It's no secret, my real name is Frazer Diamond. My Tax Return identifies
   me as a freelance cartoonist and writer operating out of Elgin, in the wilds of
   North-East Scotland, but in reality, right now I seem to have donned the mantle
   of Unpaid Cartoon Researcher on the Great WWW.

   If you want to know more, you should check out my new personal site, as it
   gets up to speed:

   http://www.frazerdiamond.co.uk

   But you're still here, so I guess I'd better give you the shorthand version of my
   complicated life thus far. And I'll begin by telling you I'm the fourth of sixth siblings,
   all boys. My father was the late great film and television fight arranger, performer,
   actor and director Peter Diamond. He accrued over a thousand credits in his
   lifetime, and I've started detailing what he did and when he did it over here.

   As you might imagine, I spent my formative years on and around productions
   big and small and everything inbetween. Biggest of all was, probably, the original
   Star Wars Trilogy. Dad arranged all those lightsabre duels and appeared in
   seceral iconic roles. Better still, my brother Warwick and I got to shuffle
   on screen too, playing Jawas in the Sandcrawler with C-3PO in "A New Hope".
   Just a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance on Elstree Stage Two back in 1976,
   but it was one hell of a Claim to Fame for an eight year old, I can tell you!

   I was still at school when I composed a stack of storyboards for my father to
   bring to the set of "Highlander". And after my "A" levels, I spent a very short
   spell working as a trainee puppeteer on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" before
   moving on to be a runner for Disney on the film. That was longer, extending
   to the best part of eighteen months. Afterwards, I was employed in various
   production capacities by The Monty Python team and Jim Henson. It was
   all rather daft, actually. I nailed down the British ad campaign for "A Fish Called
   Wanda", worked as a production  aide on "Storyteller: Greek Myths" and even
   stepped in front of a blue screen to take aim at "Perseus and the Gorgon".

   Moving on, I spent eighteen crazy months working in the stills department
   of Elstree Studios whilst Brent Walker's wrecking balls demolished the
   sound stages around us. I also went to Cannes with The British Pavillion,
   and a year later, with Majestic Films Intl. That second visit I found myself
   stumbling blindly into the offices of New York's "unique" independent studio
   Troma, Inc. I blagged myself a twelve month contract as their Director of
   London Operations, which sounds very impressive, but in reality meant
   running up and down Dean St. in London dressed as a Radioactive Mutant
   Squirrel. And worse. The highlight of my time there was putting together
   a Troma Tour of classic films. A couple of DVD deals also fell into place.
   It was a steep learning curve, but hugely rewarding.

   I'm always writing spec scripts and in the mid-90s I formed a creative
   partnership with an industry friend, Mike Key. Together we packaged and
   presented various film and TV projects for commission left, right and center.
   Our piratical adventure series "Smollett" had a great cast and crew on board
   and we even persuaded Lew Grade to hoist the mansail with us. But alas, our
   ship sunk mid-Atlantic. Equally, our documentary series "Hollywood, Herts."
   all about Elstree's various film studios. That one had a sizeable amount of
   industry support and I've still got some fantastic, famous letters round here
   somewhere. Alas, Mike died suddenly and with him, the energy to keep
   these projects alive.   

   For a year-or-so I contributed unpaid animation reviews and articles to
   "Movie Collector Magazine". I was also paid to write two scripts and contribute
   several storylines to a German cartoon series from Hahnfilm called "Renaade!"
   Then there was "Up into the Apple Tree", a French screenplay which I was
   hired to rewrite and which subsequently received funding from MEDIA and
   was attached to Norma Heyman Productions for a while.

   In and around all of the above I was always cartooning. Just bits and pieces
   on a freelance basis, here and there. I drew toons for tv's "You Bet!" and
   "Scofield's Quest" and my doodling got me down to Cannes for a third time
   when I was employed as official cartoonist for "Moving Pictures International".
   Wilbur P. Dogsbody appeared in all the Cannes dailies and, upon my return,
   inspired a new toon creation called Flick. In 1998 I self-published my first volume
   of Flick Cartoons called "When Films Collide", which sold rather nicely thank
   you through a few select outfits like the film memorabillia archive and store
   "Flashbacks" in which, in true Tarantinio-style, I spent a few years working
   part-time to supplement my dreams.
   
   In July 1999 I married Claire and three months later we fled the rot and grime
   of London for the delights of a north-east Scottish city which thinks it's a
   market town. And nowadays you're most likely to find me ensconced in the
   attic of our 250yr old semi by Elgin's ruined cathedral. We have two new
   additions to the houshold, too, in the form of Ollie and Stan, our Springer
   Spaniels. And today, we're still crawling through an expensive and substantial
   renovation.

   Toonhound was born in January 2000. It started as a bit of fun, really, filling
   a gap on the web for information on British cartoons. Now it's a 700+ page
   behemoth with 1000+ links to keep updated, and new stuff bloating the work
   load, week-in, week-out. It's been self-built using Dreamweaver, but I don't
   profess to having any professional computer skills. I'm sure if you try validating
   the HTML you find the source code is all over the shop, but the site loads and
   works okay in the browsers I've tested it on, so that'll do for me. And when
   it first launched, it was well-received by the PC Press.

                
                Internet Monthly                          .net magazine                              Web User

   The site employs Amazon links to generate the cash to cover the running costs.
   And Toonhound has earned me a fair few gigs too. I've been quoted on DVD
   releases and popped up on a couple of "extras", I've written for the BBC and
   others, and I am often contacted by the media for cartoon comments and info.
   There are been lots of lovely treats too: "Thankyous" from some of my heroes
   to keep hold of and to treasure. Best of all, the site is reccomended reading
   for a number of academies, colleges and courses. It's got me dreaming
   of an Honorary Doctorate, some day...

   Even so, the desire for my own commissions still burns bright within me
   and I always seem to have a dozen projects on the go. There's the co-written
   screenplay for "Meon Hill" still out there somewhere as you read this. I've got
   two new toons in development too. And my new vanity publishing venture
   Cold Dead Press. Oh, and I'm producing giclee art prints as well.
  
   Someday, somehow, one of these beauties will set the world alight, I'm sure.

   If anyone wants to talk toons with me just drop me a line. And needless to say,
   if you want to tap into my cartoon mind for ideas, scripts and storylines, I'm always
   primed and ready...

   Stay tooned!