The National Three Peaks Challenge involves climbing the three highest peaks of Scotland, England and Wales. The total walking distance is 23 miles, 37 kilometres and the total ascent is 3,064 metres, 10,052 feet. The total driving distance is 462 miles. The three mountains are Ben Nevis in Scotland at 1,345 metres, Scarfield Pike in England at 978 metres and Snowden in Wales at 1,885 metres. I'm going to attempt to climb each mountain barefoot for the charity Carme, which is the campaign against living miserably. And this hike is in memory of Paul Wobbitton, resting piece. Let's go. How do you feel, Joseph? I feel worried. I've got trepidation. Worryed? Trepidation. Nervous? Nervous. Yeah. Unprepared? Unprepared. All the sort of things you want to feel before you do something like the Three Peaks Challenge when you've got a mate with no shoes on. Yeah, and that's coming from my support crew there, so... Let's go. And now we've finished earloves. Come on, we're going. Right, let's see. Let's see if we can just do one mountain barefoot. I don't even think I'll get half, we're TBH, because just a backstory. I've just finished the Cape Rath Trail, and I did have some good calluses on my feet, but they've all come off because my feet were so wet throughout the whole trail that the big lumps of skin came off. So my feet are a bit tender, but... I'll give it my best shot. You're doing it right. Let's do it. Come on. Come on. I should stay off grass. I should use this bit to warm up, actually. But look at how beautiful it is as well. Bonnie Scotland. Yeah, this is not raining. Yeah, it's not raining. Welcome back to Bonnie Scotland. Right, we're... We've done it. We're at top of... First bit. Snowden. This is Snowden. The battery cut out for the rest of it, but trust me, we did it. Thanks for the support. We're half an hour in. Feet check. So far, so dusty. There's no rouge. Just dusty, no blood, so we're all right. So we're just... The terrain at the moment is this, this... like a gravelly path, which... is good sort of warming up to warm up on, and then you get the delights of these bigger stones and... just a mixed bag. Green power ranger. So... Just found this. Probably not gonna forage it like this. There's no need, but look at that. It's a good photo, is that? In fact, yeah, it is a good photo. At least we've got to see... views like this as he crumbles underfoot. Look how it bounces in the lake. Oh, absolutely stunning, man. Oh, yes. Oh. Joy. The joy of the steps. We're doing it the other half way. We're doing it. We know we're near over half way when you think about it, though, eh? Yeah. Well, over half way now, we're just getting slowly enveloped by these clouds. So we've stopped for a flapjack break. Feet look okay. So far, so good. The game has changed. These, uh... there's been a lot more angular these stones for the last while, and they hit different. They don't half stick into the bottoms. They'll be feet in between the heel and the body foot. We on we go. Real talk. It's getting hard now. Guy's really difficult on feet. Feet are hurting. It's been this sharp stuff for a long time, and it is like getting combed in bottom of feet by miniature Mike Tyson with sharpened fists. In the killer instinct. Like E Honda just going at it. E Honda going at it like that. Right, here we are, Lollipop lad. Lollipop lad. Checking in. I'm struggling. I'm struggling, guys. It's stunning views, regarding, but I'm afraid... It's just this scree.  And, a real talk, don't think I'm going to be able to do three peaks, I don't think. I'm going to do everything in my power to get to the top of this one without tapping out, and then put shoes back on to run back down, get to the scaffold, see how we feel, but the only thing I'm going to try and do is do Ben Nevis barefoot. I'll try and do that to make your donations worth it. How are you feeling, Joseph? So far, all right. I don't want to jinx it, mate. I don't want to jinx it, but so far, all right. There's still a way to go, so I'm just going to neck a couple of ibuprofen, have some water and then we'll crack on. Deployed. Deployed Joey's pressure off of the feet, and it's helping with balance a little bit. But still, it hurts, lads and lasses. I know a mistake about it. Off the back of our paintful, and how this is, everyone, can I just do this? Are we having this? Can I just do the highest mountain in the UK barefoot, and he's doing it, and I've done it, if I get to the top? Because I can't do all three, guys. It's been too soon after Kate Raff, and it's knackered feet up. I've bitten off more than I can chew, and it's not, you know, I'm not afraid to admit defeat. I am. I don't like admitting defeat, but a good friend of mine said it might do me well to admit defeat once, you know what I mean? I just, finally, just accept defeat, mate. Accept defeat. I quit him. Yeah? He's having that look. He's smiling. I'm having it. We've found a patch of moss, probably only moss. Oh my God. So nice. I could cry. I could feel that all through my body. This is the summit of Ben Nevis. I can't believe it. I've done it, guys. I'd just like to thank everyone for sponsoring me. It's been an absolutely epic journey. I've struggled at times, but I've come through it. And here we are, the summit of Ben Nevis. For Instagram. I've made shoes on. We're off, back down. Pantits. Summit. The sun is now fully disappeared. But it's still giving us a little bit of a warm orange glow. And that, down there, clippity, clopperty, clankity coming up the hill. Here's Mr. Hayes out doors. Somehow still managing to put one foot in front of the other. Look at this. Is the summit of Ben Nevis everybody? I've done it. I've made it. This is jokes, mate. Probably steepest bit we've had for a while there. Hardest bit this, man. Temperatures dropped practically now. The sun's gone behind the clouds. It's not quite jacket weather though, because the pain keeps you hot. It keeps you sweaty. A day to dream, guys. It's another false summit though. There's your dreams. Looks like it's going to be dark by the time you get to the top. Mate, you just keep going.  I'm going to do it. We're going to do it. We're going to make it. I'll be honest, there was time back there where I thought I wasn't going to make it and it's still jagged rock, isn't it? It's pretty crazy underfoot. I'm going to do this one. That's the goal, is just to get to the summit of Ben Nevis barefoot and then we're going to try to get to the three peaks however it comes, even with shoes on. Are we at the top yet?  No. I think it's up there for sure. But it's not like breaking a bone or something like that. As far as consistent pain. Yeah, this is up there like because all these stones are so jagged that I can't explain it man, I feel like I'm going delirious. I'm going absolutely delirious with it. Once we get there that's an achievement unlocked, isn't it? Don't get loaded by that moss in that crevice look. Man, there's a bit of moss I'm off.  I'll take it, I'll take it. That little bit where I'm not walking on jagged stones before, I eat jagged stones at bottom, look at these. Ah, loads of cairns. Why are you in cairn? Let's have a quick look at quick look at way down. Don't go too near. Come back away from there. That is a nasty fall mate. Wow. That's log off, password, delete, all that. Just milling around on the summit of the highest mountain in the UK, half ten with no shoes on, what are you up to? He's laughing at that one. Yeah. Positive mental attitude. You've still got jokes. You've still got jokes. PMA. You'll get your snow far but then at some point you have to admit defeat and that's, to be honest, guys, I'm not going to get this is my limit I think. Climbing this mountain barefoot is me done. For anyone who's watching, I'm going to leave a little link in the top of the screen now to watch a video where me and Northermunk came and brewed a beer on the top of Ben Nevis. Sounds mad but it happened. Click on that if you want to see us brewing a beer at the top of Ben Nevis. Shoes on a lot. Delightful. I've done some stuff like but this rate's up there. It's quite interesting up here. All sorts of wacky stuff. Wacky memorials and that hut's brilliant to have a look in. Stub my toe on this bit. In your face. Thank you everybody. Thank you. I'm just going to stay here. Enjoy it. Nice mate. Nice effort. That's one done. Ben Nevis. Highest of the three peaks done barefoot. I just want to shout out it's in memory of Paul Warburton resting piece. This one was for you mate. Rest in peace brother. Salute. Let's get back down. Can you see us? It's just light. We're just a couple of lights now. Rikibarton. There we are Rikibarton. Is it moon behind me? La moon. La moon. We've just got past the half way mark. Making good time down. We're not doing too many updates on the way back because we're just smashing it to try and get back to truck and get off to Lake District so we'll update you in a bit. On our way to Scarfield we've got a few miles under our tyres. We're covered in mid-bites it's foggy and it's very early in the morning. So we're going to try and find some coffee try and give ourselves a little bit of a boost for heading to the Lake District. Damage report is not too bad. The bottom of my right foot hurts a little bit. Nothing else to report really as far as pain goes. What about you? So far I don't feel too bad actually. I don't feel too stiff which I was worried about. The truth will kick in when we start ascending again. We're cattle grade we're officially in 8. We're tired. We're tired but we're in the Lake District and we're 10 minutes away from where we want to be from the bottom of Scarfield Pike and the weather looks delightful. Here we are at the start of Scarfield Pike. It hurts. It hurts after Ben Nevis just getting back on horse. No expectations on this one though guys I didn't even think I would get to the top of Ben Nevis to be honest I'm just going to try and get halfway up this one and see how we get on not putting too much pressure on myself. I'll give it my best shot. Filming me bantering. My banter. Why are you laughing at it then? Why is everyone laughing at it so much? I'm laughing at you mate. I've got the best banter on this mountain. Mountain banter. Look at him. Feeling a little bit sick but we're doing it. That's Lake at the Lake at Thou. Lake at Thou. It's ruining perfectly good b-roll there mate. Lake at that making it better. To the top honey.  You were a walker.  You're cooking egg on these rocks. Latching locks. This is a nice latching lock still in the bit. In the depths of this pain I still bring you this wonderful shutting system which is a natural rock attached to the chain. Does the job for you. Beautiful stuff. Foot report. Just raw. Red raw and bruised this dog. Just ligament damage really. The skin isn't broke. As long as the skin isn't broke. Over my eye. And that's toxic masculinity for you. It's deep. Fits swarming a bit around ankles and that. Caught sun. Bit raw. Feels good though. Churchill McVanta Wagon has left the building and it's just replaced with me. A husk of a man. Just trying to get to the top of his heel with her shoes on like an absolute donut weapon. Smaller than I can chew again. Just too much. Too much guys. After the kerb graph drill and Ben Nevis is just too much. Feet are hurting man. Yeah even my feet are hurting now. Summit of Scaffold Pike. It's very slow people. Summit. Summit to do with maths. Geometry. Tickle of the eye. Just tell me what you think of this grass mate. This grass has been a godsend this bit. It's still at the old stone but it's nothing compared to the main path mate. Do you feel like there's a chance you might do this mountain? Yeah. If I'm being honest with you. Oh he's let that positivity creep in. Has he let it creep in a little bit early? Yeah I know. I think I'm gonna fail miserably. But his face doesn't say that. What I think is I've come too far to quit. And if Sarah sees me quit. I'm done for. So this is for Sarah. The pure shame of it was just. The shame of it just inspired me for this last little bit because she said I was like I think I might quit at some point. She's like well you can't. She said you won't. She said you'll do it. You will do it yeah. She was very encouraging and positive and it's rubbed off on me. Let's take some of that and use it. Let's go. This is Sarah. She's doing a hundred consecutive scents of Scarfell Pike and she was a legend and she inspired me so go follow her on Instagram and if you're still doing it please support. Thanks Sarah if you're watching you're a legend. Thanks. Yeah you got this mate. I've run out of grass to walk on. Let's look at this. Hard, loose, sharp. Ouch. This is what is to come. Seems like it has saved the best till last.  There is no easy way now. It's just over the sharp rock.  That's it now. Under my palms I started sweating like they were on Ben Nevis. It's like my body is just telling me to stop. It's like sweating and saying wah, guah, brother. I thought we'd learn that lesson after Kate Raft trail. I thought we were going to have an holiday. I thought we were going to have a break. Well no. Nobody, we're not. No feet, we're not. This is just like a comparable maze and no way is the right way. There's a lot of loose stuff in there. Yeah. A lot of sharp stuff. You don't want to have a tumble. I'll just put the foot wrong. So it does take a lot of mental it takes a lot of mental concentration and it saps you in that way too. It's these medium ones that are the low bandics. You can see it now mate. Oh my god we're nearly there. Enjoy a deal of account for how down and out I was yesterday we were like no way we're going to get that done. Because the pain I can't believe I'm backing that zone now. There we are. Here we are again. There's the top. Oh my god, I feel a bit emotional. No, no, no. Save it. Save it. It's because of having no sleep and that. Do it. Oh my god. There you go. Yes mate. Another one for your brother. Treat him to a 360. Give him a 360. They deserve it. If you're sticking with us this long. Can we get some shoes on mate? Get my shoes on brother. Wow. This is the top of Scarf L mounting number two. We're just going to have a little foot inspection for all you foot fetishers out there. I've got lovely high arches. What do you think of them? They look like I don't know. They're two and car moons feet or something. Yeah, let's see the other one. I think it's just a similar story. They're two and car moons feet. Yeah, just sore man. Real sore. No blood. Not broke my skin. The toes are breaking up. So that's peak number two done. We've just come off the summit. Midges are getting us. Joe's just lathering himself up. There's my support team. He's looking after me. He's doing the filming. He's doing good for me. He's our Joseph. He's surviving. He's basically just surviving. That's it. But we saw a little plunge pool, didn't we, on the way up. And we said if we make it, we'll get down and we'll sit and we'll just sit in there for 10 minutes, 15 minutes. And cool our burns. It's finished. It feels so good on the feet. All on the legs and all. Yes brother. Get in here. Doing all nature's stuff. You know what I mean? Grounding ourselves. Grounding cold water therapy.  I've just stood on a fizzle. I don't know if that matters anymore. Slide down here. Nice one sliding. There you go. Come in here. He's got your little waterfall there. We've been sat in there. And it's just a natural massage. That's all. There's joy, do you look? Looks like Jesus. But it's nice just to get that level of grit and sweat off you. Soothe the feet. I don't want to be letting my feet get too wet because that'll maybe weaken the bottom of them, but nice to have a wash. This is the reward for getting to the top of Scarf Hill Pike. What a lovely swim that was. Delightful. We're walking back down in undies. And now I'm going to put my underpants. So yeah, let's talk about magic or tragic happens. We shall see thee in Wales. How's your knee holding up? That seems to do a lot of good for it. It was beginning to swell after that descent again. It's all the descent. Yeah. It's okay. So along the Lake District, the English Lake District of the beauty falloweels. Beauty falloweels. Are you feeling confident about my number three? No. Because confidence is the killer that I'll do you. I don't feel too confident. Just a little bit quietly optimistic. Yeah. Quietly optimistic. Well, two were in the bag. Because today wasn't on the cards. Today wasn't supposed to go down how it went down. No. I'd say it went down better than any of us thought. Chums. Chums. Little bridge because it's the littlest bridge. It's famous. Little. We're about to do Snowden. Joe's just putting his CBD muscle rub on his knee. And that was kindly donated to us. Smells amazing. So smell. That is nice. Got sweet almond oil, coconut oil, hemp oil, shea butter, beeswax, and lavender. Perfect. And that was kindly sent to us. Can I just take that? Kindly sent to us with some CBD oil and some CBD patches and some other bits and pieces from Kent CBD. It's an independent company. They've kindly given me a discount code for you guys. If you want to get into your CBD oils put a little bit under your tongue. It's good for sleep. They've given us a discount code. So yeah, I'll leave it downstairs. Kent CBD. Morali's low. Morali's low for me. Just my feet more than I thought they would. I thought you'd never see it. There's outdoors on bus. Buster eyes. Bottom of Snowden. The final of the three peaks. Some pinkers. I'm going to don the shirt. Which we'll talk about. When we get to the top because my feet hurt in Morali's pretty low because I thought it was going to be easy yesterday when I was on one but my feet are killing sir. It's going to be another tough day. Well this is what we're doing it for. So we're going to grit our teeth. So the bottoms of my feet are too bad. Quite seasoned in. Bit salt middle. The tops of my feet my ankles are all very swollen. My ankles and feet don't normally look like that sir. Hopefully we can hold out. The jaggy bits that grow out of the ground. Look at them. They're no fun. Yeah we're serious now. We have to finish because the calm vest is on. Campaign against living miserably. It's got serious. Yeah I'm not going to do much jokes because I've got to dig deep for this one but I'm going to leave a link below to the charity support if you can. Thank you. Bebe keep calm bebe. So there's these bits which there is no nice where to get up and rid of the ah. But looks like we might be doing it. We might get to the top I think. All barefoot. Yeah all barefoot yeah. Fair play to you jockey. Well this is the last of the free peaks mate sir. Yeah we're running on minimal sleep. And there we are. That's our destination. That's the goal. Swimming in there on the way back. Oh well. What charity? It's calm. Campaign against living miserably.  That's amazing. It's a nice peak is it? Yeah. This is a tough section. I think it's so slippy. Ah. A twist or a fall on this bit. It's the worst thing. Right it's been hard. This is the toughest beginning to all of them. But we've just hit these steps which will get us up pretty quick and it's not too sharp. But yeah ankles are starting to go. The point is to keep thinking I'm going to be the next medic. At least people have to walk past me and just be like that. Medic! And then just upload it to the youtube channel. That's me. Full circle. Full circle medic. You're getting your ankle wedged between these bits. My word. Calm mate. Keep calm. Carry on. Campaign against living miserably. Linking bio. We'll talk about that in a bit. Is this the third of the three peaks? This is the last. The last mountain. Barefoot? Yeah. That's torturous. I'll tell you anything. I'll tell you anything. So how far we got to go is it? What do you get as far as you can see there? Is there much of the nightmare after that? No. It's like this all the way really to that bit there. Oh good. And then it's not that bad along that top bit. I've got to say that. Oh it's just the charity. I'm just doing the three peaks. This is the last one. So once I get to there I can put my shoes on and we're done. Oh my god. That's just made me go. What are we doing? Campaign against it. Good effort. Oh my god. I've gone over. We did go fell pike last week. The top of that one was tough. It was a bit jaggedy. Very jaggedy up there. My feet are swollen. They're swollen compared to mine. My ankles are swollen but there's only pain in it. Oh well done. Oh that's proper made me go all. I thought you were just enough to go. Now we know you really are. There's all these work up battlefields and none of it in the bedroom. That was one of the hardest sections of so far on your feet and that. Really difficult but and that guy just said 30 minutes for civilians. Only 15 minutes for a power ranger X power ranger like myself. Like I've always said I'm a fighter, not a lover. Sharp bits. These would end the civilians. Most civilians this bit would be where you'd be celebrating the end because you're going back down. Not me. Not the rainbow warrior. The rainbow power ranger. That's how I dance. They're all there in single coloured uniforms. Me, rainbow. You'll be right mate, we're there. The final push to the summit and far any serious injury I think we're going to get to the top. We're going to get to the top. And this is for the bay, your soul and heal. This is what this journey is called because it's a bear, your soul and heal. Spelt like this I'll put it on the screen and that's to encourage you to talk to anyone. You don't have to suffer on your own, you don't have to suffer in silence. I'll leave some numbers below to people that you can talk to if you want. Talk to your friends, talk to your family create a little sock puppet with little button eyes on it and talk to that you don't have to get carried away to the funny farm. But just talk open up, bear your soul and heal. He's quite sharp on the foot on here but he's got these big slabs that you can get on. Slabber for Christy. Not really. I wasn't going to put it back fired. Yeah, anyone going up hill's got it on. You know, right away and he was like he didn't want to move. I thought that backfired because he's looking at me like he's going to go for me. This rugby tack is off edge. I was going to go mate. I feel like that tumour and that mountain light and he could go. I did not see this in my stars when we got to the top of Ben Nevis. Break your leg up that little bit there. There you go. Three peaks barefoot. Four. Have it. Have it. Marty McFly. Well done mate. Yes mate. Well done mate. Support team. Amazing effort. Nice one. Quick cue though. Alton Towers. Let's be having your Marty McFly. Loads of Marty McFly's. There you go. Three peaks barefoot. Didn't think it would happen. With many a time I thought that wasn't going to happen. It has happened. Couldn't be happier. Joey Deaves done a sterling effort. Support team and cameraman with finally foot report. Dusty. Just looks like some sort of dusty spring field. Caveman sort of. Whatever it is. Let's get down. Let's get down, get shoes back on. These flies are a bit annoying. There's no point in me barefooting any more of this look. We are done. Whoa. Yes. Fly's a monelly. Flouch. Right. Here we go. So. He's flying, hence whatever they are. Right we're going to just get shoes on. We're going to get down this path. This is where we came all the way up here. But we're going to go the miners track. We're going to go for a proper swim. And that will be our reward for doing that. Just swirling. And just bruised really. That's all in between tours. Starting to cut up a little bit. Too bad. Right that's it. We're going to leave it here. We've come down. This is the last body of water before we finish. Shows you knuckle Joey Dees. Big up Joey Dees. That was a right effort. Thank you very much. Thank you to everybody you've sponsored. I'm just going to give you a quick background as to how this came about. It's called the bare your soul and heal challenge. There's a play on the words there, you'll get it. And it's just to encourage seagulls. It's to encourage mainly men but just anybody. If you're feeling a bit alone or a bit disbond and anything like that. If you've got any problems whatsoever bare your soul. Talk to somebody. I'll leave some links below for the Samaritans or whatever it is downstairs. Just use that. If you've got no one else to talk to use that. If you do talk to your wife, talk to your family, talk to your friends. Break the stigma. There shouldn't be a stigma around talking about mental health especially in men. All those burly men. They watch my videos of a guy so if you're listening guys and you're struggling, don't struggle in silence. The other reason I'm doing this is a couple of people reached out to me a couple of girls reached out to me and told me about their dad, Paul Warburton is his name who was a fan of my channel and used to go out in the woods and they sent me pictures of him and he had one of my t-shirts on and stuff and they told me that he sadly passed away. This was a while ago, this was before lockdown before the first lockdown they told me he passed away and they said that at the funeral they wanted to collect some money and put it towards something and they asked me if they could give it to a charity of my choice or something like that because he was a fan. So this is for this is for that and everybody at the funeral who was giving my just giving page and who sponsored me this is for you and this is in memory the whole video is in memory of Paul Warburton so resting peace brother. Sorry it's taking so long to everyone who sponsored me Covid happened I was training then Covid happened and we couldn't get out and I had a lot on so this is the first chance I've got and we did it I didn't think I was going to do it but we did it and we're here Namaste, thanks for watching Ah yes, fade to black


The Just Tattoo of Us Beef was well done last night when Jack's girlfriend got revenge in her in-king. In case you missed it, here's Charlotte Crosby and Scotty T with all the juice. Oh, pass me the horseradish sauce for you. There was a girl in the lad who came in right, and the girl like, loved sex thing. 24-7, like she was a P.I. nympho. And he didn't really want to be with her. He didn't really want to be with her because we had to see her tattoo on him with a big wedding cake scene. He was so angry because I just think... Oh, best of girl though. She was so cute. He was so nasty to her. I think he deserved that tattoo.  Kanye West's Scott Nudes, but they're not of himself, which is or isn't a shame, depending on your preference. Yep, Kanye's woken up from his nap and tweeted a load of snaps to celebrate the launch of Yeezy 500 Supermoon Yellow Sneakers. And whilst I'm totally here for his vision, shot by Eli Russell Lynette, I'm kind of confused by some of the pics. This poor model must have lost her earring mid-pose. We've all been there. This one's got a stone in her shoe. So annoying. And these two, well, yeah, they're stark bollock naked. Kanye shared 34 pics in total featuring Kim Kardashian lookalike model Layla Star, Kristen Knoll Crawley, and Bad Girls Club alumni, the Claremont twins. Oh, and by the way, sorry if you're watching this at school, work, or on a train. Oh God, there's someone looking at your phone over your shoulder. Hiya! Little Mix star Jade Thurwall was almost accidentally killed by her boyfriend. Babes, we need LM5. You can't die, okay? So here's what happened. Jade's boyfriend Jed was chatting at Download Festival and said he almost killed Jade during a ride at Dollywood. The couple goals were apparently riding on a water ride at the theme park in Tennessee when they sped round a corner on a floating mattress type situation.  We were leaning wildly to one side. We had a scare. That was how it almost ended for us at Dollywood. It was very scary.  And my gay Twitter is telling me that we're getting a new song this month. In other music news, Kimia Cabello danced with an LGBT rainbow flag at her gig in London last night. Snap, snap.  Haven't left my hotel room in two days now. Sick, bored and bummed out. Demi, just whack on Jezacar like the rest of us and get well soon. Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson are apparently engaged after just 25-ish days of us even knowing they were together. Yes, Queen. Us Weekly confirms the big Ari and Pete engagement news via multiple sources who apparently witnessed the announcement and they said, quote, they are very in love. And although we can't buy a sorting hat just yet, maybe we can. Ariana hit Twitter straight after saying, I love you. And then seemingly confirmed her engagement by hitting like on loads of tweets from fans going wild including this one from Teasy Butterer who tweeted, Honest to God, our girl is engaged. I can't deal with the Harry Potter themed wedding that we're all going to be invited to. Ariana, Pete, we are greedy for your love. Millie Bobby Brown has deleted her Twitter account after she became a viral homophobic meme.  Or they'd tweet that they'd bumped into Millie and she'd done something really awful in the name of homophobia, often accompanied by the hashtag, take down Millie Bobby Brown. We're not going to show them because honestly, why feed the trolls, but you've got an imagination and slash all Google. The internet is mean enough already. Why fuel the hate when there are so many beautiful, hilarious, completely innocent memes out there? Miley Cyrus has jumped to the defense of Selena Gomez after she was seriously insulted by Stefano Gabana. Earlier this week, a collage of Selena was posted on the Catwalk Italia's Instagram feed. But as we all know, Instagram comment sections are a bit like a graveyard. Do a little bit of digging and you'll find something smelly. Oh my goodness me, I'm sorry about that. Here we find Italian designer Stefano Gabana commenting Iproprio Bruta, which translates to She's so ugly. I'll be honest, it sounded nicer than Italian. Fortunately, Selena's good friend Miley has come to the rescue, commenting underneath a photo of both of them hugging. Right, are you sure I'm allowed to say this? Sure? Okay. Well, what that d*** said, if it's true, f***ing false. And total f***ing s***. She's fine as f***. Well f***ing said.


Hi how you doing? I'm perfectly fine thank you. Well it's an absolute pleasure to meet you really for the second time as we have bumped into each other at Phantom's event. Yes definitely and again thank you very much for the compliments on my artwork at the time. Oh not a problem I mean it goes without saying I can see one of my favourites to the side there and it's absolutely phenomenal the detail in it. Which one? Which one? Oh that'd be the Capoldi one for Jack, heaven sent all the way for me. Yeah I thought I'd have something out just well to anyone who's not who's watching this and doesn't know what type of artwork I what I'm responsible for shall I say. I draw an awful lot and this is the sort of stuff you would expect from me really. And if anyone at home has not immediately followed him after hearing that or seeing that they're wrong incorrect opinion. So I'm not asking you to follow me in any case if you want to go ahead but if you don't then that's fair enough. Well I highly recommend it personally so straight away a fairly straightforward question how did you get started doing art? Oh it kind of started towards the end of my last year of sixth form which was for the record as in 2014. So I've been studying art really in both GCC and in my A levels and I really hadn't thought of a particular route that I wanted to go down really because I was doing all sorts of different bits of artwork and on in April of 2014 10th Planet events which unfortunately which was a signing company that is no longer with us unfortunately they were holding an event in Barking and one of the guests they had was Colin Baker. So my mum said to me for the event Colin why don't you go ahead and draw a picture of Colin Baker because he might like it. Okay and in about four hours I did a very quick black and white picture of Colin Baker which I've got right here actually. Convenient. Which is this one right here. Oh yeah just a very quick just smacking it out yeah four hours Bosch done. It was four hours I timed it. Oh wow all right but yeah but yeah and pretty much ever since then I've been doing that sort of thing from then on and to further expand on this type of artwork as to why I do what I do I remember watching for the record before I go ahead and say anything that anything that might offend anyone I absolutely respect any and all form types of artwork but this is just from my personal perspective. I remember watching a you know those time lapse videos where you see speed runs of where you start on a picture and then what the final product would end up looking like. So I saw that and there was a gentleman I can't remember what the name of the channel is but he used multiple tools he did so it was watercolor pencil oil paint airbrush all sorts of stuff like that and what he came up with this absolutely beautiful picture believe it or not I believe it was just a Nutella believe it or not and I saw that I thought to myself I love what he's doing but is it not possible to draw that just draw something like that but just by using one medium so I resolved myself to thinking yes I'm pretty sure you can and so I've essentially done this primarily out of where I started from in terms of uh in terms of uh what under circumstance of me me going going to meet Colin Baker but also out of also partly out of stubbornness rarely it's kind of like you've set yourself a challenge yeah I've been adamant of sticking to my own my one set at all which for the record it's all in pencil for those watching nuts I mean Christ how many pencils do you own because the amount of different shades and different colors you'd need for alone well I've got um my main set of tools right here so for the record for what I use it's Derwent well they're called fine art pencils but on the on the sides of them they actually say if I just pull this up to the camera so it says derwent color soft and also it gives you the gives you the color on what I on the side there really what I what I typically use it's like show and tell yeah well I thought I thought it'd be best if I if I actually um if I had my I had items here to well because people would rather prefer to see it rather than hear me describe it really absolutely we're best to have visual aid so um the next question I've seen pretty much all of your pieces at this point and like you know I see the Madame de Pompadour and Colin Baker specifically and I have to wonder what's been the trickiest so far because they're my goodness okay I've got three but I would class as incredibly hard to draw um so I've got Madame de Pompadour was hard because of the detail in that dress that was so tricky to get right the and the other two are Peter Capaldi one-off monsters being the foretold and the Fisher King oh god yeah the Fisher King I'd that yeah wow yeah that was that that was incredible yeah um I did I did the Fisher King first then I did the foretold and then I did Madame de Pompadour um the thing is that I just like sitting myself a challenge really I know absolutely I mean is has there been a piece you start and then you go oh god oh I regret this um I normally the majority of the time I do end up scrapping it and starting again I do because it's a case of okay I see okay what I tried to do there didn't fully work so let's rewind it back a bit and try again with this I'm doing something a bit different I mean best example I've got is this one right here of my talents of which I am picture hang on there's a bit of a glass I'll just hold the camera so what happened was when I started on this is that the glow effect I've got around the time cabinet that was um that was actually much greater it came it came up to around about here it did really uh more like a circle it did and I looked at it uh at the time and I thought no this just doesn't work so I literally tore the paper up and started again oh god how much work did you rip um well thankfully I only I only pretty much done the bottom of that really so it really didn't fully affect it really so I hadn't done any of the top thank goodness for that so um I technically only had about maybe a quarter of it done by the time I went well maybe a fifth of actually by the time I scrapped it how how much like how many hours would you say that is um oh gosh um well just from just from when I started to when I scrapped it yeah I'd say maybe 10 hours I'd say the thing is the thing is though if again if I feel like I could I could have done better I will go ahead and yeah I'll just think I'll scrap it really if I feel any if I if I feel it necessary yeah um here's here's a sort of more random question because I mean I'm one of those people that tried art you know I did it for a good while and then I sort of tapered out and one thing I always struggled with was not necessarily the clothes or sort of body it was always the face would you say that's sort of a common hurdle oh oh yeah yeah um I am a stickler for getting getting people's faces right I will because I honestly because I know I take my stuff to conventions and I sell them I want it to look like the person I intended to look like yeah um so I get I get that it's because again uh again I just really want to get people's faces correct down correct really so it's just a case of looking looking at the because I've got the image in front of me I have and I'm looking back back and forth constantly thinking maybe I just need to adjust that a little bit just to get it right maybe rub that back a little bit in fact I've got I've got one golden I've got two golden rules I should mention regarding regarding my artwork um the harder something is the more likely I am to enjoy myself and no matter the circumstance whoever your favorite character is they are going to be the hardest oh god I can only imagine I mean that I mean mine's very amateurish it's been a hot minute since I've done a drawing so I mean kudos for getting as much as you have I mean how many pieces do you reckon have you done at this point goodness me I must be around I must be about be around but be close to somewhere around about the hundred mark I'd say I got again again I'm again unlike digital artists who again I don't know what they're I again I can't comment on digital art because I don't know what how quickly they're able to push stuff out but it seems like whenever I look on Twitter it's like people who I follow and who are pretty much nearly everyone who I follow with digital arts and they pump it out in in a matter of elite I probably see it probably see maybe one new picture a week or something again I don't know if that's the case for you whereas I can just about manage a new picture a month I can really. Circling back to the the fandom events for example how did you get started doing conventions and selling your artwork or giving away? Well okay so I didn't start going to my first ever convention I didn't start going to conventions until 2013 so my mum took me along to big finish day three which was in March of 2013 and then as an 18th birthday present for me I got to go to the 50th and then pretty much as my mum said to me only when you're 18 you can buy your own way and come over to the event so that's what I did really so I just started drawing just a four pictures of each person I was going to meet really when I went to events as was shown in that book I just pulled up eventually I did catch the eyes of the 10th Planet Company and just said just to have something a bit different they put my at one point they put my artwork out for fans to get signed in front of the desks I wasn't being paid for it but at the time I really didn't mind really and and to this day I still didn't mind because again people kept on saying they really like my artwork so yeah that was fine but I was very good very good on my end eventually 10th Planet closes doors to doing signings they've still got an online shot for the record so I eventually ventured over to Phantom who again shout out to Dex and Paul by the way who are the owners of Phantom Events so from what I remember it was I first of all started going to the signings and I started catching the crew's attention really with my artwork and also another item which I typically get signed at the events and eventually my mum came along with me she became part of the crew for Phantom Events and then eventually I got asked to become a member of the crew as well and so afterwards it was quite common knowledge amongst the crew and fans and that about my artwork and the fact how brilliant it was so it took a bit of convincing to get me to do to get me to do something because I was a bit skeptical about a couple of things such as copyright and whatnot um but I did eventually have my first stall in Pandorica of 2019 so just before the pandemic kicked in and that went right yeah that went very well for me for my for my first ever event I was I was essentially I was essentially a nobody just trying to flog off bits and pieces of artwork I just and I was and I was sat next to Sophia who in another self is a fantastic artist yeah wow yeah and yeah but she is she is amazing she is in terms of so there's not only artwork but moral support to any and other people around her so so so yeah um I do hold Sophie in a high regard for that for that matter uh and eventually eventually spiralled into the fact where um where I then got commissioned by Dixon Paul of Phantom to do some artwork for them so um let me explain what happened so I this was in the this is it between uh lockdowns one and two so the the Phantom the Phantom's day signings are small enough uh to the point where they were they could happen safely in a COVID environment between pandemics one and two um lockdowns one and two sorry um and we had a I was it was the August signing if I remember rightly and a fan had come up to me because I was on the front table not selling my prints but I was selling pictures for for the signing and he said to me when are you going to draw a picture of Douglas camfield as the doctor because of the brain and morbid uh scene and I said to him if I'm I'm I'm thank you for thank you for speaking to me about that um if I'm going to draw Douglas camfield I'd rather draw him has as a director with all the stories that he um that he's responsible for directing so and after he left it just so happened that Dex was sat next to me when that happened so so Dex then said to me how long does it take you to generally draw something and I said oh it entirely depends on what I've got to draw because you think about detail tone color and so on and so forth really and we then got talking about other things related to Douglas camp on he said to me do you want to draw um a book draw the the new book front cover for Douglas for the re-release of Douglas camfield's biography and so naturally I said yes oh you would Douglas camfield no offence to any of the doctors who directed but Douglas camfield is my favorite director of doctor so I've got naturally I just jumped I jumped on that immediately so so again I again because because I'm obviously very concerned about copyright or not and they said to me no no it's go ahead and do it it's perfectly fine on you perfectly fine on copyright grounds because they said that if it if it does come to that they're gonna take the brunt I believe they said they're gonna take the brunt of it at the time um or something like or or something along those lines but essentially they said I was fine on copyright and so I just went ahead looked up all the stories that he was responsible for in terms of directing and uh I put together a picture for uh for it and the book was released in January of this year yeah I think I remember seeing that so I mean that's got to feel you got to feel pretty proud about that oh yeah definitely that is uh I was I was I was on a high in 2020 I was absolutely I absolutely joined myself in that year despite what happened well yeah I mean you've got to make the most of it but I suppose when you're doing artwork going out and about isn't really the biggest worry no it wasn't it just that yeah I will say 2020 just gave me the opportunity opportunity to a start thinking about what else I could do and b just get my head down and get some actual artwork done speaking of your fabulous artwork uh perhaps a small standard question but do you have a favorite so far that you've done oh dear I knew I know I get a question like this it was okay it's bad to happen okay I will immediately say I refuse to answer that question and I'll explain why do tell um imagine right if you had had let's say three or more children and I would to line them up on a wall in front of you and I were to tell you yeah could you do your favorite form and they were and they were listening very carefully could you answer that question yeah I think you've I think I completely understand your point and there's someone who works in the nursery and looks after about 16 odd children yeah it's tricky yeah that's yeah I essentially do my artwork in this all my artwork in a in the same light I do while I will I will say certain I will say certain things about certain certain pieces uh here and there but I view all of them I like all of all of the pieces all my final pieces as equally as much because um essentially they essentially they're helping me get to where I where I am at the moment and hopefully pushing me further beyond the barrier absolutely so you so you're considering your artwork your children you you rest them down into the pot every night you give them a little kiss yes definitely brilliant right um a couple uh two more questions to go uh if if if do you ever do commissions from uh people I know yours is quite uh large so it's easier for digital artists as you say but perhaps for your style it would be a bit trickier um I very very rarely take them on because um to tell us tell an old story I used to take art commissions for literally anything really at one point I had people from my place of work said oh could you draw could you draw this for me or could you draw this and this and I eventually said that uh I eventually had a long thought one day I said to myself am I genuinely happy drawing these bits of artwork and the the honest answer was no because um my worry was that I was going to put out something that would look shoddy and I didn't want and and it it's much easier to draw something that you're that you're more passionate about than it is there's only you're being paid to do so um I so while I have to I while I have an occasionally do still take on doctorate based artwork commissions I I very rarely do and I very rarely want to because it's much easier for me to put something out like this where more people are going to be happy rather than the specific individual will be happy no again sorry sorry if there's anyone who wanted a specific piece of artwork from me but um but unfortunately I very rarely advertise the fact and again you'd have to catch me in the right in the catch me on the right time and it will be able to say yeah I'll go ahead and do that no absolutely I completely understand that so yeah community show uh fan art from Conor Adkins coming soon no I don't want to put your wrist out of action just oh that's too much pencil for the nose let and the eyebrows it would take too long I don't know actually the only pain the only pain I get from artwork is in my back really it's because I'm cos it's because I'm leaning forward yeah and uh again I can't help it but even though I've got a drawing table I do have to lean forward sometimes so it does help my back and on some occasions my chest oh your chest oh because of the angle right yeah because of the angle so I can't help that but that's a thing really wouldn't they no fair enough um but yeah no doing one of me would take too long again the nose but um so finally if people were wanting to find your artwork around if they wanted a piece for yourself I've said multiple occasions as soon as I get the money that I want that heaven sent one so where would people go to look at the moment I'm only selling at events at the moment this is unfortunately a small issue with me is that um again I'm going to use the doctor whose story is an example which is Nikola Tesla's night of terrors Tesla was a genius but he wasn't a businessman like Thomas Edison was so he was more in it for the science than he was in for the money and I like doing and while I do sell I'm more art orientated than I am business orientated right so at the moment I'm only doing events at the moment so and in 2022 I've already I've not I'm not telling you this out here anything but I'm only planning on doing four events next year so if you want to get a piece of artwork off of me the events you would you would be best best to catch me at uh uh and I'm going to try and even though I'm not spoken to the to the owners about this I'm going to try and get myself to these events so the events I'm going to be at are Bedford Hoocon, Hooverville, Utopia and Pandorica that's all I'm usually quite in the know I don't think I know those first two I didn't know the bed fine I'm going to write it down Bedford Charity Hoocon, so just if you type in Bedford Charity Hoocon on into Google you should find it you should uh that'll be in April of this year Hooverville is uh well again if you just type in Hooverville but it's a W at the beginning and uh you should and it's that's organised by the Doctor Who fan group Hoovers and uh and that happens uh if I remember right the after the second after the bank holiday in August the one at the end and then another August I get a bank holidays there are in August uh um Utopia and Pandorica are events that are hosted by uh phantom events themselves so if you want to know where Utopia is that's at White Boston Lakes in Bedfordshire and Pandorica is at the Bristol it is at the future in in Bristol. Oh terrific I might try and get myself down to those they sound like quite a hoot. Yeah and uh I believe I believe uh at the moment only if you're interested in meeting some of the guests uh only Bedford who has got some guests announced at the moment. No fair enough I don't have a gander. Yeah um I thought one final question actually that just sort of popped into my head um have you surely you've shown a lot of these artwork to the actual actors in in the show? Yes have you got any fun stories from that like a favourite? Oh I have got some fun stories I had I was hoping you'd ask it right um well first one believe it or not comes from Tom Baker believe it or not um so what yeah I'm gonna go with the big guns first of all let's do it um so what happened was that this I was still in sick form at the time this is one of my one of my one a very uh so a very old picture which actually three very old pictures of mine so let me just find them real quick for you open up the first two so these are the first two that uh regarding and the other one which is also my first one in colour believe it or not oh yeah I wonder if it's somewhere. That is such a thick book. Ah here it is. This one right here. Oh lovely. So what happened was is that I I was the last person in Tom's queue and I went up to him to to give him copies of them and to get them signed so um he was looking at me wondering saying did you do these? I said yes I did and for the record my mum was the one who was looking after him for the day so you know how sometimes you see people sitting next to um the guests yeah that's what my mum was doing and she was with Tom for the day so yes that's a thing that's a claim my mum hold that's a very good claim my mum hold really and so rather than uh so what Tom says to me is that he first of all he asked for my address so it's like okay and my mum being being being very much on the more on the ball than I was quickly scribbled down the address and uh so it's like okay that that okay so maybe something good might come over I don't know so it's a couple of days later I'm coming home from school after doing my part-time cleaning job and I look I so I look on the freezer to see there's a letter from uh letter for me and by the time I register who's handwriting is I hear upstairs from I hear from upstairs my mum and she's yelling you bloody bastard so I just asked myself oh gosh I've managed to annoy my mum so much and it turns out the handwriting was Tom Baker's writing and I've got the letter right here so I'll just read it to you so it's dated 1st of June 2014 so it says dear Connor thank you for the two copies of uh of my face aged 40 and then 40 years later not just copies not just copies you catch something special something else sorry not special I have written you written your name and email on the back of both pictures and I shall send them both out sometime soon and hope they may lead to an inquiry best wishes to you and many and more thanks to your mum for looking after me Tom Baker oh my god this is my this is my prized possession that I own and I absolutely am enthralled by that that is incredible um another so I'll get a lot of tons of other stories another one coming from the other baker Colin Baker um so um so this was a bed for her I believe it was bed for who con four this was the first time that they'd actually managed to get hold of a doctor for their first one and I was there just as just as an actual punter just going up and getting what I want going up meeting the stars and getting what I wanted signed yeah and um and the first thing of the day um before anything else was Colin Baker's panel and um so um Simon Danes that was the guy that's trying to remember his surname who was hosting the panel um didn't really have much questions he just very much let it open to the audience really which again that's again again it's very nice of Simon to do that so I wanted to ask a question naturally for the record by the time I'd already met Colin and so I the question I asked him was was there any big finish that he would recommend to fans to listen and instead of answering my question he essentially just stops in the middle and he goes and says he goes I think gives me a shout out to the audience so what happens he says he says many artists who draw picture draw pieces of artwork of of people normally only get it 99 percent of the time accurate but he said to me that man there gets it 100 percent of the time accurate so it's like that is a massive compliment from him and um so I just so essentially so essentially essentially he just essentially encouraged people to essentially he then asked what's your Twitter handle to well we're in the middle of the panel and he says um Conor Jay and Ken's and he says go and follow that man I'll stand I bet if there were any other artists in that room they were like oh this this is like an enemy this day in fact I've gotten multiple stories with Colin um the last event before lockdown was valiant in Sheffield and this was in March of 2020 so this was just before the pandemic kicked in um and again Colin Colin was also there and I'm I've actually got a stall this time and I'm sitting in the middle of the room and behind me is the signing area where where the autographs take place and to the right of me is the auditorium where the talks are taking place so Colin had just finished his talk and everyone was bustling out and then Colin was following shortly behind us making his way through the credits with table and Colin in order to get through he ends up coming past my table he sees um sees what's on the table sees it's me and then he makes a loud announcement to the to the crowd saying everyone look at this artwork buy it and so and he's not done so towards the end of his signing session he's walking out because he's finished for the day he's walking out towards the exit because and he asked me how many I've sold and at the time I believe I never sold 14 at the time because again not many people were interested which is fair enough and and his reaction was what and then he turns to me again and he says what's wrong with you and I had to say two times to the to the crowd saying I did not pay Colin Baker to say that because people were thinking it could be because I imagine people would have thought what so yeah absolutely brilliant Colin is probably my biggest support um it seems like it like a town crier um it's what else so I think I've got I've got a few other stories if you if you've got time to hear them we've got time for another story why not um okay uh all in technically involves this one actually oh do tell um so I've got a 10 of your two stories actually um so it goes first of all it comes up when I finished this picture um so for the record uh when I scan them I have to scan them in bits I do you know because I don't have access to an A2 size scanner in high quality I only have access to an A3 scanner so it has to be stitched in it has to be scanned in bits it does and shout out to my friend Angus Glenn who helps who helps me put them together because my my knowledge of Photoshop went out of my ear when I finished um when I finished sick form so he's been very kind enough to help me out and we put this together so um so when he sends me the final version of this um I then tweet I essentially just decide to essentially I want to essentially fire this in all directions on Twitter this is my this is my equivalent of firing off a flare gun it is so I fire it off to 10 Twitter accounts in general on Twitter and I get five responses uh on Twitter um but first of all I the tweet currently has it's my pinned tweet on Twitter has around at least over 250 retweets well over 1200 likes and I couldn't believe it when I saw this at least over 200,000 people had seen it so that was that was a very I was like wow this is this is really done well for me and the responses I got were from Ray Holman who was the costume designer for the for the story ah uh he he didn't say he didn't say anything he just indicated his approval by liking it which again really happy with that uh both the doc two Twitter accounts responded to me so that's the the official one and the American one nice responded to me nice and and also I noticed that the the official doc two Twitter every tweeted it and the last thing that they'd read that they tweeted out was in relation to season series 13 promotional material so and that was about a four night ago yeah this is yeah I've got this in front of more people now so let me wear it and the American one I just wondered and both of them is quite the the infamous gift of Peter Capone saying modern art brilliant um uh the fourth person that I got response from was from Kate Walsh who was the prosthetics producer who works for Millennium Effects and absolutely loved it as well very so essentially what high approval there but the best response I got on Twitter was from Rachel Talalay who was the director yeah and she was absolutely blown away by this thing and I actually because people have been liking because I put pro-aggress tweets of my artwork throughout on to anytime I get a bit further on on a picture and she could and I actually had to say in my tweet uh please see the finished piece of artwork that I've done in pencil and when she saw that she thought she was absolutely blown away but and she couldn't believe that it was done in pencil and the and the best thing about it is that she now follows me on Twitter so nice yeah and he and even though I didn't because I never got he never saw it on Twitter but I got to show him in person Jamie Rhee Corral who plays you can't see on camera who plays the veil as he has seen this in real life as real life himself and I did give him a copy of it and he because he'd signed a few on the day that I that he was signing autographs and he was absolutely blown away by what I'd done and I like I like a tweet a picture of me and him with the artwork saying and I end up quote end up saying Jamie Rhee Corral approves so so yeah that's a didn't he very well this picture's done me very well no absolutely it has I mean I can only imagine I can only imagine what amazing pieces you'll be able to do in the future because if your previous works have shown anything it's absolute quality as Colin Baker said a hundred percent right and that's the biggest review ever you could ever get yeah I think that I even ended up with a believe it or not a piece of Doctor Who television because of my artwork at one point really I'm not kidding I'm not told this story because but I'll tell it now um so it was an it was another phantom day signing and an actor called Richard Seig was there so if you don't know who he is he played a Vok robot in Robots of Death and at the time he had he had with him his original script and all the rehearsal schedule that was with it so I've done a picture of Robots of Death um a number of years ago prior to me and so I rocked up and I just uh I wanted to give him a copy as per usual he loved it I mean he said he didn't say to me in return um like he was he was right from the script he's like do you want this and what he handed me was an original copy of the rehearsal schedule for Robots of Death what brilliant but it happened I was like oh my god I thought to myself oh my gosh that has never happened so yeah I was like I was jumping and it was even better because I know I knew how my mum would react because Robots of Death is my mum is my mum's all-time favorite Doctor Who story well that's gone well then hasn't it so I told her what happened um she was the only person I told and I told her what happened and she and when she and once I finished told her to her face just dropped did she know how you bastard again no she didn't she did not she did not yeah she just she just felt quiet oh my god that is terrific we audience forgive me if I'm making you jealous or anything like that but this is stuff that's just happening out of my control yeah I mean look you you put your stuff out there you hope for the best and sometimes you're luck out that's I think that's the moral of the story in my case in my case I'm extremely lucky out absolutely well yes thank you so much for coming on the show Conor it's been an absolute pleasure chatting away to you thank you as well jack and again um again for the record this is being recorded after after Pandorica 2021 and is and you've already tweeted out the um your your poll for best uh actor or yeah drama or whatever um again uh I'm not voting because technically I am eligible for what for one of them I am so I'm going to keep myself out of that but yeah good luck to all of the Doctor Who community very well done for the year you've made 2021 a much more bearable time oh that's terrific and that's everyone everyone in the community uh yeah thank you uh good enough reason thank you now the robot lady is going to tell us that it has


Good morning and welcome to the First Unitarian Society of Madison. My name is Kelly Crocker and I am Minister of Congregational Life. It is a gift to gather in this online space. It is a gift to gather from our homes, whether our home is here in the Madison area or somewhere around the globe. For today's service, Reverend Roger Birchhausen and I are joined by Linda Warren, Drew Collins and Daniel Carnes. It is wonderful to be joined by so many people who might not otherwise be able to join us due to geographical or logistical barriers. We are reminded of the blessings and the gifts of virtual spaces. As we create space together for community, we would like to invite you to join us after service for our virtual coffee hour. This is a wonderful way to have conversations with one another and to deepen our connections. Today at 11.45 a.m. immediately after coffee hour, we will be joined by Dr. Demita Brown, restorative justice director for the Dane County Time Bank. We invite you to join us in welcoming Dr. Brown as we learn how we can participate in a letter writing campaign to end violence against black people. Please use the coffee hour Zoom link to join this session. In a moment, we will be lighting our chalice here, and I hope you will be finding a candle or a chalice of your own to light wherever you are. May the fires of our chalice flames burn brightly throughout our wider community. I invite you now into a time of centering silence, a time for a few deep breaths to come fully into this time and this space together. You are beloved and you are welcome here. Whether tears have fallen from your eyes this past week or gleeful laughter has spilled out of your smiling mouth. You are beloved and you are welcome here. Whether you are feeling brave or broken hearted, defiant or defeated, fearsome or fearful. You are beloved and you are welcome here. Whether you have untold stories buried deep inside or stories that have been forced beyond the edges of comfort. You are beloved and you are welcome here. Whether you have made promises, broken promises or are renewing your promises. You are beloved and you are welcome here. Whatever is on your heart, however it is with your soul in this moment. You are beloved and you are welcome here. In this space of welcome and acceptance, commitment and recommitment of covenant and connection, let us worship together. I invite you now to join in our chalice lighting. We light this flame as a symbol of new life enlightening our way, as a symbol of the warmth in every human heart. Let the lighting of this flame rekindle in us the inner light of hope, of peace, of love. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times. Though you've broken your vows a thousand times Though you've broken your vows a thousand We have gathered, gathered side by side Serve, come and step in sauce and sages Sharing as it's bat us not as can he The story today is about Francis David, one of the founders of our Unitarian faith. He lived in Transylvania and was in Transylvania and was Hungarian and in Hungarian they pronounced his name David Farrens. They put the last name first. So I'm going to call him David in the story. So he lived in the 1500s in Transylvania. He led a remarkable life. He began his journey as a Catholic, became a Catholic priest as a young man. Pretty early on in his priesthood he became convinced by the ideas of the Reformation and converted to Lutheranism. He quickly became the chief Lutheran pastor in Kholishvar, the capital of Transylvania. But still he didn't settle in his faith. He kept searching and he became convinced that the Calvinist ideas were right. So he became a Calvinist and in short order became the Bishop of the Calvinist Church in Transylvania. But he still kept searching. And finally he landed on Unitarianism. He believed in the oneness of God. He came to believe that Jesus was a fully human person, not a divinity. And so he became Unitarian. Well around that time that he became Unitarian and in fact became the first Unitarian bishop in Transylvania. The king of Transylvania was a young man named John Sigismund. Now King John got tired of people in his land arguing constantly about religion. Sometimes not just arguing but actually battling each other and sometimes killing each other. He called for the leader of each of these four denominations in Transylvania, Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and Unitarian, to come together and debate their religions peacefully. The place that they came to debate was Torda, the Catholic Church in the city of Torda. You can see here a painting of the great debate in Torda which lasted for 10 days starting at 5 a.m. each day. Now in this painting you can see David Farrens making his points. And this is a painting from the 1800s from much later. Probably he didn't even look like this. This in fact the the painting here was modeled on somebody else. Not even sure what he looked like. I got to see this painting a couple years ago. It's a really really big painting. And I took another picture of it of one of my best friends in Transylvania, a minister there in the city of Deva, mimicking David Farrens. This is one of my favorite pictures. You can see here a statue of David that was unveiled in just just the last several months in Kholishvar next to the big church there. And here's a close-up of the statue. You see it looks quite different from the painting. I don't know that this looks like David Farrens either. I'm not sure we really know what he looked like. Anyway he was so persuasive that he won the debate. And in fact the king, King John Sugisman, became Unitarian. Now King John was wise just like his mother. He embraced religious tolerance and he decided that just because he became Unitarian didn't mean that everybody else had to become Unitarian. So instead he issued the Edict of Torta a proclamation saying that people could believe what they wanted as long as they were in any of these four faith traditions and they could stop killing each other. So this Edict of Torta was adopted 452 years ago. Well eventually unfortunately King John Sugisman died, the Edict was rolled back, and a new law was passed that said there would be no more changes in beliefs. Well David refused to abide by that law. He wanted to keep developing Unitarianism to keep going with his understanding of the faith. He was put in the prison in the Citadel in Deva for violating this law. Kelly and I are lucky enough to have been there and I'm going to share some of our photos from that prison. So you can see the Citadel, the castle way up on that hill. Several times I've actually climbed up that hill to get to it which is a bit of a hike. And you can see here up toward the top near the Citadel. It's mostly in ruins now. And then there's the cell. This is supposedly the cell where David was imprisoned and where in fact in November after he was imprisoned he died. It's not clear that this was actually the cell but there was a cell like this in the Citadel in which he died. So here are some Unitarian Universalist ministers going into this cell. And there's a monument in the cell to David Ference. So he died in prison in 1579. Each year Transylvanian Unitarians gather to remember his death. This was one of the years that they did this that I was able to be at. You can see there's there really were one or two thousand Unitarians gathered there to commemorate the event. I hope that you'll be able to go sometime to Transylvania to see this site and the Unitarian churches there like Kelly and I have been able to. And all of us must remember this story. Must remember the sacrifice of David Ference for our faith and the sacrifices of so many others. As now we join in singing our hymn of love to pledge ourselves a new to that high cause of greater understandings is true to show to all on no urging for that me which binds our heins us all as one we pledge ourselves to greater service and justice strive to. In a piece about the Jewish Passover tradition the Reverend Jane Zepka, Emeritus Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Larger Fellowship writes these words. If we Unitarian Universalists were forced to leave our homes as a group and head for a promised land what common practices would we take along? I could make a very long list but I'll name just six examples. If we believe in a God at all it is a benevolent one not a frightening or punishing God. That's something Unitarian Universalists carry with us on our journeys. We believe in the humanity of Jesus whom we view as a wise and wonderful teacher but not a God. That's something Unitarian Universalists carry with us. We reject the doctrine of innate depravity. We do not believe in original sin. That becomes crystal clear when you listen to the words of our child dedications. We carry the theology of potential goodness with us. We believe in free will not predestination. Events are not preordained nor meant to be. We have the power to act in the world. We carry that free will with us as Unitarian Universalists. We believe in freedom of conscience that creeds do not serve us well. We carry that freedom of conscience with us. And we believe in the use of reason as part of determining personal religious truth. We carry that use of reason with us. May we carry these things with us. That they may offer us solace when we need it. Inspiration when the world seems dull. Challenge when we are lulled into complacency. And the seeds of love and friendship when we feel alone in the world. We Unitarian Universalists love to tell the story of David Farron's. It's such a heroic story about an important beginning of our faith. It beautifully underscores the commitment to religious freedom that it has been baked into the DNA of our faith. And the story is complicated. It's really more complicated than what I told earlier in the service. We often talk about how this good King John Sigismund when he died that the next king came in and rolled back the edict of Torda and as a result David Farron's ended up in prison where he met his death. This leaves out a complicated part of the story involving a remarkable man named Giorgio Biendrada. Biendrada was an Italian-born physician. He became a Unitarian pioneer first in Poland and then in Transylvania. He was in fact the physician in King John's court and he along with David Farron's helped convert King John to Unitarianism. He and David were allies in creating the Unitarian faith in Transylvania and in its commitment to freedom. But 10 years or so after the edict and after the death of King John, Biendrada broke with David. Biendrada was understandably worried about government persecution of Unitarians so he advocated for the law forbidding further innovation. He thought this would keep the fledgling faith safe. But as we know David refused to stop innovating. That just he just couldn't do it. For him, ongoing innovation was central to faith. No doubt knowing that this would violate the law, he next decided in an ounce that he would no longer invoke Christ in prayers and in that day that was a pretty big deal. With Biendrada's active support the king had David imprisoned and charged with a crime of religious innovation and we know how that story ended. So Biendrada, this pioneer of our faith without whom Unitarianism might not have taken off in Transylvania, this guy figured into the death of the main founder in Transylvania. Biendrada fought for religious freedom and then he supported a severe limitation on religious freedom. Our history is complicated. A few years ago I experienced the current complicated nature of our Unitarian faith in Transylvania. The setting was the dedication of a beautiful new house of freedom. The house of freedom was built in the old Bishop's house across the street from the flagship church of Unitarianism in Kholishvar, the capital of Transylvania. The building, the kind of rundown Bishop's house, had just was beautifully renovated into a museum and a meeting space that would keep alive this living legacy of religious freedom. So the dedication ceremony featured speeches by many dignitaries including the current Bishop of the Hungarian Unitarian Church, Susan Frederick Gray, the current president of our Unitarian Universalist Association, and government leaders from both Romania and Hungary. Susan Frederick Gray wore a rainbow stole so that she could make a silent witness in support of LGBTQ plus people. While the Romanian official got up and gave a speech that was a fine speech uplifting religious freedom and the vibrant mix of religions that religious freedom allows. As is the custom in Transylvania, after his speech and other speeches people would wrap their their hand on the pews creating that kind of noise. While next the minister for religion in the Hungarian national government spoke, he started by saying that Christianity is the most persecuted faith in the history of the world. I remember sitting there thinking uh-oh I think we're going to hear some coded bigotry here. Then he attacked the European Union as hostile to Christianity. Then maybe he was set off by Susan Frederick Gray's stole. He attacked marriage equality and LGBTQ plus people. I thought well I guess it's not not really going to be coded here. And for his grand finale he attacked Islam and Muslims. So some Unitarians I noticed at the end of his speech including the bishop and one of the deputy bishops did not wrap their hands on the pews. I certainly didn't but a lot of people did. A lot of Unitarians applauded the Hungarian minister. While the Hungarian minister's remarks were not surprising he is part of the government in Hungary, the government that's led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban. That government uh the ideology is not one that supports freedom of religion. The irony here though is that it was largely Hungarian government money that funded this house of freedom. So this government which in so many ways opposes religious freedom helped make possible the house of religious freedom for the Unitarian Church. And our Unitarian kinfolk in Transylvania accepted the money so that the project could become a reality. Shades of Giorgio Biendrada. So the story of religious freedom is complicated in Transylvania and it's complicated here albeit for different reasons. My own personal story illustrates some of that. So early in my career as a minister I earned a reputation in the Unitarian Universalist Association as one of the most outspoken proponents of individual freedom. I won an award in a sermon contest on that subject and got to preach it at GA. I served as president of the Unitarian Universalist for Freedom of Conscience Organization. I engaged in a brief but intense debate with another minister about the limits of freedom in a widely read publication of UU ministers. When I googled myself shortly after Google was invented I found another colleague sermon attacking me and accusing me of making a false idol of freedom. What? Isn't freedom to construct one's own faith the center of our Unitarian Universalist faith? Well in these past 10 to 15 years I have come to the conclusion that I was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. And at its core my mistake was a profound misunderstanding of freedom. I confused freedom with license. I believe that because of the primacy of individual freedom every Unitarian Universalist has a categorical right to create their own personal belief system. So really does this mean I have the right as a Unitarian Universalist to believe in white supremacy? Do I have a right as a Unitarian Universalist to believe that I have no responsibility to care for those who are suffering or impoverished or oppressed? Do I have a right as a Unitarian Universalist to believe something that's completely contrary to our long tradition for example to say that it's really the afterlife that matters not this world? Well in the 1990s I actually would have answered yes to those questions. Okay maybe not the white supremacy one but the other ones. I acknowledged then that there were some boundaries to what's acceptable is Unitarian Universalist but they are so far out that they're practically meaningless. Basically I embraced the understanding of our faith that I still here uttered quite often actually in UU congregations that in our faith you can believe anything you want. More than anything else my mistake opens the door for our faith to become a faith of license and frankly narcissism. It's a faith that's all about me, about each individual. It's all about what I believe, what works for me. Reason, critical thinking, the common good, our traditions, principles. We don't need to worry about any of that as long as it makes sense to me as long as it's good for me everything's cool. I can now say that a great tagline for that kind of Unitarian Universalism would be Unitarian Universalism putting the eye back in religion. Well I've come to understand that what I was advocating was license not freedom. Several years ago I ran up across a piece in the Quest publication which is a publication of the UU Church of the Larger Fellowship that says this well that actually comes from Michael Schuler the Emeritus Minister here. He defined license as tolerating no restriction. License he said demands absolute individual autonomy. License according to Michael says that no matter that my belief is ill-founded, irrational, or pernicious it is my categorical right to claim it. Well in this piece Michael rejected license and called us back to authentic healthy freedom. So I recognize now that freedom has constraints. While freedom includes individual autonomy it's not absolute. We do not have a categorical right as a Unitarian Universalist to believe whatever we want. Individual autonomy must be balanced with the good of the whole within our congregations and within society. I love the reading that Kelly shared earlier today because it gives expression to some of those deep abiding beliefs and principles that really are part of what makes us Unitarian Universalist. Well friends finding balance between individual autonomy and the good of the whole is not easy in a spiritual community. I'm convinced that a key to doing this well maybe the key is the idea of covenant. Covenant. It's a term that's deeply rooted in the sacred promise between God and the ancient Israelites in the Hebrew Bible. It's taken on a broader meaning in spiritual communities also as sacred promises members make to one another. A covenant between members in the congregation articulates how people in the congregation aspire to interact with one another. It provides a reference point for each person to ponder as they interact with other members. My former congregation has a wonderful principle in its covenant that calls its members to keep individual needs and balance with the health and vitality of the whole. That in a nutshell is what I'm talking about today. Now covenants within congregations are not easy to write and they're even harder to live by. As human beings we screw up. In one way or another all of us have broken our bowels a thousand times. When this happens the trick is to call ourselves and one another back into covenant.  The Jewish High Holy Day of Yom Kippur which is coming up later this month provides a similarly helpful roadmap. Reverend Kelly and I join 1600 other UU ministers something like that in the UU ministers association in embracing a covenant of ministers. This helps us stay in right relationship with each other and with our other colleagues. It helps us navigate rough spots in our collegial relationships and calls us back to our best selves. I'm a big believer in covenants. They help navigate relationships in community. They help us balance individual needs with the well-being of the whole. So this morning I have one final question for you in two challenges. The question, what are you going to do with the precious gift of freedom you have been given this gift for which David Ferens and others have died? What are you going to use your freedom to do? In two challenges, the first one is to engage in the search process here at FUS over these next couple months. Fill out the survey if you haven't done that. Attend a cottage or focus meeting in October. That's a whole process of bringing a live community of balancing the needs and the hopes of the individual with the well-being of the whole. In second, I have a very concrete challenge that Kelly and I are embracing in the coming weeks and we hope you'll join us. As you might have heard there's a pretty big consequential election coming up in this country in 56 days. We live in a state that could have a lot to do with deciding that election. I believe that voting is a civic duty and in this moment of widespread efforts to suppress voting I also believe that working for voter access and encouraging people to vote is a civic duty. With this in mind I'm joining Kelly in pledging to give a chunk of my time in these next 56 days to this effort to get the vote out. We hope that you will join us in making the same pledge. You'll hear more about this from Kelly next week and then the following week we in a whole lot of other UU congregations across the country are going to focus on this issue. The sermon will be given by UUA president Susan Frederick Gray and we'll provide a list of concrete ways you can make a difference by joining in this important work in the Madison area. I feel like this is going to be an excellent way to use our precious gift of freedom during these next 56 days and I hope you'll feel the same way. The offering is our weekly time of reflection when we are attentive to the gifts that bless and enrich our lives. Even in these difficult days it is good to also be mindful of our gifts. I invite you from that place of gratitude to consider the gifts of your lives. This week our outreach offering will be shared with the Dane County time bank which works to help people share their time and talents to meet needs improve systems and address community issues throughout Dane County. The time bank seeks to create an interconnected community in which meaningful relationships drive collective change. The Dane County time bank is committed to facilitating exchanges and coordinating projects through a racial and restorative justice lens. Please remember that we will be joined by Dr. Brown of the Dane County time bank immediately after our coffee hour at 11 45 a.m. Please use the coffee hour zoom link to enter this session and learn more about the letter writing campaign to end violence against Black lives. You will see on your screen that you can donate directly from our website fussmattison.org. You will also find more information about our text to give option that began last week. We thank you for your generosity and for your faith in this life we create together. Before turning to the cares of the congregation and in-service fact-checked on something I said in my sermon the election is not 56 days away it's actually 43. I apologize for my math error. Friends each week we gather with sorrows and celebrations onto our hearts. This time in our service gives us time and space to be in touch with these sorrows and these celebrations within ourselves within the lives of this community and beyond. Today no doubt the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is on many of your minds and hearts. There is likely in you as there is in me a mixture of feelings and thoughts including deep gratitude for her extraordinary service to this nation sorrow over the loss of a consistently powerful moral compass right at the center of our judicial system and profound fear about what's next and what this monumental loss might mean for our justice system in our nation. I am guessing that many of you join me in also feeling a sort of personal sense of loss in her death even though I certainly never had the chance the good fortune to meet her. This is not surprising though her decisions her writings her character have deeply impacted so many lives in this country. My daughter for example who is a lawyer Justice Ginsburg has a huge influence on the lives and opportunities of women lawyers like my daughter and so many around the country and I intentionally this morning say has the legacy will continue to go on it did not end on Friday. Her legacy will be carried on by my daughter by so many others for many many years to come. May each of us find ways to honor and extend Judge Justice Ginsburg's rich legacy especially in the coming days as there are attempts to undo her legacy in fact they've already begun. May we be inspired by Ginsburg's steely courage and her steadfast persistence. May our troubled nation somehow find its way toward a better more just future. For justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's extraordinary life and legacy I light a candle this morning and I invite you now to join me in a time of silent meditation and prayer as each one of us contemplates the joys and sorrows and celebrations in our lives. Amen. All right let's stand up for closing him the fire of commitment from the light of days remembered burns a beacon bright and clear guiding hands and hearts and spirits into faith set free from fear when the fire of commitment sets our mind and soul ablaze when our hunger and our passion each to call us on our way when we the assurance of the flame that burns within then our promise finds fulfillment and our future can begin the stories of our living rings a song both brave and free calling pilgrims still to witness to the life of liberty when the fire of commitment sets our mind and soul ablaze when our hunger and our passion need to call us on our way the assurance of the flame that burns within then our promise finds fulfillment and our future can begin full of vision comes a new prophetic voice rich dimmer justice built by our courageous choice sets our mind and soul ablaze and our passion need to call us on our way friends of the flame that burns with finds fulfillment may we embrace the tension implicit in freedom may we balance our individual autonomy and needs with the health and vitality of the community as a whole and may we live gracefully and creatively in this tension may you go in peace