title_n_joinme.gif - 16kb
 

Media coverage

I have been in the media. Join Me has been in the media. I have been in the media because of Join Me.

The stories I have been involved in below are blue, the one's I've not are grey.

newspaper

gareth involvement

Rev Gareth Saunders sports his 'Join Me' t-shirtInverness Courier

Tuesday 24 September 2002

I made FRONT PAGE NEWS in Inverness on Tuesday, 24 September 2002 with a story entitled "Signing up to 'kindness' collective".

Read it here:

I love the fact that I was described as "heavy-metal fan Gareth" as though that was relevant to the story! or do you think he was trying to discredit me as a clergyman?

Another interesting point is that the other vicar of whom Danny spoke is a friend of mine, and whose face can be seen on the latest Karma Army fliers, and on the cover of the book. Check out the www.joinme.info website.

newspaper

Inverness Cathedral Messenger

October 2002

I was the editor (and main copy-writer) of the Inverness Cathedral Messenger, their monthly parish magazine. So I wrote an article about Join Me. Distribution is about 150 copies per month.

newspaper

Scottish Daily Express

Date unknown

I had reports that the Inverness Courier story was also featured in the Scottish Daily Express. I have yet to obtain a copy of this. If you have one, please send it to me. See contact page for details.

newspaper

gareth involvement

Scottish Episcopalian

November 2002

I am now a page 3 boy, the story also hitting the inside pages of the national monthly newspaper of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Read the story - I have scanned it (highly compressed)

Scanned Image (90KB JPG)
newspaper

Now magazine - Danny controls the world!Now Magazine

25 June 2003

Danny was featured in an article entited "I started a cult — by placing an ad in Loot" (pp.50-51)

It's a very good article, with a top picture of Danny controlling the world (right).

"It's nice running a cult, but it's a bit short on flowing robes and adoring women", said Mr Wallace.

Read the article here:

Now article (7KB HTML)

newspaper

gareth involvement

Daily Record

June 2003 / Date unknown

I was interviewed over the telephone by journalist Mr Brian McIver, and my photograph taken in a one hour photo shoot in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Edinburgh. I have yet to see the finished article.

If you know when the article ran, and have a copy please get in touch with me.

newspaper

The Big Issue

23-29 June 2003

Even the homeless, and socially-conscious, know about Join Me now, thanks to an article in The Big Issue.

newspaper

Danny WallaceThe London Times

Date unknown

The Times ran a small interview with Danny Wallace, entitled "Someone's got to do it... The cult leader". Read it here:

Times article (4KB HTML)

newspaper

picture courtesy of Gold Joinee WhitbyThe Daily Telegraph

24 June 2003

The Telegraph ran a story on page 24 today about Join Me. Original Joinees #1 and #2 were also featured, Christian Jones and Dave Cobbett.

(Thanks to Gold Joinee Whitby for the pic.)

Read it here in text format

Telegraph article
(10KB HTML)

radio

BBC Radio Scotland

24 June 2003

Danny was a guest on the Fred MacAuley show on BBC Radio Scotland on the morning of Tuesday 24 June 2003.

I recorded this interview, which you can download here as an MP3. To download: right-click the link and select 'Save As...'

BBC Radio Scotland Interview
(3.8MB MP3)

television

Richard & July (Channel 4)

Friday 27 June 2003

Danny Wallace on Richard & JudyDanny appeared on the Richard & Judy show, where he was filmed in Bournemouth making lots of old people happy, buying them ice-creams, sticks of rock and the like. His interview went really well, and he even convinced Richard to sign up.

I have this on video, and have now converted it to a rather bad AVI file, which is too large to upload (sorry!)

newspaper

News of the World articleNews of the World

29 June 2003

A feature appeared in the News of the World Sunday magazine.

Another mysterious picture of "The Leader" pointing (right).

(Thanks to Gold Joinee Whitby for the pic.)

internet

BBC News onlineBBC News (Internet)

02 July 2003

The BBC News website ran an article entitled 'Karma army' marches on London. "I'm thinking of taking the cult to America - the home of the cult" said Mr Wallace. You can read the article here

BBC News article (4KB HTML)

book

gareth involvement

Join Me by Danny WallaceJoin Me - The Book

03 July 2003

I am also mentioned in the official Join Me book. Check out chapter 10 (pp.116ff.)

The book was published on 03 July 2003.

Join Me, by Danny Wallace
Paperback - 384 pages
Ebury Press (3 July 2003)
ISBN: 0-091-88800-X
£9.99

You can order your book on Amazon.co.uk, priced only £7.99 (plus postage and packing). Or from BOL UK for a bargain £3.99 (plus postage and packing).

radio

BBC 6music (radio)

Danny appeared on an interview on BBC 6 music.

(Thanks to Gold Joinee Whitby for the webcam pic.)

television

The Wright Stuff (Channel 5)

Sometime in June/July 2003

Danny also appeared as a guest on The Wright Stuff on Channel 5. I didn't see this.

television

gareth involvement

Terry & Gaby Show
(Channel 5)

Friday 18 July 2003 @ 11:00 a.m.

Danny on Terry & GabyDanny Wallace was a guest on the Terry and Gaby show, hosted this week by Les Dennis and Gaby Roslin. During the show they went live to one of Danny's joinees on the telephone. That was me. If you don't believe me, check out the screen capture above. Except, I was in Edinburgh, not Inverness!

newspaper

gareth involvement

Inverness Cathedral Messenger pt.2

August 2003

I've written a follow-up piece for the Inverness Cathedral Messenger (as foreign correspondent) advertising the book, as there is a good write-up about Dan's visit there in 2002. You can read it here, in Adobe PDF format.

The Scotsman

Monday 21 July 2003

An article entitled 'Random acts of kindness' appeared in today's Scotsman newspaper. Journalist Nick Curtis performs a few random acts of kindness before meeting up with The Leader in a pub in London: he helps an old lady off the bus, leaves a bouquet of flowers by a stranger's front door (which Dan rightly points out might make the occupant think there was a car crash there!) and he gives away his one-day travelcard and umbrella... just in case it rains.

The Scotsman article (10KB HTML)

newspaper

gareth involvement

Edinburgh Evening News

Thursday 14 August 2003 (pp.14-15)

I received a telephone call from Gina Davidson, the Features Editor at the Edinburgh Evening News asking about my involvement in Join Me; she'd been put on to me by Danny.

We spoke about Join Me, Flash Mobs, Sociology and what the church think about my involvement in this. She seemed very amiable and interested. The following day they sent a photographer, and Gina had told me that the story would run on Friday.

But it didn't. It ran on Thursday, and I missed it.

So I asked if anyone on the Join Me forum had a copy, and could they send it to me? Better than that, Silver Joinee Alice Gower hotfooted it from Harvey Nicks during her lunchbreak to deliver the paper in person when we met on Saturday 16 August at the Pear Tree House. I was so blessed by her act of kindness, random or not. (You can see the photo of that handing-over ceremony below)

newspaper

gareth involvement

Selkirk Weekend Advertiser

Friday 29 August 2003 (p.7)

Gareth, Alice and DannyThis article came about thanks to my Mum, Joinee Saunders, Sr., handing in a copy of the Join Me book to her local newspapers, The Southern Reporter and the Selkirk Weekend Advertiser, who are both part of the same media group.

I got a telephone call from David Knox who asked me about my involvement in Join Me, about Dan's trip to Inverness and my Random Acts of Kindness. It seems that he'd already found my website and gleaned a lot of information from it, as well as a number of photographs. I e-mailed him a photo taken at the Pear Tree House (the Official Join Me pub of Edinburgh), which he used.

Selkirk Weekend Advertiser article
(5 KB HTML)

  to be continued...

Contact us

UK website