Bordeaux-based Briton is mistaken for famous actor

Briton Ian Ogilvie Forth, a member of the Bordeaux writers group, has told how he was  recently mistaken for the author and actor Ian Ogilvy, most famous for his role in the TV show The Return of the Saint.

Mr Forth, originally from Dorset, retired to south-west France around six years ago where he enjoys writing and publishing short stories. He joined the local writers group where he met founding member, Rorie Smith, from Plymouth. 

Having each recently published their work*, they decided to contact the Dordogne Ladies Club International (DLCI) about a possible book reading. 

Mr Forth wrote to the club’s president, who invited the pair to a fundraising event near Bergerac for their 40th anniversary celebrations. After audience questions and answers, the writers were told they would be hosted at the Maison Wessman by Thierry Marx restaurant. 

“Rorie and I were over the moon. We have both done book readings before, usually at small book shop venues, but here we were being feted as celebrities. We started scoping out the most entertaining and lyrical parts of our respective books to read, ordering copies to be signed, and rehearsing our best authorial voices,” Mr Forth told The Connexion. 

But then Mr Forth received an email from the DLCI President that mentioned his career as an actor and he started to suspect something was not quite right.

“An Actor? Before retiring in France, my career was as a university lecturer in linguistics and Rorie is an ex-journalist. I sometimes use my middle name, Ian Ogilvie, when publishing my work. I realised that the DLCI might have confused me with Ian Ogilvy, the actor and author who starred in The Return of The Saint after Roger Moore,” stated Mr Forth.

The writing duo debated whether to go ahead and attend the event or whether to come clean, but ultimately decided to write back to the president explaining the mix-up. 

“They saw the humour in the situation and replied with disarming diplomacy. Her members were expecting the Saint so she felt it might be better if we were invited to an alternative event in the new year and she kindly said she would advertise our books and profiles in a forthcoming edition of the DLCI magazine,” he said.

“I still imagine what might have happened if we had gone along and done the reading, hoping that the audience would think that ‘the Saint’ had appeared to have let himself go, but would be too polite to say anything,” Mr Forth added. 

The DLCI has hosted a series of events for the 40th anniversary celebrations, including a garden party with live music at Château Carbonneau, a fundraising quiz at Vignobles des Verdots, and a 1970s disco in Creysse (Dordogne) later this winter. 

“We considered several other events including book readings and talks, garden trips and historic walks, which have not made it into this year’s calendar,” a spokesperson from the club told The Connexion. 

*Ian Ogilvie Forth wrote Hazlitt and the Mobility Scooter and Other Stories, published by Hard Travelling Books (available on Amazon), as well as numerous stories published in literary magazines. 

Rorie Smith’s fifth published novel is titled The Station Philosopher’s Club, published by WriteSideLeft of Bridport, Dorset.