Little Dot Wins!
14 Jun 2002
Our illustration competition
has been won by a Little Dot - not a description of a minimalist
painting, but the chosen pseudonym of the entrant. She illustrated the
story Death by Marmite,
by fellow pseudonymist Mel O’Drama.
Little Dot is already well known on the Archers message
board, where she recently clocked up her 1000th message, and some
of her written work has already been featured on this website:
Brenda Tucker’s Diary
Who Shot BA?
Cold Crumpet Farm
Although writing and painting are her main spare-time activities nowadays,
Little Dot’s previous pastimes have included sheep impersonating and free-fall
parachuting, as she explained from her home in Chippenham, Wiltshire.
"I was weaned on The Archers. My mother listens every Sunday morning,
and I grew up in a village scarily like Ambridge. In 1991, The Archers
came to the East of England Show, and they asked for volunteers to get
up on stage with Felicity Finch (Ruth) and Delavel Astley (Cameron Fraser)
to do some sound effects. Unfortunately I was so star struck that when
the script asked for sheep noises I could only giggle.
"I've sometimes wondered whether anyone else remembers a mad fourteen
year old giggling uncontrollably into a microphone, or whether it's just
the sheer embarrassment factor that means I can't forget it. But somewhere
in a kitchen drawer in Cambridgeshire there's a beer mat from the Bull
with Felicity's autograph and the words ‘great sheep noises’ on it!"
Free Fall
And the parachuting? "Oh, that was at University. My other half used
to do it. It started to get boring waiting in the drop zone while he jumped
out of aeroplanes, so in the end I joined him. I did 18 jumps altogether,
including several free-fall. It was great. I don’t do it any more, because
I’m getting old now" (a cue for muted groans from many readers, as Little
Dot is all of 25).
Because of her love of books, Little Dot originally studied to be a librarian,
but her ability with computers led her into information management, and
she’s recently started working on rural transport projects. "Lots of people
don’t have use of a car, and there’s often no bus. We try to find sustainable
ways of giving them access to services like education, healthcare, even
shopping." The job is home-based, so chatting on the Archers message board
takes the place of the social conversations you might have round the water
cooler in an office. It’s nice to have a group of friends all with something
in common - even if they are all round the world."
Dot?
One last question: why the name? "Little Dot is a nickname that I've
had for about three years. I'm not very tall - four foot eleven and a
half - and one day when I was stood beside my partner’s mum she just came
out with ‘Och, you're nowt but a wee dot’ (she's Scottish, in case you
hadn't guessed). It's usually shortened to Dot, but I used the full name
on my ."
Little Dot receives a signed copy of the book Images of The Archers,
a photographic collection compiled by the fan club.
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