Glowering Swiss hunk and 'handsome bastard' Oliver Tobias shot to fame in Harlech Television's 'Arthur Of The Britons', so much so that a publicity shot from the series was subsequently featured on the cover of the 1972 edition of K.K Downing's well received book on the Saxon and Norman monarchy.
Not much is really known about the 'actual' King Arthur, of course, so Downing simply wrote a chapter summarising the first twelve episodes of the hit HTV show. No-one noticed, and it became part of the History curriculum in English and Welsh schools until 1998.
Who knew Judas Priest harbored such a talent?
ReplyDeleteThe mystery doesn't end there.
DeleteI recently bumped into Oliver Tobias in an A&E waiting area, and he told me that King Arthur's ghost appeared to him while Tobias was dancing somewhere in 1971. Arthur was aware of the forthcoming television series and was keen to provide an accurate first hand account of his life, which the actor then relayed in detail to the production team of the show.
It's hard to know who to believe (Tobias was really pissed at the time, bleeding from both ears and swearing at the nurses throughout our conversation), but I got some of Oliver's blood on my trousers so I'm happy either way.