Barrie, who played Rimmer on Red Dwarf. He also voiced one of my favourite games of all time; Simon the Sorcerer. He starred in The Brittas Empire and was a leading voice artist on Spitting Image.

Love the man. Would happily have his babies.

I'm a bit disappointed with this one, I only got back the Red Dwarf picture I'd printed out on my computer and most send a headshot as well just for the sake of it, but that's not what I'm disappointed with. Although it is personalised to me (so sorry, no pics of this one) it's half in gold, half in black. It's like he wrote the whole thing in black sharpie (it's a dark picture) then went over bits in gold.

It looks so strange, I'm not sure I want to hang it up with the others. Hey ho, at least by Dad will be green with envy.

Result: Success

George Clooney

I wish this one had a better story to go with it.

I did some looking around as I had heard it was notoriously difficult to obtain George's autograph. I heard that Mr Clooney HATES signing autographs, I'm not sure how true this is, but I had heard of one girl giving up and ended up buying one after trying to obtain one for years.

I read on a forum that if you wrote to Omega, a watch company he is currently promoting, they would send out an autograph. I sent out an email to omega and to be honest, expected to hear nothing back.

Instead I got a signed picture in the post. It's quite a nice picture, but it's on photo paper and it's fairly obvious that it's a pre print. I am considering writing over the top in a sharpie to make it look better... hehe

Result: Acceptable

Brian Blessed

I love Brian Blessed. Not only is he completely bonkers but he's a brilliant actor and a national treasure. I already had an autograph of his, but I didn't obtain it personally (so I can only be dubious as to it's authenticity.)

I wrote him a letter telling him about the roles I liked him most in and I included a picture of him in Flash Gordon. Just when I was starting to think I was going to have send again (as I heard he was a very quick replier) I got a great result in the post.

In my SASE he'd put in my letter but wrote a MASSIVE note to me on it in pink pen. (Good way of dealing with your fanmail I think, send it back with a note, it turns into an autograph so you don't have to worry about recycling.) He thanked me for the letter and had said it was very nice and sent back my Flash Gordon picture, signed and personalised to me along with a headshot signed and personalised to me. Both pictures were signed in blue pen.

The man may be slightly barmy but I love him anyway. They are now going pride of place in my room, maybe even the mantel piece.

Result: Brilliant Success

Julie Walters

I sent a letter to her in the December batch. I'm a big fan of hers, obviously she was in dinnerladies so I wanted her as part of the cast, but she's basically a national institution.

I sent along a picture of her as Mrs Weasley, this was not returned in my SASE but I did get a fairly nice black & white signed picture which looks authentic enough. I'm very happy with this one but I still wish I could have gotten a Harry Potter pic signed.

I think I have learned my lesson though, I think I will be sending some thin card with next batch (folded probably) so if the returning picture is small I can make sure it doesn't get damaged.



Result: Success

Johnny Depp

Well, I didn't like the look of several supposed addresses to write to Johnny Depp at. Most of them seemed to be in America and if I believe correctly, Mr Depp lives in France most of the time with his family. So I didn't want to spend a lot of money on international reply coupons, especially if it meant I was just getting a secretarial in return. However I did find an email address to send requests to.

This address is purely for pre-printed pictures, but I was spending no money on it at all so I thought it couldn't hurt to send a request. It took about a month to arrive but I am really chuffed with it. It's high quality gloss and a really nice picture, in a frame it looks real although any collector will be able to tell that it's a stamp if its not in a frame. You can tell if a signature is stamped when the whole signature is delved into the picture and there are no ink blobs.



Result: Success (classed as such because I knew I would be getting a stamped signature.)

Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry, national treasure, today I got a personalised picture of him and I'm over the moon. I had sent him a letter in the December batch so a big YAY for an under two month response. It's the small size 5x7 headshot, I've done some checking about on the net and it's a different picture from others I've seen so he might be sending out new ones.

I couldn't actually afford to send a January batch, so I decided to add a few extra to the February lot.



Result: Success

Lulu, Charlie Cox & Lewis Hamilton

1. Lulu - I sent an email to the official fan club, today I received a signed picture of lulu that looks real. The problem is however that all fanmail must be sent through the fanclub so I highly suspect that all signatures received through this address are merely secretarials. Still it's a nice pic that will look great with the rest of my now budding collection.

Result: Acceptable (due to secretarial suspicion)


2. Charlie Cox - Back in December I sent the handsome young man a letter telling him how much I enjoyed Stardust. Today I got a a gorgeous 8x6 picture of him in Stardust that was personalised to me. It was more than I was expecting to be honest. I was completely disgusted however to see that someone was selling pictures like these on ebay for £40.

Result: Success

3. Lewis Hamilton - Although I said I would not be selling any obtained autographs because personally I find that practise disgusting, I believe that if you ask a celebrity for an autograph for a charity auction and are honest about your purposes then if the celebrity sends you the autograph, it's fine. I mentioned before that I had tried to obtain an autograph from Kate Moss for a charity auction, well as well as some others I had written to Lewis Hamilton as well. Today I got a letter saying that due to the high volume of of post he gets, he cannot sign everything and I was denied an autograph. It's a great shame.

Result: Disappointment

Victoria Wood

I'm a huge fan of hers, I love her stand up shows so I sent Miss Wood a picture along with my letter. It took about a month but I got back the picture I sent as well as a lovely signed headshot. Everything was returned in my SASE although I was slightly disappointed that I didn't get my Housewife 49 pic I sent returned.

I was quite pleased with this although I think I am going to try again after the experiment to get an autographed Housewife 49 picture. I don't blame Victoria, I blame the postal service as the letter was damaged when it arrived.

Result: Definite Success

Thelma Barlow

I sent her a letter with the December batch, along with two photos as I am a huge fan of hers. Today I got an envelope containing not only the two photos I sent which were signed, but a headshot personalised to me AND a hand signed note thanking me for the letter.

I cannot express how chuffed I was when I got this. She is one of my favourite actresses of all time so it was brilliant getting this. This one is going pride of place.

As with all people in this experiment I feel the need to say that you should never write to someone for the sake of getting an autograph. You should enjoy someones work more than anything.

Result: (outstanding) Success


(I have photoshopped out my name on the pic)

A Brit actor, Gordon Ramsay & Kate Moss

A Bit part actor: I have not stated his name as he is a small bit-part actor from a TV show I really like. He manages his own website & was kind enough to not only personally reply to the email I sent him but send me a signed pic in the post.

Result: Success
Gordon Ramsay:

I sent an email & just five days later I got an A4 sized picture. The quality is stunning, it's completely beautiful, I can't honestly say whether or not its definitely his signature or his secretary's, but I'm counting it as real. This one is not for me, it's going to be auctioned to raise money for my community centre.

The scan doesn't do it justice.

Result: Success






Kate moss:

Well on the plus side I sent an email so it cost nothing, also it arrived in five days. However this one was supposed to be auctioned off to raise money for the community centre as well but I'm not even going to bother showing it to them. What I got in the post was an extremely low quality post card. The printed sig couldn't pass for real at all. Kate Moss should be ashamed at sending out such low quality picture.

I don't think I'll bother to frame this one, I'll just stick it in the back of the cupboard somewhere. The scan makes it looks a million times better than it really it.

Result: Acceptable (barely)

Rik Mayall

I got one of the SASE's I sent out in the post today. At first I thought it was empty, but I opened it and discovered a PP picture of Rik Mayall inside.

I am quite disappointed with this one. I only sent out a few pictures to be signed because the high quality photo paper I bought is quite expensive so I printed out only a few pictures to be signed. In the letter to Rik I included a small picture to be signed, along with my letter telling him how much I admired his straight performances as well as his comedy roles.

The picture I received in the post was not the usual type of photo card most celebrities have to send out their autographs on. It looked very much like just low quality photo paper with a PP autograph on the bottom.

I half want to class this one as a disappointment because they did not return the picture I had sent which means that the cost of the envelopes, stamps, paper, printer ink, photo paper cost a lot more than the cheap picture I got in the post.

Result: Acceptable

Colin Baker & a fraud spotted on ebay

Got a RTS (Return to Sender) letter today, obviously my research on that address was squiffed. I have found a new one so I am going to resend with next months batch.

Result: Failure (but my fault)

I found a fraudulent autograph on ebay today, I am hoping I'll be able to warn the buyer before they pay for a Pre-print which the seller is claiming to be authentic. I have reported it to ebay but since it's a power seller I doubt they'll do anything about it.

How I rate the responses & The first set of results

How I rate responses:

Success: Authentic signed pic or letter

Acceptable: Pre-Printed (PP) picture or signature

Disappointment: Photocopied/Generic letter of decline

Failure: No response


In mid December I sent my first batch of fan mail out. In total I sent out 25 letters & 4 e-mails.

With a week and a half I received my first two responses.

1. Robbie Coltrane. - I sent a letter saying how I was a big fan of Cracker & I included a SASE. According to the postage stamp a letter was sent back a mere 6 days later. Inside the pre-paid envelope was my SASE & a Pre-Printed (PP) picture of Mr Coltrane as Hagrid in Harry Potter. I hadn't mentioned Potter in my letter but according to the note from his agency saying that due to the popularity of Harry Potter Mr Coltrane is unable to sign pictures.

It was very nice of them to send me my envelope back & the note as well as the PP picture. It's a shame that Mr Coltrane doesn't sign pictures anymore so I'll probably have to meet him in person to get an authentic picture.


Result: Acceptable


2. The second result shall remain nameless. It is a former children's television presenter, I got the address from their official website where it said you could write to the presenter & send requests. I sent a letter, a SASE & a picture. About a week & a half later I got my SASE letter back through my letter box I was very excited until I opened the envelope.

Inside was the picture I'd sent (unsigned) along with a photocopied letter. Let me just stress this, not a print out, a PHOTOCOPY. It said that the former childrens television presenter was ill & unable to sign anything. The letter was very generic, even the name at the bottom was typed. The only blank space was where my name was scribbled in, which was misspelled.

IF this former TV presenter is so ill that all they do is send back a generic photocopy to anyone who writes, maybe they should remove the address from their website. However they won't do that & they are still quite happy to wheel this elderly person out for bookings so that they can make a quick pound.

Result: Disappointment

The rules of the experiment

No experiment can be legitimate without a set of rules to guide it.

The purpose of the experiment is to see if celebrities do care enough about their fans to give their autographs out. I want to see which celebrities seem to respond more, A listers, B listers, faded stars, popular ones, young, old, etc, etc.

I am a firm believer that if the general public watch the tv shows or films and buy the dvds and merchandise, then the celebrities wouldn't have the money that a lot of them have. No one forces anyone to become and actor or a singer, if you put yourself in the public eye you not only put yourself up for scrutiny but you have a responsibility to pay to your fans. If someone has paid over £120 on your albums and £30+ a go to see your concerts, then the least you can do for someone is sign a measly bit of paper.

The Rules:

1. Autographs can only be obtained two ways, by writing fan mail or meeting someone in person. None can be purchased either at a shop or online store like ebay, neither can I attend a signing event where the celebrity asks for payment in exchange for their signature.

2. Only one batch of letters can be sent a month, (any email requests must be sent on the same day) that way it will be easy to track the length of time a response takes.

3. Only GENUINE letters will be sent. I will not write to anyone whom I don't like or admire just for the sake of a signed picture. All letters must be from the heart, no copy & pasting allowed. I will be typing all the letters as my handwriting is illegible.

4. If there is no response after 3 months, then I will count those letters as having failed to get a response. (If a response is received later than this, I will over turn it.)

5. All celebrities will named unless there are extenuating circumstances.

6. Nothing I have obtained during the experiment will be sold on. As I am only going to obtain things from people I admire, there will be no reason for me to part with them.

7. Although I will not be mentioning specific dates on sending or receiving, each batch of letters will have a three month review. For example, in March I will post a full review of Decembers letters, stating which were successful & which weren't.

8. The sending of letters will go on for one year, December 2008 - December 2009, though it is likely I will still be receiving letters into 2010 so the blog will be updated regularly.

9. I can only find fan mail addresses by doing my own research. Checking fansites or agent/managment websites is fine, using websites which list hundreds of celebrity addresses is not fine. I know these websites are very handy for people who collect autographs as a hobby, however since this is an experiment I feel I should work hard for the addresses I find.

10. I will not be giving out celebrity addresses or information, if you want to write to someone a website like Movie Eye will probably be best for you.

(I may add to these rules as the experiment goes on.)