Adversity brings enlightenment

Shane Fudge interviews entertainer-cumfreedom fighter Richard Vobes Shane Fudge [SF]: Can you tell us a little about yourself, Richard?

- SHANE FUDGE

Richard Vobes [RV]: I suppose I am an entertainer mostly, and a filmmaker. I used to think of myself as being a bit like Richard Attenborough, where I could direct myself. I am a Leo, so I suppose that is the flamboyant, egotistical side of me. I worked for a printer after school, and I then went into mime. I would juggle, ride a unicycle, lie on a bed of nails, walk on broken glass, fire eat - all those skills. I would also do things like gala shows and corporate events.

Then I lost my eye due to a condition called acanthamoeba and I had to curtail the more physical activities. After that, I wrote and produced a children’s television programme for Scottish Television called Snug and Cozi. More recently, I started a show on YouTube called The Bald Explorer, looking at English heritage, landscapes, and nature.

[SF]: At what stage did you begin to question things?

[RV]: Because of my background in filmmaking, when I first saw those Chinese videos coming out, with people falling over, I thought ‘these just look fake’. Chris Whitty then told us: “There is nothing to worry about unless you are over eighty or have serious comorbidities.”

Then the whole narrative turned into something like the Black Death - lockdowns, ‘flattening the curve’, and all that nonsense. I did start talking about it all in my YouTube show, but many people seemed to feel that the government knew best.