• Ipswich Promotion Review - Dave and Pia Robbins
• Lyndhurst Promotion Review - Pam and Alan Tipper
• Interview with Malcolm

Review of the days proceedings
by Dave and Pia Robbins

Eggbert Promotion
Prezzies, Ipswich 26/2/00

As experienced collectors we know an early start is what is required when a promotion day arrives , this was no exception . After travelling from Telford to Redditch to Ipswich we arrived at Prezzies at around 12.30pm just in time to grab a Chicken Pie , 3 meggabyte and all of the new Eggberts .

As Malcolm and Angela had not long arrived themselves and the place was filling up with eager collectors willing to kill for our booty we decided that beer and food would keep us amused until things had calmed down a little .

After a couple of beers and some fodder the anagram cards were completed and we returned to the action , Malcolm's pen was busy sweeping across all those Eggberts, and Angela was doing a great job supervising at the painting table.

Things quietened down and we managed to have a good chat to Malcolm and to get our treasures signed .Malcolm also gave an eggslusive interview to Ray Miller the Weggmaster which will find it's way onto the Website.

Many collectors returned for the draw at the end of the day and to make some last minute purchases which they insisted must have that famous signature across them.

The highlight of the day for us has to be when Pia's name was drawn for the unique paintway of Chicken Pie. (Jammy cow - Dave)

Many thanks to Ray & Neil for doing the driving to and from Ipswich and especially to Malcolm and Angela for giving up their time to spend with collectors we do
appreciate it.

Dave & Pia Robbins

Review of the days proceedings
by Pam and Alan Tipper

Eggbert Promotion
Pages, Lyndhurst 21/7/00

We began queuing at 8.45am after having breakfast in the hotel hoping to be numbers one and two in the queue. Unfortunately we were 6th and 7th. Dave Newbury was first and he was not even staying at The Crown. The hotel decided that we could not start the queue outside the promotion room door as this was a fire escape route and could we kindly sit in the corridor. By 9am there were a dozen of us and trading between members had already begun.

Paul asked us to try and keep him awake as he had left home 3am that morning to come down to the promotion (from hull?) by car; we offered to raid the rooms biscuits for his breakfast but he declined.

Members continued to arrive and by 10am the queue had stretched down the corridor to the reception doors and I don't think the hotel could quite believe what they were seeing.

Tricia from Pages arrived at 10.30am and began to carry boxes from the storeroom up along the corridor to the promotion room. As boredom had begun to set in by then a few of us offered to help and before long we had her settled. She had arranged the room so that Malcolm was one side of the door with his signing table and Angela was on the other with the painting table.

Ray Miller our Webmaster for the Eggbert web site had bought a laptop with him so that he could give members who do not own or have access to a PC a look at the site and what it has to offer. He was set up at a table half way down the room so that people who would stand in the queue for Malcolm could watch what was going on.

The day had turned out to be hot and sunny and the corridor began to get quite stuffy but luckily the hotel bar had opened so people were buying drinks. It was fast approaching 11.30 and still no sign of Malcolm and Angela who eventually made their way down the corridor at about 11.50am to the cheer of us few in the front.

Dave thought it was about time to start moving the queue, so we began to line up. By this time a few people thought it would be a good idea to jump the queue and try and make an easy entrance through the bar door - which I shut and they had to go round like everyone else. Slowly but surely the people at the back of the queue and by this time it must have reached outside the hotel must have thought that the promotion had started. Every couple of minutes on the lead up to 12 o'clock Dave at the front would take a step forward making the queue move very slowly.

Finally Malcolm opened the door and in we flooded, we very quickly obtained our pieces. Tricia and her team were so well organised it was not long before we had been served and where queuing again at Malcolm's table.

Prior to the promotion member Joe Thornbury and his wife had had a baby boy so I took the opportunity to leave a card on Malcolm's table so that other members could sign it to congratulate them.

Tricia was presented with her Gold 3 millionth piece and the draw for the un-issued plaque took place (unfortunately I did not win). I took the opportunity to paint a 'Down the Hatch' with Angela which is more difficult than it looks.

It is not very often we get the opportunity to stay at a promotion until the very end but as we were staying in the hotel another night we could. Malcolm was still signing eggberts until 5.30pm after everyone had left as he had all the telephone orders to do.

It certainly made the difference having a venue in a large room of a hotel instead of a shop and hopefully Colour Box will arrange a few more like this. It was an excellent day and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Pam and Alan Tipper

The Ducktapes

Eggbert celebrates his 10th birthday this year. When did you realize he would be successful?

I realised two years before the first birthday when we first launched Eggbert in the shop in St. Ives and we couldn't make them fast enough. I knew then it was going to be big. We couldn't keep up, so after a couple of years of struggling to make them I realized we really needed a factory. The alternative was to licence it out, and let somebody else manufacture it. So really I knew before it was launched that it was going to be successful.

And did you ever dream he would be SO successful?

No, I just really did it as a one off joky thing and it wasn't intended to be a range - it just sort of evolved really. By the time we went national we had eight Eggberts and we couldn't cope after that point.

Malcolm stops to do more signing.

I have a couple of favourite Eggberts. Eggraphobic and 2 Megabyte. What are your favourite Eggberts?

I like Egg Fu Yung. It's always been my favourite because it's got a lot of movement. I know it sounds funny, a stiff entity like a sculpture having movement, but I just like that one. He's a little bit more active. I always liked him better then any of the others. Having said that I always like the one I did last best but my all-time fave is Egg Fu Yung.

What is the best seller of all time?

Probably Birdie because he's been there right from the beginning and has always sold really well and he's still going, so any of those original twenty three that are still in would be in the running. Probably Old Bill may be the second one, but Birdie is definitely the best seller.

Malcolm has to break for more signing.

There were some pieces sold in America, and some of them are beginning to appear on the Internet auction sites. Quite a few of the ordinary pieces have been seen, plus some money boxes, salt and pepper shakers and one or two musicals. I know that at least one Russian doll has been found too. What other pieces should we be looking out for?

There was a Firemen Russian doll, a Nurse Russian doll, what one did you find?

I haven't found any!

You haven't found any!

No. Alex has the Sports Russian doll and Cheryl has found the Father Eggmas one I think?

Yes, there's a one sports one with all the different sports I think it had Winger and Hatcher and different ones inside. Yes, there was a Christmas one. It started with a Santa, I think there are all Santa's running right through that set. I think that was it, there were four sets.

Is the rumour that there is a picture frame true?

Yes, there was a picture frame. There was a set of Sports picture frames that I rejected because I didn't like them but Enesco wanted to do them. Some did go into production but are very very rare. I have a set of the samples but I’ve never seen any since. One is a football net with a goalie in. Have you ever seen them?

No..No we haven't

(Pia Robbins) It's been dismissed as a rumour you see?

Yes..I can't remember the other subjects but I can find out for you. So to answer your question, no, it's not a rumour, it's true.

I asked people on the mailing list to contribute to the questions, and several people answered with some really great questions:
(Kay Alderton) Are any of the Eggberts based on your wife or Jade

No, although sometimes I sneak in little references like on the back of Ex-Directory.

(Kay Alderton) On the same theme were you thinking of anyone in particular when you designed any of the eggberts.

Well, I usually collect quite a lot of reference for a new one, and sometimes the reference I use, the person in the reference comes out in the sculpture. The first time it happened on was Eggwhip as I had some pictures of Lester Piggot. A lot of people say the Eggbert looks like Lester Piggott. It wasn't intentional it's just I had his picture there. Also Francis Rossi of Status Quo - when I made Chicken feedback. I had some pictures of him and a Fender Stratocaster guitar. So that came out. Egg Fu Yung too, that was a famous karate 10th dan master, and that looks very much like him. The likenesses kind of sneak in almost unintentionally.

(Kay Alderton) The baby Eggberts were perhaps being hatched, or thought of, when Jade was born. Was there any connection?

No. All I could think of when Jade was born was "I need some of that gas and air!"

(John Campbell) Will there will ever be an 'Eggbert the Movie' or an Eggbert cartoon strip?

I wrote a script called 'Eggbert the Movie' which I sent to Aardman who do Wallace and Grommitt, which was rejected, because the cast was too big. Wallace and Grommitt is very expensive, because it’s stop frame animation, you need a maximum of 4 characters or preferably less, because it's too expensive to bring others in. They liked it but they said there were too many Eggberts to do a film or a feature of it.

I have been looking at Children's books and am looking for a publisher at the moment, to try and get Eggbert into that market.

I also drew an Eggbert cartoon strip some years ago, but I never showed it to anybody, Maybe one day soon I'll take it up again.

(Sarah * Steve Cook) What ever happened to the idea of the chess set you were thinking about, is it still in the incubator?

Yes, It's about half hatched! About half the pieces are finished. The Knights are very much like the Knights in that limited edition (background prompting) Yes, Sir Percy, They are loosely based on the Isle of Lewis Chess Set, but of course they are all Eggberts. It's got a medieval feel - medieval kings, and queens, bishops. We are half way there. I adore making Chess Sets, so an Eggbert Chess Set is a huge indulgence for me. So I was very pleased the initial reaction was so good.

The next question was suggested a few times: (Sarah + Steve Cook)(Liz) Do you have any idea how many Eggberts there are likely to be, because we are running out of space!

I've no idea. I'll keep doing them as long as people keep buying them.

(Liz) How do you think up scenes for Eggberts. Do you think them up in the bath? There seem to be several bathroom scenes?

Sometimes I get ideas when I’m just dropping to sleep, and sometimes I drop to sleep in the bath, but that usually involves lots of splashing and spluttering, which is not condusive to creativity. When I use Eggbert in bathroom scenes, they tend to be Club pieces. I think of things that maybe wouldn't sell to the general market. I try and think of a general theme that is common to life but hasn't got a theme like bowling or golf. So the bathroom ones are things people do every day, and not hobby specific or occupation specific.

I like the idea of bringing out the rarest pieces as Egglets, and also of including multiple Egglets in the larger pieces (Chicken Pie).
Will you be bringing any more out like that?

Yes. Any new pieces are always a trial, but Chicken Pie has worked very well. People like it so it would be nice to do a really big one one day with lots of Eggberts all over it - Eggbert Mountain or something like that. And use the Egglets because they lend themselves to multiples rather than the bigger size. So yes, that would be great.

You say occasionally in the Eggbert world magazine that Eggbert is a bit of a scamp. All the pieces so far are fairly lovable characters (except fowl!), is there any chance of doing a series showing the other side of his character?

What the dark side? Well, Colour Box often say and Cavalcade before them, said that he was too...he didn't smile enough. I always saw him as a cynical sort of chicken! And Enesco who did the the American range, they preferred the smily Eggberts. I was interviewed a bit like this by an Enesco public relations lady in Chicago, and she asked how did I see Eggbert’s character? I said I saw him as a cynical little bugger! That bothered her a bit. She said "Ah, can we say ‘amusingly cynical’ Malcolm?" The American’s like their giftware sugar sweet. You really have to make them less grumpy and more smiley than maybe I would like to.

People suggest themes and names for new Eggberts all the time. (I know I do!). What should people bear in mind when thinking up names? to have the best chance of them being taken up?

As long as it applies to a large occupation or hobbies group then they have a better chance of getting on the market because if I made say, a pink budgerigar breeder it wouldn't sell so well! So we look for large occupational groups that are popular. I also look for things just coming in like Line Dancing and trying to get an Eggbert in quickly before it goes out. Often we have a years production scheduled and sometimes things have gone out before the Eggbert is ready. But the main thing with names is that people must get it within 3 seconds, it needs to be really fast. Subtle names although they are clever are no good. I did one years ago - a batman named ‘Capon’ which I thought was very funny but many people didn't understand it. I did a few like that - Soeufer the surfer one with the french oeuf, meaning ‘Egg’ That didn't sell too well. A lot of people didn't understand the name. So you can be too clever. It's got to be pretty obvious and a joke that they will get immediately.

You are famous for Eggberts, but we know from the magazine you used to do Cornish tin mines and stuff like that. Do you still do other sculpting?

Yes I still do other sculpting. I do private non-Eggbert commissions for clients sometimes. I've not done any new buildings for years, but we still have the moulds and we still supply shops in Cornwall. Like the lady won the magazine competition for a Cornish Mackerel. We've got a Cornish Mackerel I made some years ago so we sent her that. So there are things around and I'm currently working on two new ranges which I hope to License out.

And finally...do you know when the next promotion is?

The next promotion is in July at Pages of Lyndhurst in the New Forest, near Southampton.

What happened to the Gnomes? <Malcolm is reading my prompts here. I had "What happened to the GNOMES" in handwriting at the bottom of the sheet>

What happened to the GNOMES? Yes...Apparently you did some Gnomes?

I did some Gnomes for Collectible World Studios. They lasted about 1 year on the market, then vanished into the undergrowth! They sold very well to the retailers and lots of shops took them, but the public didn't buy them. They were designed to go into plant pots, but the range never grew.

<Malcolm now grabs the dictaphone and says> This is Malcolm Bowmer, News at Ten, Ipswich