Last Chance to See at the Royal Geographic Society

This evening I attended a talk at the National Geographic Society all about the BBC Program Last Chance to See. If you haven't watched/torrented it, I suggest you do, it's well worth watching. Due to attend was one Stephen Fry, who I'm really not all all familiar with (...), and one Mark Cawardine, a BBC Photographer and someone I was very keen to see. Unfortunately Mark was taken ill with the horror that is Swine Flu, and as such, was unable to attend. A bit of a bummer, but of course Stephen Fry made up for it.

The chat lasted about two hours and included some questioning from the audience. Again, I'm so very pleased that photography was allowed. Even if I had to crank the ISO (graininess) up to the highest setting on the camera in order to take photos without using the flash, grainy pictures are better than none.

After the chat there was an auction and a raffle. I didn't enter the raffle because I didn't have the extra money and the prizes (including the LCTS Book and DVD), I own in other, semi-legal ways. Well, not the book, but I really must stop buying books...

The picture below on the left is the item that was up for auction. It is a rhino made entirely out of recycled flip-flops that wash up on shore in an African country that I can't remember, and poor village woman make them into things and sell them. I think it helped that Stephen Fry was playing the part of the auctioneer, and that he kept throwing in his own bids, because the woman who won it ended with a bid of over 650 pounds. Yikes.

I know, it's for a charity, but I'm a poor traveller. And I don't really have a need for a large, foamy rhino. Even if it was man-handled by Stephen Fry.

The only reason I posted this photo is that I would like to bring your attention to Mr. Stephen Fry's socks. Because they are purple and awesome. If I remember correctly, last time I saw him he was wearing strangely-colored socks. Can't go wrong with socks.

I don't think I've ever seen someone who so regularly dresses in what appears to be a random assortment of colors and still manages to look all snappy.
Yellow checked shirt? Check.Mauve tie? Check.Black vest? Check.Tan jacket? Check.Blue trousers? Check.Purple socks? Double check!
And somehow, so very English it seems.

All in all a lovely evening. Would've been nice to see Mark Cawardine, but probably best not to get infected with Swine Flu. I'd likely end up passing it along to all sorts of customers.
P.S. If you haven't already seen this clip from the Last Chance to See show, do check it out. It's one of the more famous clips from the show, and don't worry, Mark Cawardine wasn't injured at all.